Subsequently， he published several books about Tibet in a series：Searching for Shangri-La， New Age Sutra， Conversations with SacredMountains， Sage’s Maxims， Shangbhala， etc. He also filmed specials：Searching for Shangri-La， Shangbhala， etc. This is his progress as aspiritual being.
Jigme Gyaltsen， a lama in Qinghai Province， established a yakcheese factory with international aid， to help herdsmen become rich.
Profits from the factory were used to run schools， so that the herdsmen’schildren had free education. Jigme unselfishly， altruisticallysought benefits for the herdsmen， and this won Laurence’s admiration.
Jigme told him， “By being kind-hearted， dedicated and good， youwill find the real Shangri-La.” Laurence was greatly moved by these34 0 words， and spurred on in his desire to discover the real Shangri-La.
He bought a Shangbhala Lection written by the 6th BainqenLama in Tibet. The location of Shangri-La， as described in this book，can be traced to the site of Guge Kingdom in Ali. However， what hesaw was merely the ruins of this ancient city. Like the extinction of theMayan civilization and the annihilation of ancient Pompeii， the gloryof the Guge Kingdom vanished suddenly. For a while Laurence waslost.
A lama told him that only the 11 th Bainqen Lama could tell himwhere Shangri-La was， because the 11 th Bainqen Lama was the reincarnationof the 6th Bainqen Lama — the author of Shangbhala Lection.
Laurence had begun his tour from Zhashilunbu Temple in Tibet，through Qinghai and Yunnan， and now he returned to his startingpoint. This journey， for him， proved to be another trek across spiritualfrontiers.
The young， sagacious Bainqen Lama answered all his questionsabout Shangri-La. According to him， the concept of Shangri-La couldbe dated back to India， where Buddha Shakyamuni was born. He saidpeople saw Shangri-La as Xanadu， the earthly paradise; many famousBuddhist scholars， including the 1st， 6th， and 9th Bainqen Lamas， hadtalked and written about Shangri-La， describing it as a harmonious andhappy place. It was hard to say whether one could arrive in Shangri-La， for it depended on people’s determination and persistence. Onlythose who were sincere could find it， he said.
“Remember to do good even when encountering difficulties. Thiswill bring peace to the world. The Lama pointed out that many countries spent huge amountsof money acquiring weapons of mass destruction. These countriestook it on themselves to ensure the safety of their own in this way，while wreaking havoc on the world. If these funds were used to helpunder-developed countries， to help the handicapped and students， or to purchase medical equipments， to promote medical research … thenworldwide peace was possible.
The 11 th Bainqen Lama hoped that the world would one day enjoypeace， and that all its people would love and respect one another，that different religions would tolerate each other and coexist peacefully.
On hearing the teachings of the 11 th Bainqen Lama， Laurencesuddenly felt refreshed. He realized that Shangri-La was hard to findgeographically， but in the spiritual world of human beings， in philosophy，and in religion， it meant inner peace and wisdom and goodness.
Laurence is all praise for the profound wisdom and generosity ofTibetan Buddhism. He believes that the 11 th Bainqen Lama will makegreat contributions to the world， as he has mastered the essence of TibetanBuddhist culture， and is thus able to spread the morals and principlesessential to a harmonious society in its pursuit of Shangri-La.
Laurence decided to devote more energy to the sustainable developmentof Tibetan culture on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
“In Lhasa， I invested in building the Shangbala Hotel， originallya Tibetan-style building in the Bajiao Street，” he says. “I also revivedthe traditional Tibetan lifestyle and culture in the course of restoringthis ancient building.
“All the handicraft articles are made by the local Tibetan people，and these include curtains， carpets， pillows， Buddha beads， and so on.
