The novel is divided into several parts, most of them longer than a chapter, each dealing with a different part of Sangay's life. This is a practical division and less arbitrary than short chapters. At the climax of the story, his time in Shambhala is described under the title "Dance of the Snow Dragon," a title fittingly assigned to the entire book. (It is a far more suitable title than, say, "Sangay the Monk" or "Adventures in Shamhala" would be.) The Snow Dragon is a mythical and symbolic beast, an elemental that is summoned to protect the kingdom of Shambhala and the knowledge by which Shambhala sustains the mundane world.

A metaphor maintained throughout the novel is that the dances the monks study reproduce in microcosm the world itself.

The Snow Dragon moving in its dance makes up the world and sustains it. This is a...