This is despite Lhasa being not only far from any Tibetan boundary, but also strictly off-limits to any foreigners (known as philings).
She adopts a son, Yendong she spends two years meditating in the wilderness with only a shirt to keep her warm and she spends a winter in Kumdum monastery reading and translating Buddhist documents, despite that place being off-limits to women.ĪDN decides that she would like to travel to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet and the ‘Tibetan Vatican’ (her words). I consider as the happiest of my life those days when, with a load upon my back, I wandered as one of the countless tribe of Thibetan beggar pilgrims. Such things might easily bring on heart failure or madness. People whose hearts are not strong and who cannot sufficiently master their nerves are wiser to avoid journeys of this kind. She spent fourteen years in Tibet (which she spells Thibet) because she wanted to. David-Neel is famous for being the first Western woman to have been received by any Dalai Lama and as a passionate scholar and explorer of Asia, her's is one of the most remarkable of all travellers' tales.ADN was a traveller in a time when women flinging themselves across the world for the joy of adventure was unheard of. The determination and sheer physical fortitude it took for this woman, delicately reared in Paris and Brussels, is inspiration for men and women alike. With the help of her young companion, Yongden, she willingly suffered the primitive travel conditions, frequent outbreaks of disease, the ever-present danger of border control and the military to reach her goal. In order to penetrate Tibet and reach Lhasa, she used her fluency of Tibetan dialects and culture, disguised herself as a beggar with yak hair extensions and inked skin and tackled some of the roughest terrain and climate in the World.
Originally published in 1927 by Harper and Brothers, this book is the culmination of more than twenty years of Madame Alexandra David-Neel's intensive study and daring adventure in mysterious territories of the East.
0 kommentar(er)
