James Hilton (novelist)James Hilton (9 September 1900 – 20 December 1954) was a British-American novelist and screenwriter. He is best remembered for his novels Lost Horizon; Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Random Harvest; and co-writing screenplays for the films Camille (1936) and Mrs. Miniver (1942), the latter earning him an Academy Award. Early life and educationHilton was born in Leigh, Lancashire, the son of John Hilton, the headmaster of Chapel End School in Walthamstow.
Lost HorizonLost Horizon is a 1933 novel by the English writer James Hilton. The book was adapted into a film, also called Lost Horizon, in 1937 by director Frank Capra; and a musical film remake in 1973 by producer Ross Hunter with music by Burt Bacharach. It is the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopianlamasery located high in the mountains of Tibet.
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan, and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as in Nepal.
UtopiaImaginary community with desirable qualitiesThis is the woodcut for Utopia's map as it appears in Thomas More's Utopia printed by Dirk Martens in December 1516 (the first edition).A utopia ( ) is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its residents. The term was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, which describes a fictional island society in the New World, but some utopian visions predate it.
ParadiseIn religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human civilization: in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, a land of luxury and fulfillment containing ever-lasting bliss and delight.
MonasteryA monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities (as cenobites) or alone (as hermits).
Padmasambhava8th-century Buddhist lamaColossus of Padmasambhava, 123 ft. (37.5 m) high, in mist overlooking Rewalsar Lake, Himachal Pradesh, IndiaPadmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a semi-legendary tantric Buddhist Vajra master from medieval India, who according to hagiographical sources fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries.
Kunlun MountainsTibetan nameTibetanཁུ་ནུ་རི་རྒྱུདMongolian nameMongolian CyrillicХөндлөн УулUyghur nameUyghurقۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسىKyrgyz nameKyrgyzقۇن-لۇن تووКунь-Лунь ТооKun-Lun TooThe Kunlun Mountains constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi). In the broadest sense, the chain forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin.
BeyulAccording to the beliefs of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Beyul (Tibetan: སྦས་ཡུལ, Wylie: sbas-yul) are hidden valleys often encompassing hundreds of square kilometers, which Padmasambhava blessed as refuges. Tertöns may reveal them from terma at specific and appropriate times. Their locations were kept on scrolls (lamyig or neyig) hidden under rocks and inside caves, monasteries and stupas.
TibetTibet () is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau. It is the homeland of the Tibetans. Other ethnic groups also reside on the plateau, including Mongols, the Lhoba, Monpa, Qiang, Sherpa, and since the 20th century, Han and Hui peoples. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of 4,380 m (14,000 ft).
Religion in TibetThe main religion in Tibet has been Buddhism since its introduction in the 8th century CE. As of 2022 the historical region of Tibet (the areas inhabited by ethnic Tibetans) mostly comprises the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China and partly the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan.Fictional locationFictional locations are places that exist only in fiction and not in reality, such as the Negaverse or Wonderland. They can also be inspired by actually existing locations. Writers may create and describe such places to serve as a backdrop for their fictional works. Fictional locations are also created for use as settings in role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons.
Shangri-LaRelated word or term.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.