Author of over 30 books on Eastern religion, explorer, opera singer, and anarchist; Alexandra David-Néel became an important influence on the beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg as well as Eastern philosophy popularizers like Alan Watts. Only daughter of an exiled French political activist, she became serious about esoteric spiritual practices at an early age and by 15 was practicing austerities, fasting, and following the practices of ascetic saints. When 21, she became a Buddhist. A fearless explorer, she disguised herself as a beggar/monk, smeared her face with soot, and visited the highly forbidden city of Lhasa in 1924. Like Marco Polo, upon her return she became famous but unbelieved.
Lineages
French Tibetan Vajrayana Women of Wisdom
“Suffering raises up truly great souls; it is only small souls that it makes mean-spirited.”
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“To the one who knows how to look and feel, every moment of this free wandering life is an enchantment.”
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“Who knows the flower best? – the one who reads about it in a book, or the one who finds it wild on the mountainside?”
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“The wise expect nothing, hope for nothing, and therefore avoid all disappointment and anxiety.”
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“Nature has a language of its own read by those who have lived long in solitude as their own unconscious inner feelings and mysterious foreknowledge.”
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“One must be very strong, very stupid, or completely exhausted to face life with indifference.”
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“Guard against idols—yes, guard against all idols, of which surely the greatest is oneself.”
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“To fashion stars out of dog dung, that is the Great Work.”
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