Original subtitles

could be the gateway to another realm.

There's a place somewhere in Tibet

that's some kind of vortex.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: It is said that this was

the abode of the gods.

NARRATOR: With thousands of reports of UFOs...

Suddenly they saw an oval-shapedobject pass over them.

NARRATOR: ...accounts of terrifying monsters...

These yetis are able to appear and disappear at will.

NARRATOR ...and mysterious mass vanishings...

JONATHAN YOUNG: This kingdom had power, it had glory.

And then it disappeared.

NARRATOR: ...could Tibet be an extraterrestrial outpost

-on Earth? -TSOUKALOS: The reason why

this area of the world has become a religious center

is because of the arrival of the extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is the promise of truth.

It demands we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

NARRATOR: On the northern side of the Himalayas

lies the highest geographical region on Earth: Tibet.

Known as "the roof of the world,"

it has an average elevation of nearly 15,000 feet.

There is 40% less oxygen tobreathe here than at sea level,

and the weather can be dangerous and unpredictable.

Yet more than three million people call Tibet home.

Millions more brave the harsh conditions to travel here

each year and visit Tibet's sacred peaks,

including Mount Everest, which reaches

nearly five and a half miles into the heavens.

Tibet we call "Land of Snow."

YOUNG: Here is this mountain kingdom, very hard to get to,

with an exotic culture allits own, amazing architecture...

...and the dizzying heights of its location.

DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: There are a lot of mysteries involved,

with the origin of, uh, Tibet, and also a lot of history.

Tibet is usually referred to as a land of gods.

It is a kind of exotic land

where many people-- Westerners-- wanted to go there.

YOUNG: The secrets of the Tibetan culture

have eluded us and held our fascination since early times.

NARRATOR: Humans have inhabited Tibet for at least 20,000 years.

Little is known about the earliest inhabitants

of this forbidding environment,

but ancient Tibetan texts identify

the region's first rulers as the Zhangzhung people,

who emerged around 500 BC.

Much about this earlycivilization is still a mystery.

But their spiritual tradition, called Bon,

remains a powerful force in Tibet.

The native indigenous Tibetan religion,

which is known as Bon or Bon po,

that, in many ways, is similar to Taoism.

It connects nature and spirituality.

Certain spots are very powerful spots.

There's a lot of magic involved,like, with demons and exorcisms.

NARRATOR: In the eighth century, Tibetan king Trisong Detsen

introduced a new religion

and philosophy to the area: Buddhism.

Followers of Buddhism share a belief in reincarnation

and don't acknowledge a supreme god or deity.

They instead focus on achieving enlightenment,

a state of inner peace and wisdom.

The combination of Bon, Buddhism,

and other local traditions

resulted in what is known todayas Tibetan Buddhism.

At the same time Buddhism wasintroduced, Tibet also gave rise

to the world's most mysterious spiritual leader,

the Dalai Lama.

YOUNG: The great Tibetan thinkers strongly believe,

along with the rest of the population,

that this is, in fact, the 74thincarnation of the Chenrezig.

And it is a continuation of the Buddha himself.

So, the current Dalai Lama is a continuation

of this great energy.

SHIMKHADA: These Lamas and all these great personalities

lived in Tibet, so perhaps there is something

to be learned from these great masters in Tibet.

DAVID CHILDRESS: Having traveled in Tibet a number of times,

it really expands your mind.

And in many ways,

Tibet is that magical, mysticalplace where anything can happen.

NARRATOR: Tibet not only stands at a crossroads

of Eastern religious traditions,but is believed by many

to be a place where heavenlybeings actually reside on Earth.

TSOUKALOS: It is said that this was the abode of the gods.

The Himalayan region is filled with stories

of so-called "celestial beings"

that descended from the sky in flying vehicles

that they're referred toas dragons and flying furnaces.

According to someof the earliest Sanskrit texts,

the first Buddha that ever walked the Earth

was nine feet tall, had light blue skin,

and his arms reached all the way down to his knees.

And there are multiple statues all throughout that region

of the world that depict exactly a Buddha like that.

TSOUKALOS: Visitation did happen,

and this was something that hasremained in the consciousness

of the local people over millennia.

The reason why this area of the world

has become a religious center

is because of the arrival of the extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the culture of Tibet

was influenced by ancient alien visitors?

And if so, could they still be present

in this mountainous region today?

According to both Hindu and Buddhist traditions,

the gods reside in a hidden kingdom in the Himalayas

known as Shambhala.

CHILDRESS: Shambhala is ruled by kings

who live for hundreds of years.

They are all-knowing.

And they, particularly, are guiding the planet.

Very much as we often think thatextraterrestrials are doing.

They have wonderful technology.

There's electricity. There's airships.

So what is going on in Shambhala?

Is it some mystical city of the masters,

where extraterrestrials and humans

are living and working together?

I mean, that's what many people believe.

NARRATOR:Is the lost kingdom of Shambhalareally a secret city

of advanced extraterrestrial beings,

as some ancient astronaut theorists suggest?

And if so, might evidence of its alien origin

be found somewhere in Tibet?

Perhaps clues can be found in one legendary expedition

into the very heart of the unknown.

WILLIAM HENRY: We're told that people live thereNARRATOR: Russian painter, philosopher

and archaeologist Nicholas Roerich

embarks on an unprecedented expedition

into the uncharted territory of the Tibetan plateau

on a quest to find the lost kingdom of Shambhala.

On August 5, 1927,

Roerich notes a strange object in the skies while traveling

through the mountains along thenortheastern border of Tibet.

Roerich writes that they were looking up at the sky,

watching an eagle fly around, and then suddenly they saw

a sort of oval-shaped object, moving from north to south

at very fast speeds, pass over them.

HUGH NEWMAN: At one of his later lectures in 1935,

Nicholas Roerich described his sighting as a spacecraft

or an aerial vehicle that musthave come from Shambhala itself.

NARRATOR: Did Nicholas Roerich witness

an alien craft in Tibet nearly a century ago,

decades before the era of modern UFO sightings began?

And if so, is it possible that the traditions

that have endured here for centuries

reflect not only a profound spirituality,

but are tied to an otherworldly presence?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining an early Buddhist civilization

that suddenly and mysteriously disappeared.

Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, 2020.

Towering at over 12,000 feet,

these ancient ruins are all that is left

of the mysterious Buddhist kingdom of Guge.

Established in the tenth century,

this civilization flourished for 700 years.

But then, according to local legend,

its inhabitants vanished.

The ruins of this early city are truly amazing.

They're in the southwest cornerof Tibet,

and there are thousands of what were temples

and palaces, mostly gone now.

This was a kingdomof great influence in its time.

This magnificent capitalhad artwork over all the walls,

images of the Buddha, sacred carvings

and images of all kind.

It had power, it had glory,

and now it is nothing.

HENRY:Guge was in continuous operation

until it mysteriously, virtually disappeared.

Nobody knows exactly what happened there

or why people stopped living there

or why they-- where they want.

NARRATOR:Guge was brought under the rule

of the central Tibetan government in 1680,

but remained largely isolated and independent

for more than 200 years.

Then, in the early 20th century,

the Tibetan government decided to finally

start taxing the residents of Guge.

But when soldiers arrived to collect,

they were shocked to find

that the entire population, an estimated 100,000 people,

had disappeared.

Where they went remains a complete mystery,

and many Tibetans believe the reason why

is because the people of Guge traveled deep underground.

CHILDRESS: The fortress of Guge had all kinds of tunnels

and hidden staircases that went underground

and went inside this mountain.

So even though it was, uh, ruins already

when archaeologists went there,

they were astounded that this city of Guge

apparently led inside the Earth.

What people seemed to believe was that

if you were to follow these tunnels far enough

into the Earth, you would eventually

come to that hidden city of Shambhala...

an active city full of light and-and power.

NARRATOR: Did the people of this ancient civilization

flee underground on an epic pilgrimage

to the mythic kingdom of Shambhala?

And if so, where did their path lead?

Some researchers believe the tunnels of Guge

lead to a holy mountain to the east

that can be clearly seen from these ruins...

Mount Kailash.

Every year, thousands of pilgrims

make the treacherous journey to the base

of this sacred peak.

STEAVU: Every year, there are pilgrimages

around Mount Kailash in order to gain the blessing

and maybe even some of the powers

associated with the residing gods

and, and Buddhas and deities of Mount Kailash.

It lasts up to four weeks if it's done correctly,

with full prostrations at every step,

and it's also a very unforgiving landscape,

so many people end up giving up, and some of them

also end up dying.

NARRATOR: According to ancient Buddhist texts

known as the Kalachakra tantra,

the kingdom of Shambhala

can be found "behind" Mount Kailash,

or, as some interpret it, within.

And many who have stared up at this sacred peak

have observed mysterious objectsin the sky.

Mount Kailash is at the center of all sorts of mysteries.

UFO sightings, the hint that there might be

something hidden there, but it's unknowable.

HENRY:There are many myths and legendsand strange things

that have gone on at Mount Kailash.

People go there on pilgrimages,

but they're told not to stay there long,

because there's something radioactive

inside the mountain.

And we're told that people live there,

both in physical form and in nonphysical form.

It has to be one of

the strangest places on the planet.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the mysterious phenomena

occurring at Mount Kailash,

and its association with Shambhala,

is connected to extraterrestrial activity?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest answers can be found

by studying the sacred Buddhist monuments

known as stupas, found all throughout Nepal,

India and Tibet,including at the ruins of Guge.

HENRY: For centuries, people have been sighting UFOs

or unexplained craft coming in and out of Mount Kailash.

And it's very interesting when you compare the shape

of the stupas that we find in Tibet,

these dome shapes, and how they highly resemble

some kind of extraterrestrial craft sitting on the ground.

So perhaps people saw

these craft entering into Kailash and decided,

"We're gonna build stupas in remembrance of what they saw."

TSOUKALOS: A stupa, by definition,

is a vehicle with whichto reach the realm of the gods.

That is the definition of a stupa.

Well, just change the wording, "a vehicle

with which to reach space."

These stupas can be seen, for example,

in the Ajanta Cave, with smokeand fire at the, at the bottom.

And what more do you want?

It's no longer a symbol. It is the truth.

NARRATOR: Might the Buddhist stupas of Tibet be monuments

to alien craft witnessed flying

in and around Mount Kailash,

a site believed by many to be the kingdom of Shambhala?

And if so, how has it remained hidden for millennia?

Could it be that somewhere on the slopes of Mount Kailash

is the entrance to a hidden extraterrestrial realm?

While countless expeditions have tried and failed

to find the legendary kingdom of Shambhala,

there are some who claim to have found a way

to communicate with its otherworldly inhabitants.

NEWMAN: Was she somehow in contact

Famed Russian mystic and philosopher

Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

publishes her seminal book The Secret Doctrine.

In it, she offers detailed descriptions

of the legendary lost continents

of Atlantis and Lemuria.

She claims not only that these ancient civilizations existed

but that they possessed highly advanced technology,

including flying machines, thousands of years ago.

Madame Blavatsky maintained that human lineage

is vastly older than we understand

and that primordial civilizations,

like Atlantis or Lemuria,

formed the foundation of human history

and were much older than Egyptian culture,

than Vedic culture,

than any culture known to humanity.

This, to her, was an occult history that humankind,

uh, had forgotten about, had failed to understand.

LACHMAN: Atlantis, we know, goes back to Plato.

Uh, he's the first one to really talk about it.

And both Atlantis and Lemuria at some point,

they sort of turned dark.

They became fascinated with a kind

of form of black magic,and a kind of hyper technology.

And this led to their demise.

NARRATOR: Madame Blavatsky claimed she received this knowledge

from a mysterious entity she described

as a "mahatma," a Sanskrit wordthat means "great soul."

He called himself Koot Hoomi and resided in Tibet.

Koot Hoomi communicated with her telepathically.

In other words, she kind of channeled him.

SHIMKHADA: The way she described him

is almost like an eternal baba,eternal soul,

so, you know, he is, like, immortal.

MICHAEL SALLA: Also, he was able to manifest himself

in her apartment in New York City,

even though it was thousands of miles away.

NEWMAN: We have to question what was going on here.

Was she somehow in contact

with some kind of hidden world in the Himalayas?

NARRATOR: In 1875,

Madame Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society.

It was made up of prominent thinkers

who sought to explore Eastern religions and the occult,

and create a kind of universal brotherhood

based on the teachings of Koot Hoomi

and other Mahatmas.

LACHMAN: Theosophy means, uh, "the wisdom of the gods."

The Theosophical Society was incredibly, um...

successful and popular and influential.

Not only in the occult world,

but she was also influential in the cultural world.

Uh, people like, uh, the-the painter, Mondrian,

and Wassily Kandinsky were early Theosophists.

L. Frank Baum, who wrote the Oz books.

Abner Doubleday, who invented baseball.

Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.

These were all very early members

of the Theosophical Society.

NARRATOR: While many important figures

joined the Theosophical Society,

Madame Blavatsky had aparticularly profound influence

on a young Indian law student

who came to visit her in London...

Mohandas Gandhi.

HOROWITZ: Gandhi wrote about this as one of the pivotal

encounters of his life.

He maintained that Madame Blavatsky gave him

the first sense of universal

brotherhood that later came to form

the core of his philosophy,

not only of radical equality but of radical nonviolence.

Now, this is quite astonishing,when we think about

the potential here that perhaps an entity,

this strange Tibetan entity

that's making psychical contact with Blavatsky,

has now reached out to someone who would go on to be

one of the most famous persons in history,

and would have made this radicalchange in India that would,

you know, really shock the world

and change the face of the British Empire.

NARRATOR: Was Gandhi's transformative leadership

and Indian independence in parta result of influence

from these mysterious, enlightened masters in Tibet?

And if so, who were these so-called mahatmas?

Ancient astronaut theoristsbelieve the answer can be found

by examining an encounter with a similar entity.

New York City, 1918.

British occultist and writer Aleister Crowley engages

in a magic ritual he calls the Amalantrah Working.

He claims the ritual opens an interdimensional portal,

allowing him to interact with an otherworldly being.

Aleister Crowley is probably the most famous,

or, rather, infamous,magician of the 20th century.

And Crowley took it upon himself to revive

the ancient black arts-- the dark arts, as it were.

He was contacting lots of different beings

from other dimensions.

But there was also a visionCrowley had of this individual,

this entity that he called Lam.

NARRATOR: According to Crowley,

this entity claimed to residehigh in the mountains of Tibet,

just like the mahatma that Madame Blavatsky said

she encountered.

Lam claimed to be a Tibetan master of wisdom,

somewhat in the footsteps of some of the figures

that Madame Blavatsky had been in touch with.

And he was a kind of mystical or otherworldly adept,

in his own description, according to Crowley.

PICKNETT: Aleister Crowley drew a sketch of this creature.

And if you look at this sketch,one thing that hits you

very forcibly-- in fact, startlingly--

is the fact that this looks likea Grey alien.

NARRATOR: More than 70% of alleged alien abductees

describe encountering what havebecome known as the Greys,

or Grey aliens.

Is it possible that there is a connection

between these beings and the Tibetan masters

that both Aleister Crowley and Madame Blavatsky

claimed to have contacted?

And if so, does this suggest that there is a hidden

extraterrestrial realm within Tibet?

Some ancient astronaut theorists believe

that physical proof

of an alien presence in Tibet was uncovered

more than 80 years ago

by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

LACHMAN:The idea is that the statue hassome kind of mystical,

May, 1938.

Roughly one year before the start of the Second World War,

German explorer and zoologist Ernst Schafer

leads a Nazi-funded expedition into Tibet.

Schafer's official objective for the expedition

was the creation of a complete scientific record of Tibet.

But unofficially, he was given another directive:

to determine whether Tibet was the cradle of the Aryan race.

This was allegedly inspired by a 19th century book written

by British author Edward Bulwer-Lytton called

Vril, the Power of the Coming Race.

He describes this extraordinary race of beings

that have magical powers-- sort of superheroes, really.

And they have the "Vril" power.

And sadly, this idea also permeated

into the very early Nazi ideologues' worldview.

The idea that a man can be a superman,

and in order to do this, in their eyes,

you had to be of the Aryan race.

NARRATOR: Some within the Nazis' ranksidentified the Tibetan mahatmas

described by Madame Blavatsky as a race of supermen,

and sought to prove that the Aryans were their descendants.

But even more important to the German expedition than proving

Nazi superiority was findingthe hidden kingdom of Shambhala.

COLLINS: The Nazis took an incredible interest

in looking for that entrance to Shambhala.

The Nazis were almost certainly influenced

by the works of Madame Blavatsky,

because she said if somebody could find access

into Shambhala,

they would also be able tocontrol the destiny of humanity,

and the world as a whole.

LACHMAN: While they were there,

the war broke out in 1939, so they were called back.

So, uh, they didn't really return with any positive proof

about what, you know, what they were looking for,

but the story is, they did comeback with this statue.

NARRATOR: Among the items Schafer brought back to Germany

was a mysterious 22-pound iron statue

of what was presumed to be a Buddhist deity.

The figure had a swastika on itsclothing, a symbol of divinity

that predated the Nazis by thousands of years.

One of their discoveries was a little nine-inch statue

of a being wearing a swastika on his chest,

which certainly would have got the attention of the Nazis,

having adopted the swastika as their symbol,

although they put itinto its counterclockwise form.

The swastika was originallya Tibetan symbol for prosperity

and for good luck.

NARRATOR: In the late 19th century, the term Aryan

referred to an Indo-European language group

that included German, Romance and Sanskrit languages.

The ancient symbol of the swastika became associated

with "Aryan" due to where it was found.

But when the Nazis redefined the term to identify

what they called "the masterrace," they adopted the swastika

as a symbol of their heritageand self-proclaimed superiority.

We can assume that this is what stood out to them,

was this, you know, swastika emblazoned on the chest,

and they decided that this is a representation

of one of these entities that are somehow involved

in the backstory of the Aryan race

and their sort of greatness in the world.

NARRATOR: Could the "Iron Man" statue depict

one of the powerful mahatmas described by Madame Blavatsky?

Was it perhaps a sign that the Nazi expedition

was close to finding Shambhala?

While most researchers have beenpreoccupied with determining

what the statue is meant to depict,

80 years after its discovery, a scientific study uncovered

an even more intriguing aspect of the Iron Man.

NARRATOR: Stuttgart University, 2012.

A team of German geologists that have performed

a new examination of the Iron Man statue

publish their analysis in the scientific journal

Meteorics & Planetary Science.

They estimate the figure was created in the 11th century

and have found that it was not made of earthly iron,

but was carved from the Chinga meteorite.

POPE:It turns out this thing is made

from one of the rarest meteorites in human history,

that fell to Earth over Tibet around 15,000 years ago.

It's the most unusual

and hardest meteorite ever discovered.

The ancient Tibetans who carved this into a statue

clearly suspectedthat this thing had great power.

CHILDRESS:The Tibetans themselves seem torealize that this was special.

And you have to wonder, is this meteorite,

was it perhaps part of a spaceship?

Something that had crashed there in Tibet,

and the Chinga meteorite is all that's left of it?

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Iron Man statue

was made from part of an alien craft

that crash-landed on Earth thousands of years ago?

Could it be a remnant of an event

that marked the arrival of otherworldly visitors,

and the beginning of the legend of Shambhala?

Ancient astronaut theorists sayyes, and suggest that the reason

this alien realm remains so elusive can be found

by examining stories of a Tibetan monster

known as the yeti.

CHILDRESS: Were they murdered by,

April 29, 2019.

Just a few miles south of theTibetan border, the Indian Army

reports the discovery ofenormous footprints in the snow

measuring an astounding 32 inches long by 15 inches wide.

They identify the footprints as having been made

by the legendary monster known as the yeti.

SHIMKHADA: The yeti is some kindof a Himalayan monster

that looked like a man, that looked like an ape.

This is a composite, uh, figure.

Local people have seen it in the snow, in the mountains.

NARRATOR: Tales of the yeti stretch back to pre-Buddhist Tibet,

where the shamanic mystics of the Bon religion

told of wild men that guarded a hidden place

of power and perfection called Olmo Lung Ring,

known in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as Shambhala.

The yeti have this reputation of being extremely violent

and aggressive towards humans.

And one explanation for this is because they're considered

to be the guardians of Shambhala.

Keeping away all those that are not pure of heart

from entering into this holiest of holy places.

CHILDRESS: When the early British expeditions

went through India into Tibet,

they would stop at Tibetan monasteries

on their way to Mount Everest

and they would be told about yetis.

And that yetis were guardians

of the entrances to Shambhala.

NARRATOR:Monsters guarding the entrancesto the land of the gods?

While it may sound like the stuff of legend,

ancient astronaut theorists suggest there is

disturbing evidence that may prove

such stories are, in fact, very real.

Uttarakhand, India.

16,000 feet high in the Himalayas,

just 40 miles from the Tibetan border,

lies Roopkund Lake.

While it has become a popular tourist destination,

those who approach this small, picturesque body of water

are confronted with a chilling sight...

because Roopkund Lake is littered

with the remains of over 600 human bodies.

For decades,scientists assumed that the dead

had fallen victimto a single massive catastrophe.

But in 2019, DNA sampling

revealed that the bodies contained

in what has been dubbed "Skeleton Lake"

did not all die at once,

but at different points in time,

over a period of at least a thousand years.

Some of the skeletons, uh, had, uh, what they said were,

um... unhealed compression fractures on the head.

Were they murdered by, like, being hammered on the head

and then thrown into this lake?

So researchers were baffled by this whole thing.

And the more information that came out of this lake,

the stranger it became.

SHIMKHADA: Recently, Indian scientists have performed

DNA testing on those bones in Roopkund.

They have found many South Asians

and some East Asians--

meaning Chinese and Koreans--

and of course some from the West,

you know, for example Mediterranean region.

So that is really intriguing, you know, how these people

wound up there, uh, that's baffling.

NARRATOR: What could have drawn people from all over the world

to make the treacherous journeyto this very small

and remote mountain lake?

And not just at a single point in time,

but continuously for hundreds of years?

LACHMAN: Roopkund Lake is

on the pilgrims' trail, uh, to

uh, Mount Kailash, which is,

uh, one of the central, uh, uh,

geographic sites in-in, um, Hindu

and-and Tibetan and Buddhist, uh, religion.

These people at different timescould have been

on the pilgrimage path.

HENRY: If the yeti is consideredto be the guardian of Shambhala,

and if Shambhala is Kailash, then it makes perfect sense

why the yeti is somehow taking these people, killing them,

harming them, and throwing themin Skeleton Lake.

[growling]

NARRATOR: Could the bones found at Skeleton Lake

belong to pilgrims who were seeking

Shambhala and fell victim to the yeti?

Although there have been numerous reported sightings

of yetis in Tibet, no reliable physical proof

of their existence has been successfully retrieved.

In fact, these mysterious beingsare often reported

as simply vanishing into thin air.

In 1951, the world-famous mountaineer Eric Shipton

was on his way to Mount Everest.

He's at 19,000 feet.

And all of a sudden, he sees these giant

footprints in the snow.

And he follows them for over a mile

until they disappear into the glacier.

The yeti could, in fact, be an interdimensional creature,

capable of either cloaking itself

or disappearing into other realms.

Perhaps they are not physical biological beings,

but are some sort of interdimensional

class of entities, which is able

to appear and disappear at will.

And manifest themselves at willto stop those

who are not supposed to enter certain areas.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that both the yeti

and the kingdom of Shambhala that it is said to protect

are not only extraterrestrial,

but also interdimensional?

Might this explain why they remain so elusive?

Some modern researchers, people like Jacques Vallée,

John Keel, amongst others,

have drawn the conclusion that maybe we're not really

dealing with extraterrestrials from outerspace,

but ultra-terrestrials were coming from parallelspace.

That's exactly what masters of mysticism

and experiences of the prophetic traditions

have been saying for thousands of years.

NARRATOR: If a gateway

leading into another dimension exists somewhere

in Tibet, as ancient astronaut theorists suggest,

could it be a site where extraterrestrials--

or, perhaps, ultra-terrestrials--

are entering our world?

And might it also be possible for us to enter theirs?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe

that the key to accessing this cosmic paradise

may not lie in travelingto a secret location in Tibet...

but in mastering an ancient technique of the mind.

NARRATOR: Seda County, China.

December 11, 2015.

In the southeast region of the Tibetan plateau,

renowned Tibetan Buddhist monk

Lama Thubser has been ina state of continuous meditation

for seven straight days,

engaged in a practice that is said

to go back some 10,000 years.

He is attempting to attain what is known

as the "rainbow light body."

Tibetan Buddhists believe that through meditation practices

like this, it is possible to access alternate realms.

And that this may be where the kingdom of Shambhala

truly exists.

You will find people within Tibetan Buddhist tradition

who believe that Shambhala isan actual place.

But it may be what we mightcall an interdimensional place.

So it cannot be accessed through ordinary material techniques.

But it exists in another dimension, so to speak.

NARRATOR:Is it possible that the conceptof the rainbow light body

holds the key to reaching an alien realm

that exists on Earth?

And is there any evidence that such a transformative process

could actually take place?

Recently, scientists havediscovered that the human body,

particularly in the brain,

naturally produces light in the form of biophotons.

The average person emits 14 to 20 photons

by centimeter square per second.

This is very, very low.

But in a state of meditation,

you are able to raise that number

by 100,000 photons per centimeter square per second,

which is extremely bright.

This tells us that when we are in a higher state

of consciousness, our bodies emit a huge amount of light.

And perhaps that is the reason why we call it enlightenment.

NARRATOR: Tibetan Buddhists say that when a highly trained priest

commits himself to attainment of the rainbow light body,

his material body will fade away.

Photographs taken by those in attendance

on the seventh day of Lama Thubser's meditation

provide an incredibly rare documentation

of this sacred process.

As his breathing stops and his physical body begins to die,

it dramatically decreases in size.

According to the monks,

he has dissolved into light.

And a final photograph reveals a beam of light shooting up

into the sky from the site of his transformation.

HENRY: In the Tibetan tradition,they tell us that once a Lama

has achieved this state of being,

that they're able to then travel to 12 star systems

where this teaching is taught, that are all connected

with the Earth, and that beings come and go,

bringing this teaching and enlightening

all other civilizations they come into contact with.

The rainbow light body, it is an extraterrestrial teaching

that was imported to Earth from other star systems.

TZADOK: Right now, very few make the efforts

to learn how to expand consciousness,

to interact with our parallel dimensions.

But the future is to bring the worlds together.

This is what the biblical tradition teaches

when it says everyone will know the truth.

There will be enlightenment for all.

NARRATOR: Could it be that high

in the mountains of Tibet,

there is a gateway into another dimension?

And if so, is it possible that this alternate realm

can only be accessed through a state of enlightenment?

Perhaps as science begins to understand more

about human consciousness,

we will learn what the Tibetan masters

have known for centuries.

That we can reach the stars not only

by mastering technology

but by mastering the power of the human mind.

CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS