3 Review(s)

In 1911 Alexandra left Neel and travelled for the second time to India, to further her study of Buddhism. She was invited to the royal monastery of Sikkim, where she met Maharaj Kumar Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal. She became Sidekong’s “confidante and spiritual sister”. She also met the 13th Dalai Lama twice in 1912, and had the opportunity to ask him many questions about Buddhism feat unprecedented for a Europcan woman at that time. In the period 1914-1916 she lived in a cave in Sikkim, near the Tibetan border, learning spirituality, together with the young Sikkimese monk Aphur Yongden, who became her lifelong travelling companion, and whom she would adopt later. From there they trespassed into Tibetan territory, meeting the Panchen Lama in Shigatse. When the British authorities learned about this- Sikkim was then a British protectorate- Alexandra and Yongden had to leave the country. Unable to return Europe in the middle of World War, Alexandra and Yongden travelled to Japan. In Japan Alexandra met Ekai Kawaguchi, who had visited Lhasa in 1901 disguised as a Chinese doctor, and this inspired them to visit Lhasa disguised as pilgrims. After traversing China from east to west, they reached Lhasa in 1924, and spent 2 months there. In 1937, Yonden and Alexandra went to Tibet through the former Soviet Union, travelling there during the second World War. They eventually ended up in Tachienlu, where she continued her investigations of Tibetan sacred literature. While in East Tibet Alexandra and Yongden completed circumambulation of the holy mountain Amnye Machen. For the sake of simplicity all Tibetan words in this book have been transliterated phonetically without regard to the real Tibetan spelling, which is very misleading to the uninitiated. The phonetic transliteration will enable readers to know- approximately, at least – how the Tibetan themselves pronounce the Tibetan words that appear in the narrative.