Table Of ContentDARKNESS
OVER TIBET
MYSTIC TRAVELLER SERIES
DARKNESS OVER
TIBET
T. ILLION
Author of
"In Secret Tibet"
DARKNESS OVER TIBET
Copyright 1937
Theodore Illion
First published by
Rider & Co. London.
Printed in the United States of America
This Printing: 199 1
ISBN 0-9328 13- 14-3
Published by Adventures Unlimited Press
Box 22, Stelle, Illinois 609 19-9989 USA
The Mystic Traveller Series:
.IN SECRET TIBET by Theodore Illion (19 37)
.DARKNESS OVER TIBET by Theodore Illion ( 1938)
.TENTS IN MONGOLIA by Sven Haslund (1 934)
.MEN AND GODS IN MONGOLIA by Sven Haslund (1935)
.MYSTERY CITIES by Thomas Gann ( 19 25)
.IN QUEST OF LOST WORLDS by Byron de Prorok (1937)
INTRODUCTION:
The German traveller Theodore Illion was one of
the first travellers to penetrate Tibet while it was still
sealed off from the outside. Illion, who spoke fluent
Tibetan, had to disguise himself as a wandering
Tibetan monk in order to escape detection, as it was
illegal for any foreigner to be in Tibet.
He began planning his trip in 1932 and left
Germany in 1934. After several years of adventures
and hairaising narrow escapes with death, he returned
to Germany to write Ratfelhaftes Tibet, published in
Hamburg in 1936. His books were quickly translated
into English and published by Rider & Company in
London: IN SECRET TIBET (1 937) & DARKNESS
OVER TIBET (1938).
DARKNESS OVER TIBET, is an extremely rare
book. Illion made some chance acquaintances which
led to contacts with wise men and black magicians. He
then was invited to live and study in an underground
city in central Tibet. His subsequent escape and
hair-raising journies are classic travel writing of the
1930's. It is believed that Illion's accounts of Tibet
were instrumental in persuading the Nazi government
of Germany to send yearly expeditions into Tibet. The
first volume, IN SECRET TIBET, recounts the first
episodes of Illion's fascinating adventures in Central
Asia.
PREFACE
IN my book in Secret Tibet I have given an outline
of my recent journey to Tibet, showing how,
passing through successive contacts with the
Tibetan multitude and gangs of brigands, I finally
succeeded in visiting Tibetan monasteries in the
disguise of a native. After witnessing various
marvels, such as the flying lamas and the Tibetan
re*,* I reached the h a 1 stage of the journey
in the most inaccessible part of the country where
live the genuine Tibetan hermits, who can read
people's thoughts and possess the strange power to
maintain themselves young almost indefinitely.
My talks with these wise men, whlch are recorded
in my earlier book, reflect a certain degree of
understanding of the vital problems of Life and
Death, spiritual crimes, Salvation and Eternity, and
many of my readers will have wondered h& the
author arrived at a degree of understanding which
made these spiritual contacts possible.
Let me say, then, in this connection, that real
understanding in s~iritualm atters is the result of
much bitter Zghti&, of suffering, spiritual agony
and soul passion. Life itself would have no meaning
if there bas no fighting on all planes, if all wG
smooth and monotonous. Everything fights in
nature. Every plant fights to get more sunshine,
*
Peof le who can sit naked and motionless for several how during
icily col nights without freezing to death.
v
P R E F A C E
every animal fights for food ; the angel' themselves
fight. Constant struggle on all planes to which it has
access is the birthright of the creature. Woe to
him who wants to put himself on a level with the
Creator and escape fighting I
I had bitter experiences too. On my travels
I have met some of the highest spiritual entities
incarnated in the flesh, and not only those working
for the Creator but also those working against
him.
Even the fires of hell have their mission. They
destroy man if he is weak, but if he is strong they
purify by burning the dross away.
This book supplements in Secret Tibet by showing
a different side of the picture, a few Demons of
Light and many Demons of the Shadow. It will
help the reader to realize that spirituality actually is
a very stormy ocean. The currents of life are inter-
woven, and Good and Evil, Light and Shadow, are
within a hairbreadth from each other.
The existence of an Underground City in Tibet
is occasionally hinted at by well-informed people in
the forbidden country, although the stories are
often extravagant and turn the Underground City,
which I succeeded in entering, into a "Mighty
Underground Empire inhabited by millions of
people".
Tibet becomes somewhat more accessible as
the years roll by, and I am confident that eventually
other explorers will confirm my description of the
Underground City of Tibet.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
.
9
I. HUNTED BY TIBETAN BRIGANDS
•
. .
4 I
11. DEMONS DESCENDING
111. CHARMING MEMBERS OF AN OCCULT
. . .
72
FRATERNITY
IV. THE UNDERGROUND CITY OF THE
. . .
9j
INITIATES
. . . .
V. THE FLIGHT I j j
Gods and Demons guard the main temple of Lhasa
