Chapter 16: The Zhangzhung Civilization

Seeing my expression of understanding, Buweiro offered a smile and continued: "In those days, the Buddha Civilization quietly arrived on Earth to conduct investigations. Since they had been expelled by the super-civilization of the Milky Way, they had to remain discreet. The most powerful local civilization on Earth was of only intermediate level at that time, so it was unlikely they would detect the presence of the advanced Buddha Civilization.

The Buddha Civilization first arrived in your region Tibet, where they conducted secret studies and had a profound influence on the ancient people of that time, even establishing their teachings locally. Over time, this led to the formation of the early 'Zhangzhung culture', which greatly contributed to the development of the region's culture. Their headquarters for these teachings was located on Mount Kailash, which was regarded as a sacred site by the locals. (see Figure 1)

Figure 1: The golden mountain in the sun at Mount Kailash, Tibet, China

Back then, the expansion of the 'Zhangzhung culture' was detected by other civilizations on Earth, who tried several times to push them back but were defeated. Realizing they were no match for the Buddha Civilization, the Interstellar Alliance reported the situation to the Star Federation Union. After a brief confrontation, the Buddha Civilization was forced to leave.

Since neither side used powerful weapons, and the Buddha Civilization did not intend to stay for long, so the conflict was mainly a test of strength. However, Tibet, which was rich in resources and beautiful mountains and rivers, was turned into a devastated and harsh area, which has not recovered until now, and even now, it has not fully recovered. In those days, Tibet was a verdant, highly auspicious land."

"Ah, the Zhangzhung Civilization? I've never heard of it before." I murmured in surprise.

Though I had never been to Tibet, I knew about its current rugged geography. In my mind, Tibet was a barren land with a harsh ecosystem. Who would have thought it had once been a place of natural abundance? To my limited knowledge, I hadn't known about the 'Zhangzhung Civilization' either; I only knew there were once 'Four Ancient Civilizations' in the world, with ancient China being the longest-lasting and the only one still surviving.

Then I remembered that Tibet is indeed a magical place. It not only has the mysterious Tibetan Buddhism and various legends, but also magical beliefs, reincarnation of living Buddhas, disappeared ancient dynasties, the mysterious Potala Palace, and I heard that there are water monsters in some of the big lakes.

What impressed me the most was reading online that Rudolf Hitler supposedly sent an expedition to Tibet in search of an energy source for immortality (see Figure 2). While the legends surrounding Hitler seem a bit far-fetched, this information supports the idea that Tibet is indeed a mysterious place.

Figure 2: Hitler sent people to explore Tibet twice

Many legends were hard to understand before, but today, after hearing Buweiro explain the origins of the Buddha Civilization and the ancient history of the Tibetan region, I feel as though I've gained a faint understanding of many things.

"After the Buddha Civilization left Earth, what happened? Tibet still has Buddhist culture, and both ancient and modern India have Buddhism, which has even spread worldwide to become one of the three major religions. How did this all come about?" After a moment of thought, I voiced my lingering doubts.

Buweiro responded: "After the advanced Buddha Civilization was expelled by the Milky Way's enforcement forces, the later took back some remaining heritage left by the Buddha Civilization for study, leaving Earth's primary civilizations curious but powerless to intervene. However, all civilizations on Earth found that, although the Buddha civilization has left, the believers who were once ruled in the Tibetan region have been terribly brainwashed, including countless local people.

Even with the technology of the primary civilization, the believers cannot restore their original thoughts. If they are forced to restore, they can only delete or change their memories. This situation has aroused the interest of many primary civilizations, and they have started research. Some primary civilizations took away all the people of a small town, hoping to find something out.

Primary civilizations can benefit a lot from studying advanced civilizations, whether in terms of technology, theory, or ideas, so no one sought to eliminate the followers completely. At the same time, all primary civilizations on Earth, including the Alliance, decided to keep Mount Kailash, the headquarters of the Buddha civilization, as a place for continued research. No civilization should destroy it, otherwise it would become a public enemy. This is why Mount Kailash in Tibet remains mysterious to this day."

I listened to Buweiro's story with great interest, as if I was immersed in a long-lost memory.

"Hundreds of thousands of meters deep underground in the Tibetan region, there is an ancient intermediate civilization hidden. This intermediate civilization is called the 'Barihui civilization', which is also the prototype of the current 'Shambhala' in Tibet. The Barihui civilization came from the middle ring of the Milky Way. A long time ago, it offended the advanced civilizations in the inner ring of the Milky Way and was exiled to the galaxy's outskirts, where they chose the Earth's Tibetan region to live in isolation underground.

When the Earth's primary civilizations found out, they tried to form ties with them but were ignored. One primary civilization called the 'Dar Civilization' from the Boötes constellation outside our Solar system,  attempted to provoke the Barihui, even trying to steal their technology. As a result, the Barihui Civilization destroyed Dar Civilization with ease, leaving UFO wreckage scattered all over Tibet, and other primitive civilizations on Earth dare only watch but not speak.

Ten thousands years later, you humans found some remains of the Dar Civilization, though these had fossilized into stone plates. Although scientists have extracted some information, national authorities remain reluctant to acknowledge it publicly, leaving the matter unresolved."

"Wow." My mouth hung open in shock. I'd heard of the mysterious ancient stone plates in Tibet, thinking they were mere legends or stories. Who would have thought they were all real—and even connected to an intermediate civilization? Does this have anything to do with the later development of Buddhism in Tibet?

Seeing my confusion, Buweiro smiled and continued explaining: "The Barihui species is the only intermediate civilization on Earth, living in seclusion in Tibet. Even if they occasionally leave underground, they don't interact with primary civilizations.

After the Buddha Civilization's arrival and subsequent expulsion from Tibet by the Star Federation Union's enforcement forces, the Barihui immediately took control of most of the 'Zhangzhung culture' for research, leaving only a small portion to primary civilizations. The other primary civilizations were resentful but dared not speak out, as the Barihui even brought the populations of some countries of the Zhangzhung civilization underground.

This is the origin of what humans call the 'Inner Earth'. Since then, the Barihui Civilization has remained hidden, and the 'Zhangzhung culture' on the surface gradually evolved over time into what is now Tibetan Buddhism."

"History is so complex! But something doesn't add up—how did the ancient Zhangzhung civilization evolve into Tibetan Buddhism? Our textbooks and online sources all describe Tibet as a Buddhist culture, and 'Zhangzhung civilization' is rarely mentioned. Also, you still haven't explained about ancient Indian's Buddhism." Listening to Buweiro's explanation, I suddenly realized how different Tibetan history seemed from what we knew from textbooks.

Buweiro continued: "The Barihui intermediate civilization was only interested in studying the brainwashed Zhangzhung countries and populations, hoping to find some knowledge of the advanced Buddha civilization from them, and is too lazy to care about the remaining countries on the surface. 

Over generations, the people on the surface experienced natural disasters, wars, and other changes, eventually forgetting their Zhangzhung heritage, preserving only some customs and legends that gradually transformed into what you now know as Tibetan Buddhist culture."

 

"As for ancient Indian civilization," he went on, "after the Buddha Civilization left 6,000 years ago, a primary civilization called 'Botsaha' from a planet in the Hydra constellation, outside the solar system, took an interest. This Botsaha civilization is now a member of the Alliance; they resemble humans but have four wings like a moth's and have even been sighted by ancient humans, later being referred to as the 'Mothman'.

Botsaha took a small Zhangzhung country to their domain for study, which happened to be the region of ancient India. Like the Barihui, Botsaha focused only on studying the brainwashed followers, allowing the region's other societies to develop naturally. Over time, this led to the emergence of the Indus Valley Civilization, Harappa culture, the Maurya Dynasty, Gupta Dynasty, and later the Mughal Empire.

During the process of civilization development in ancient India, a country called Tianzhu emerged. In this country, a prince who liked to summarize and innovate was born, named Sakyamuni. He summarized all the scattered Buddhist culture in the local area and created a unique philosophy that gained widespread respect and gradually spread globally. He was later honored as the 'Buddha' and became the founder of one of the world's most widely followed religions.

"However, Buddhist culture already existed before the birth of Sakyamuni, and you can check it on your mobile phone. This is also what I said before, that the ancient Buddhist culture actually came from your ancient China."

"So that's how Tibetan and ancient Indian Buddhism came about! I always noticed similarities between them, but there are differences in beliefs too. Now I see they were influenced by two different alien civilizations. But wait, Buweiro, why would the Barihui civilization in Tibet and the Botsaha civilization in ancient India allow Buddhist culture to spread and influence humanity?" Another question arose in my mind as one doubt was just clarified.

"Neither the Barihui intermediate civilization, the Botsaha primary civilization, nor any other civilization found valuable knowledge in the followers' beliefs or thoughts. Otherwise, after so many years, their technology would have advanced rapidly enough to leave the Earth. This shows that the Buddha Civilization kept its technology highly secret."

Buweiro explained further: "Seeing this, all primary civilizations eventually reached a mutual understanding, allowing Zhangzhung culture to develop naturally while observing it in the hopes of finding new discoveries. They didn't anticipate, however, that the teachings of the Buddha Civilization would evolve into today's Buddhist culture, and they gained no additional insights."

"Nothing gained at all? Is the advanced Buddha civilization in the multiverse so awesome?" I continued to ask without giving up.

"No, there were no substantial discoveries. In ancient India, not only Botsaha but the entire Alliance participated in the research and even conducted joint exercises. The only revelation was the Buddha Civilization's profound influence over thought, but there was little practical value to be gained from it. Manipulating thought and perception on a chemical level is actually something primary civilizations can already do.

However, this prolonged research eventually messed up the culture of ancient India, causing it to become increasingly chaotic. This is also the reason for the various legends in India today and the strange thoughts of the locals."

Buweiro's explanation made me realize why India and surrounding countries have such a vast diversity of religious beliefs. I often come across short videos on my phone that showcase the unique customs and lifestyles of South Asia—some of which seem quite unusual. It turns out that these influences are due to the involvement of the Interstellar Alliance.

"Is the reincarnation of Tibetan living Buddhas real? I heard that the even palm lines of a reincarnated young living Buddha are similar to those of the deceased elder living Buddha. When the young living Buddha is sensible, that is, when he is five or six years old, he can recognize the instruments he used before his death and tell many things about his past life, which is quite mysterious." I suddenly remembered that my history teacher mentioned this in middle school. Later, I looked it up on my phone and found similar information. I've been puzzled about it for years, and now that I met Buweiro, I took the opportunity to ask him.

"It's true," Buweiro explained, seeing my shocked expression. "When the Buddha civilization was conducting research on Earth, they set up an energy field in the Zhangzhung territory, which enhanced the gathering of faith. This energy field has persisted to this day in Tibet. After the Buddha civilization departed, some primitive civilizations discovered that living Buddhas had certain mystical characteristics. When their time neared, they could choose a future home for their spirit.

Essentially, after a living Buddha passes, they can still control their consciousness particles — what you call the soul — to seek a new host for reincarnation, but only within the energy field left by the Buddha civilization. That's why a living Buddha can only reincarnate in Tibet."

"Oh, I see! The reincarnation and rebirth of living Buddhas are actually enveloped by a mysterious energy field. The truth isn't as inscrutable as I imagined, but without your explanation, I'd never have figured it out in my lifetime."

After hearing Buweiro's explanation, I felt a sense of clarity and a lightness in my body, as if I had achieved enlightenment.