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Alexandra David-Neel, Magic & Mystery in 31 Tibet, 23 Winter 2014 Alexandra David-Néel: The Life and Work of an Early Romancer of Tibet Iván Kovács I belong to a new breed. We are few in number but we will accomplish our mission. I am doing what I must.1 Alexandra David-Néel I have seen the world, and more than the world: I have studied the heart of man, And now I consort with Immortals. The fruit of my tree of knowledge is plucked, And it is this, ‘ADVENTURES ARE TO THE ADVENTUROUS.’2 Benjamin Disraeli: Ixion in Heaven, II. ii. Abstract write a few words about earlier attempts by Europeans to enter and explore Tibet. his Article deals with the explorer and Ti- T betologist, Alexandra David-Néel. The The first documented claim by a European to introduction gives a brief overview of earlier have visited Tibet came from a Franciscan called Odoric of Pordenone, who supposedly attempts by Europeans to enter and explore 3 Tibet and includes a section on the Hungarian traveled through Tibet in about 1325. It would Orientalist, Sándor Csoma de Kőrös, who is take another three hundred years for two considered to be the founder of Tibetology. Portuguese Jesuit missionaries, António de Next Alexandra David-Néel is treated, first Andrade and Manuel Marques, to arrive in from a biographical point of view, then in her _____________________________________ capacity as a writer. Two of her books are dis- About the Author cussed in some detail, firstly, Magic & Mystery in Tibet, then The Secret Oral Teachings in Iván Kovács is qualified as a fine artist. As a writer, he has published art criticism, short stories and po- Tibetan Buddhist Sects. ems, and more recently, articles of an esoteric na- ture. He is a reader of the classics and modern clas- Introduction sics, a lover of world cinema, as well as classical efore proceeding with the main subject of and contemporary music. His lifelong interest in B this article, namely the life and work of Esotericism was rounded off with several years of Alexandra David-Néel, it is appropriate to intensive study with the Arcane School. Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 17 The Esoteric Quarterly Tibet. The result of their efforts was the estab- hough his travels in Tibet took him no further lishment of two missions, one in Tsaparang in than Zanskar in the west, he had the privilege 1625, the other in Shigatse in 1628. Due, how- of studying under a lama for an initial sixteen- ever, to the fact that the two missions became month period. This made him the first Europe- embroiled in the rivalry between the Red Hat an to master the Tibetan language. Once his or Niyingma Sect and the Yellow Hat or Ge- dictionary and grammar were complete, Cso- lugpa Sect (two different branches of Tibetan ma went to Calcutta in India to oversee its pub- Buddhism); both missions were evacuated in lication. To do justice to his character and 1635.4 achievements it needs to be mentioned that Csoma not only gained the respect of the Ti- Twenty-five years later, in 1661, two Jesuits, betans, but also that of the British, who unani- Johannes Grueber and Albert Dorville set out mously elected him as an honorary member of from Peking, and traveled through Tibet by the Asiatic Society in 1833. Furthermore, on way of Lhasa to Agra, India. The success of February 22, 1933, Csoma was declared as a this achievement was largely due to the fact Bodhisattva (canonized as a Buddhist saint) by that they were traveling on an Imperial Pass- the Japanese.7 port.5 In the 19th century, Tibet was caught up in the In the 18th century, there were several Jesuits power struggle between the British and the and Capuchins from Europe that entered Tibet, Russian Empires. On the one hand, the British and the most important of these was Ippolito were encroaching from northern India into the Desideri, an Italian Jesuit. He left Rome with Himalayas and Afghanistan, on the other, tsar- the sanction of Pope Clement XI and arrived in ist Russia was expanding south into Central Lhasa in 1716. Desideri undertook various Asia. Both powers became suspicious of the journeys between 1716 and 1721 that encom- other’s intent in Tibet, a country which neither passed a circuit of the Tibetan borders with knew anything about. Tibet, which was equally Nepal, and what is now known as modern-day ignorant about Britain and Russia, however, Kashmir and Pakistan. During the next twenty- had a longstanding relationship with China. five years, the Capuchins became the sole mis- China claimed Tibet as a protectorate, and Ti- sionaries in Tibet, but they met increased op- bet in its turn was easily persuaded by this position from the Tibetan lamas, and were fi- neighbor to believe that foreigners who entered nally expelled from Tibet in 1745.6 Tibet threatened its gold fields as well as its Another enterprising traveler to Tibet was established religious faith of Buddhism. Con- Sándor Csoma de Kőrös (27 March 1784 – 11 sequently, by 1850, all foreigners were banned April 1842), a Hungarian philologist and Ori- from the country, and borders were shut to all entalist. He was born in Kőrös, Transylvania, except nationals of neighboring countries.8 Kingdom of Hungary, into the Hungarian eth- In 1904, the Anglo-Russian conflict over Tibet nic group of Széklers, who traced their origins came to a head when a military expedition led to Attila’s Huns who had settled in Transylva- by Colonel Francis Younghusband forcefully nia in the 5th century. It is this claim of the entered Tibet and advanced to Lhasa, killing Széklers that motivated Csoma to investigate hundreds of Tibetan soldiers in the process. and attempt to trace the place of origin of his The British imposed a treaty on the Tibetans ancestors. In 1820, he set off to Asia, where he which stipulated that Tibet remain closed to all achieved his life’s task by studying the Tibetan foreigners except themselves. They left a polit- language and Buddhist philosophy. Being the ical representative, Sir Charles Bell, behind author of three important books about the Ti- who developed an interest in Tibetology and betan language entitled Essays Towards a Dic- also became an advisor and intimate friend of tionary, Tibetan and English; Grammar of the the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.9 Tibetan Language, and Sanskrit-Tibetan- English Vocabulary: Being an Edition and Despite the above prohibitions, Tibet kept on Translation of the Mahavyutpatti, Csoma is attracting other explorers and adventurers, both considered the founder of Tibetology. Alt- male and female. One of the most daring and 18 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2014. Winter 2014 enterprising women to illegally enter Tibet, This was partly due to an English journal pro- and then to achieve the exclusive feat of be- duced by the Society of the Supreme Gnosis, coming the first European woman ever to enter which was situated in London, and the person Lhasa, was Alexandra David-Néel.10 It is to responsible for forwarding her this type of her that this article pays tribute. reading matter was the English occultist, Elis- abeth Morgan. The journal treated a variety of Alexandra David-Néel: Her Life cryptic subjects, such as zymology (the chem- A Turbulent Childhood and a Horizon istry of fermentation and enzymes), and an- of Dreams cient languages, including fragments of San- skrit, which both perplexed and fascinated Da- ven before taking up the narrative of Al- 15 E exandra David-Néel, the somewhat unreal- vid-Néel. istic expectations of her parents before she was While the David’s were vacationing at the sea- born need to be mentioned. Louis David, who side city of Ostend in Belgium, David-Néel was to become her father, didn’t want children decided to seek answers to her questions in at all, while her mother, Alexandrine, longed person. She hiked into Holland and then to bear a son who would one day miraculously crossed the English Channel. Arriving in Lon- rise through the ranks of her beloved Catholic don, she sought out Elisabeth Morgan, but the Church and attain the office of at least a bish- older woman insisted that David-Néel return to op. Thus, the birth of a daughter in the Bel- her parents in Belgium. She was to repeat such gian-French David family in Saint-Mandé, daring and solitary undertakings. On her next France on 24 October 186811 did not bring adventure, she traveled by train to Switzerland about the happy result that the birth of a son and then hiked alone through the Alps via the would have done. Yet the fact had to be ac- St. Gotthard Pass into Italy and the North Ital- cepted and three days later she was baptized ian lake country. Soon running out of money, Louise Eugenie Alexandrine Marie David. Her she swallowed her pride and wired home for father was a publisher, and a friend of the nov- help, giving her mother no choice but to go elist Victor Hugo. The well-known Neo- and fetch her.16 classical artist Jacques-Louis David was a dis- 12 Soon after the above incident David-Néel ran tant relation of hers. off once more, this time to Spain on a bicycle. Already as a young child she was strong-willed After she had satisfied her unique craving, she and longed for a life of freedom and adventure. managed to return to Brussels without any in- A first indication of this was when she ran jury to herself. Around this time, in April away from home at the age of five.
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