Paul Schubert, in a symposium devoted to the The Idea of History in the
Ancient Near East writes: «When it comes to the idea of history, it must be said that Israel, through its
sacred scripture... has proved to be the strongest and most influential single force observable by the historian in shaping the idea of history throughout two millennia of Western history.»
Compelling references continue through the millennia in numerous esoteric texts: the
sacred B'on treaties, manuscripts of the Kalki lore, the Puranas, the earliest texts of the Kalachakra Laghutantra, in the even older Kalachakra Mulatantra, and in the
ancient wisdom traditions of civilizations throughout the Himalayan regions of Asia and beyond.The Zhang Zhung and Tibetan
scriptures refer to the mysterious world as Shambhala I lam - yig, B'on treaties as Olmolungring, Hindu histories as Aryavarth, Chinese as Hsi Tien, and Russian traditions as Belovoyde.In an esoteric treatise composed in the early 1500s by Ensapa Lobsang Döndrup, the Third Panchen Lama describes his remarkable visit to a land of wise masters hidden deep in the Himalayas.