Culture
Cultural Topics
Departments
Advertisment
|
My
Journey to Lhasa: The Classic Story of the Only Western Woman Who Succeeded
in Entering the Forbidden City
by Alexandra David-Neel
Paperback from Harper Perennial
Media Published: 2005-08-23
ISBN: 0060596554
An exemplary travelogue of danger and achievement by the Frenchwoman
Madame Alexandra David-Neel of her 1923 expedition to Tibet, the fifth
in her series of Asian travels, and her personal recounting of her journey
to Lhasa, Tibet's forbidden city.
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. 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.
The determination and sheer physical fortitude it took for this woman,
delicately reared in Paris and Brussels, is inspiration for men and women
alike.
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, hers is one of the most remarkable of all travellersß´ales.
In any time, Alexandra David-Neel would have been considered an extraordinary
woman, but in the Victorian era, she was truly exceptional. Born in 1868,
David-Neel eschewed the dances, dinners, and formal marriages common to
women of her era and social standing in order to indulge her fierce independence
and insatiable intellectual curiosity. Her interest in comparative religions
dated back to early childhood; even as a student in a Catholic convent
school, she kept statues of both Christ and the Buddha in her room. She
made her first trip to Asia in 1891, then supported herself as a light-opera
singer and journalist before marrying a seemingly conventional man, Philip
Neel. Fortunately for both Alexandra David-Neel and for posterity, Philip
was less stodgy than his position as a well-off engineer might imply; though
he did not accompany her, he supported his wife's explorations and even
acted as her literary agent when she began to write about the places she
visited. Alexandra and Philip remained the closest of friends until his
death in 1941.
David-Neel spent years traveling in India and China, but perhaps her
most daring adventure was the trip to Tibet's forbidden city of Lhasa.
She was 55 years old at the time, fluent in Tibetan and well versed in
both Sanskrit and Buddhism. Disguised as a man, she spent four treacherous
months on the road before finally becoming the first European woman ever
to enter Lhasa. My Journey to Lhasa is David-Neel's own account
of her astounding journey, one fraught with hardship and danger. It is
both a chronicle of a bygone time and a testimonial to a remarkable human. |
| |
The
Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects
by Alexandra David-Neel, Michael Lally
Paperback from City Lights Publishers
ISBN: 0872860124
This is an account of the Madhyamika
(Middle Way) school of Buddhism, a method of mediation and enlightenment
that was developed by the great Indian teacher Nagarjuna. In a collaboration
between the Frenchwoman Alexandra David-Neel and her friend, the Tibetan
lama Aphur Yongden, these teaching are presented clearly and elegantly,
intended for the layman who seeks a way to practice and experience the
realization of oneness with all existence.
Alexandra David-Neel was born in 1868 in Paris. In her youth she wrote
an incendiary anarchist treatise and was an acclaimed opera singer; then
she decided to devote her life to exploration and the study of world religions,
including Buddhist philosophy. She traveled extensively to in Central Asia
and the Far East, where she learned a number of Asian languages, including
Tibetan. In 1914, she met Lama Yongden, who became her adopted son, teacher,
and companion. In 1923, at the age of fifty-five, she disguised herself
as a pilgrim and journeyed to Tibet, where she was the first European woman
to enter Lhasa, which was closed to foreigners at the time. In her late
seventies, she settled in the south of France, where she lived until her
death at 101 in 1969. |
| |
Magic
and Mystery in Tibet
by Alexandra David-Neel
Paperback from Book Tree
ISBN: 1585090972
David-Neel illustrates the point that there is much more to life than
is found on the surface. Readers are initiated into powerful meditations,
breathing exercises, the control of body heat, visions, shamanic magic
and past life recollection. |
| |
The
Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel: A Biography of the Explorer of Tibet
and Its Forbidden Practices
by Barbara Foster, Michael Foster
Paperback from Overlook TP
ISBN: 1585673293
The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel is the definitive biography
of the explorer Lawrence Durrell called "the most astonishing woman of
our time." Alexandra David-Neel was the first European to explore Tibet
at a time when foreigners were banned; few have led a life of adventure
to equal hers or made so much of it.
In Tibet and Sikkim, David-Neel lived among hermits and shamans while
studying first hand the secret mystical practices of Tibetan Buddhism,
including out-of-body travel, telepathy, vampiric shamanism, and tantric
sex. After returning to France, she wrote more than thirty books, among
them My Journey to Lhasa and Magic and Mystery in Tibet. She has had a
profound influence on Beat culture and the emergence of American Buddhism.
Drawing from rare source material, including information obtained from
the secret files of the India office, Barbara and Michael Foster have written
a vividly detailed chronicle-of both David-Neel's quest to conquer her
personal demons and of the outer journey that made her one of the most
celebrated figures of her day. |
| |
Alexandra
David-Neel: Portait of an Adventurer
by Ruth Middleton
Paperback from Shambhala
Media Published: 1989-07-01
ISBN: 0877734135
This unique biography explores the inner journey of a woman whose outer
life was a thrilling story of passion and adventure. Alexandra David-Neel
(1868-1969), born in Paris to a socially prominent family, once boasted,
"I learned to run before I could walk!" In the course of a lifetime of
more than one hundred years, she was an acclaimed operatic soprano, a political
anarchist, a religious reformer, an intrepid explorer who traveled in Tibet
for fourteen years, a scholar of Buddhism, and the author of more than
forty books. But perhaps the most intriguing of all her adventures was
the spiritual search that led her from a youthful interest in socialism
and Freemasonry to the teachings of the great sages of India and culminated
in her initiation into the secret tantric practices of Tibetan Buddhism.
This book reveals the penetrating insight and courage of a woman who surmounted
physical, intellectual, and social barriers to pursue her spiritual quest. |
| |
Immortality
and Reincarnation: Wisdom from the Forbidden Journey
by Alexandra David-Neel
Paperback from Inner Traditions
Media Published: 1997-03-01
ISBN: 0892816198
Famed traveler and mystic Alexandra David-Neel, the first Western woman
to see the forbidden city of Lhasa, Tibet, examines Eastern concepts of
the afterlife in this classic study.
The question of what occurs to the individual personality after death
is fundamental to the human experience. In Immortality and Reincarnation
Alexandra David-Neel, the first Western woman to see the forbidden city
of Lhasa, Tibet, examines Taoist, Tibetan, and Hindu concepts concerning
life after death. Contrary to Western belief, which sees the human being
as composed of a mortal body and an immortal soul, many Easterners believe
in the immortality of both the body and the soul. Alexandra David-Neel
gained firsthand knowledge of these beliefs and the practices they engendered
in the course of her travels at the beginning of this century. In Immortality
and Reincarnation she ties them together for a unique look at reincarnation
and eternal life in a region untouched by the modern world. |
| |
Initiations
And Initiates In Tibet
by Alexandra David-Neel
Paperback from Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 142548347X
This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such
as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. |
| |
POWER
OF NOTHINGNESS
by Alexandra David-Neel, Lama Yongden
Hardcover from Houghton Mifflin
ISBN: 0395315573
This extraordinary book is the result of a collaboration between a mos
remarkable Frenchwoman who, early in this century, became the first European
to penetrate the Tibetan Mysteries , and the young Lama Yongden who became
her adopted son, teacher-companion, and disciple and who is the primary
author of this tale. Janwillem van de Wetering, well known both for his
two very moving accounts of his own Buddhist training and for a sparkling
series of detective novels, has provided a considerably fresh translation
from the French. The story is about a lama's servant, a man of no intellectual
pretensions, who finds his teacher murdered in his tent and presumably
robbed of the precious jewel he wore around his neck. The loyal servant
pursues the unknown murderer across Tibet and eventually to China. As Janwillem
says in his introduction, this novel has all the elements (and more) of
a classic thriller: "a murder, a criminal, a private eye...a hermit in
a cave, a turquoise the size of an egg...Taoism...wolves, a good chase...
a luscious widow...a Zen master..." and in the end, Enlightenment. But
more than that it has a highly exotic background, a cast of very striking
characters, and an atmosphere that will haunt the reader long after the
tale is finished. it would be pretentious to say that this book "explain"
Tibet, but it allows an outsider to have a sense of experiencing that land
and its people on many levels, and thereby it becomes a spiritual adventure
as much as a physical one. |
| |
Far
Beyond the Garden Gate: Alexandra David-Neel's Journey to Lhasa
by Don Brown
Hardcover from Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
ISBN: 0618083642
In her time, Alexandra David-Neel
was the most famous woman in France. She had traveled extensively in China
and Tibet and, in 1924, was the first Western woman ever to enter Tibet's
forbidden capital, Lhasa. Alexandra was a self-taught Buddhist scholar
and spoke Tibetan flawlessly. And she did it all as a mature woman she
was in her mid-fifties when she arrived in Lhasa.
Not only is Alexandra David-Neel's story one of high adventure, of
trekking through snow-choked mountain passes and wild encounters on the
Tibetan tablelands, but it is also about a prolific writer and passionate
advocate of Tibetan culture. Far Beyond the Garden Gate reveals an unforgettable
life's journey with vibrant, graceful prose and stunning illustrations. |
| |
My
Journey to Lhasa
by Alexandra David-Neel
Paperback from Beacon Press
1993
The
Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects
by Alexandra David-Neel, Yongden
Paperback from City Lights Books
1981
The
Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel: A Biography of the Explorer of Tibet
and Its Forbidden Practices
by Barbara Foster, Michael Foster
Paperback from Overlook Press
The
Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel: A Biography of the Explorer of Tibet
and Its Forbidden Practices
by Barbara Foster, Michael Foster, Lawrence Durrell
A biography of the first western woman to visit Lhasa, Frenchwoman
Alexandra David-Neal (1868 -1969).
Book Description: The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel is
the definitive biography of the explorer Lawrence Durrell called "the most
astonishing woman of our time." Alexandra David-Neel was the first European
to explore Tibet at a time when foreigners were banned; few have led a
life of adventure to equal hers or made so much of it.
In Tibet and Sikkim, David-Neel lived among hermits and shamans while
studying first hand the secret mystical practices of Tibetan Buddhism,
including out-of-body travel, telepathy, vampiric shamanism, and tantric
sex. After returning to France, she wrote more than thirty books, among
them My Journey to Lhasa and Magic and Mystery in Tibet. She has had a
profound influence on Beat culture and the emergence of American Buddhism.
Drawing from rare source material, including information obtained from
the secret files of the India office, Barbara and Michael Foster have written
a vividly detailed chronicle-of both David-Neel's quest to conquer her
personal demons and of the outer journey that made her one of the most
celebrated figures of her day.
Hardcover - 304 pages
Overlook Press; ISBN: 0879517743
The
Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling
by Alexandra David-Neel, Violet Sydney
Paperback from Shambhala
1981
Magic
and Mystery in Tibet
by Madame Alexandra David-Neel
Paperback from Dover Pubns
1971
Far
Beyond the Garden Gate: Alexandra David-Neel's Journey to Lhasa
by Don Brown
Library Binding from Houghton Mifflin Co
Immortality
& Reincarnation
by Alexandra David-Neel, Jon Graham (Translator)
Paperback - 133 pages
Inner Traditions Intl Ltd; ISBN: 0892816198
Initiations
and Initiates in Tibet
by Alexandra David-Neel, Fred Rothwell (Translator)
Paperback reprint edition (June 1993)
Dover Pubns; ISBN: 0486275795
My
Journey to Lhasa: The Personal Story of the Only White Woman Who Succeeded
in Entering the Forbidden City (1927)
by Alexandra David-Neel
The memoirs of a stout 55-year-old Frenchwoman who trekked in disguise
for four months to become the first Western woman to reach Lhasa.
Paperback from Kessinger Publishing Company
The Power of Nothingness
by Alexandra David-Neel, Albert Arthur Yongden
Hardcover from Houghton Mifflin Co
1982
Out of Print - Try Used
Books
Le
lumineux destin d'Alexandra David-Néel
by Jean Chalon
Unknown Binding from Perrin
Tibet:
Journey to the Forbidden City: Retracing the Steps of Alexandra David-Neel
by Tiziana Baldizzone, Gianni Baldizzone, Ann Hylands Ghiringhelli,
Valeria Manferto, Gianni Baldizonne
Hardcover from Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Alexandra
David-Neel
by Middleton
Paperback from Shambhala
Women
Explorers in Asia: Susie Carson Rijnhart, Alexandra David-Neel, Lucy Atkinson,
Freya Stark, Dervla Murphy (Capstone Short Biographies)
by Margo McLoone, Margo McLoone-Basta
School & Library Binding from Capstone Press
Alexandra
David-Neel: Portrait of an Adventurer
by Ruth Middleton, Emily Hilburn Sell
Paperback from Shambhala
1989
Tibetan
Journey
by Alexandra David-Neel
Hardcover from South Asia Books
1992
Re-enchantment:
Tibetan Buddhism Comes to the West
by Jeffery Paine, Jeffrey Paine
Hardcover from W.W. Norton & Company
Buddhism
: its doctrines and its methods
by Alexandra David-Neel
Unknown Binding from Bodley Head
Forbidden
Journey: The Life of Alexandra David-Neel
by Michael Foster, Barbara M. Foster
Hardcover from HarperCollins
1987
Immortalité et réincarnation : doctrines
et pratiques, Chine, Tibet, Inde
by Alexandra David-Neel
Editions du Rocher
Out of Print - Try Used
Books
»Click
here for top sellers in Religion & Spirituality
|
|
|
