A Daring Traveller to a Forbidden Land

​In 1924, a daring Belgian in her mid-fifties, Alexandra David-Neel, ventured where few Westerners had been before: the forbidden land of Tibet.


Closed to the outside world from the mid-1800s, the ban shielded Tibet from the hungry eyes of colonial Britain and expansionist China.


For her, incognito was the name of the game.

Alexandra adopted local dress, staining her clothes. She darkened face and hands with soot to match the weathered look of local villagers. 

She squatted by the track, out in the open, when she needed to poop.

Like I said, incognito.
​

---

Why make the dangerous journey?
​
“From my youth I felt attracted toward Tibet, drawn by its hidden hermits, its highest initiation, and the profoundest doctrines of Buddhism. I longed to reach the land where these teachings were still guarded by wandering yogis.” 
(paraphrased from her own words)

She'd long prepared for the trip, studying Tibetan language at the Sorbonne in Paris in her twenties.

Little did Alexandra guess she sparked an ongoing tradition: an active curiosity amongst Westerners for Tibet’s spiritual riches.


Ironically, when China invaded Tibet in 1959, the very knowledge-holders Alexandra had sought were forced into exile. Much was destroyed and millions of lives lost, yet a handful of yogis and scholars escaped into India and Nepal, carrying sacred texts, fragile manuscripts, and their living traditions.


By the time the footsore Tibetan exiles arrived, the 1960s had dawned. Hippies and seekers were on the trail: wide-eyed, curious, and more than ready for what the lamas brought with them.

​
To be continued in the next post ...