Don Brown - Far Beyond the Garden Gate: Alexandra David-Neels Journey to Lhasa

FAR BEYOND THE GARDEN GATE

Alexandra David-Neel's Journey to Lhasa

Don Brown

Houghton Mifflin Company Boston 2002

For Ellen and Steve, with love

Copyright 2002 by Don Brown

All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com

The text of this book is set in Hiroshige.
The illustrations are pen and ink and watercolor on paper.
Calligraphy by Deborah Nadel

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicatlon Data

Brown, Don.
Far beyond the garden gate : Alexandra David-Neel's journey to Lhasa / by Don Brown.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
Summary: Describes the life and travels of Alexandra David-Neel, who became a
scholar of Buddhism and Tibet in the early twentieth century and trekked thousands
of miles to reach Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
ISBN 0-618-08364-2 (hardcover)
1. David-Neel, Alexandra, 18681969JourneysChinaLhasaJuvenile literature.
2. Lhasa (China)Description and travelJuvenile literature. [1. David-Neel,
Alexandra, 18681969. 2. Travelers. 3. Buddhists. 4. Tibet (China)Description and
travel. 5. Voyages and travels.] I. Title.
DS797.82.L45 D384 2002
915.1'5dc21
2002000222

Manufactured in the United States of America
PHX 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

TURKESTAN

Dokar Pass

"May all things be happy!" exclaims Alexandra upon finally reaching Dokar Pass, a 15,000-foot-high slot through the towering Himalaya Mountains. It is one of her favorite wishes.

Only the wind answers her; she and her traveling Companion, Yongden, are alone. They start downhill as night falls, a devilish wind swirling thick snow around them. The narrow path disappears beneath a gloomy froth of darkness and storm. They halt, plant their staffs, cling together, and wait for the blizzard to end. It will blow through the night.

Alexandra has dreamed of this for fifty years.

Paris and Beyond

In 1873, five-year-old Alexandra David lives comfortably in Paris, France. There is a governess to watch her and toys to amuse her. But young Alexandra prefers the company of travel and adventure books and a globe instead of a doll.

"I craved to go beyond the garden gate, to follow the road that passed it by, and set out for the unknown," she later recalled. "I dreamed of wild hills, immense deserted steppes, and impassable landscapes of glaciers!"

But young Alexandra's extraordinary dreams don't fit her ordinary world; she explores faraway places only in books and museums. Still, it is through books and museums that Alexandra discovers Buddhism, an ancient Asian religion. Her enthusiasm for Buddhism and the culture of Asia entwines with her spirit.

Alexandra studies music, too. After she has grown, her singing talent finds her work in far-flung placesIndia, Greece, and North Africa.

After more than seven years of performing with opera troupes, Alexandra settles in Tunis, North Africa, and marries Philip Neel in 1904. But thoughts of wild hills and impassable glaciers still pull on her. They finally wrest her away in 1911, when forty-three-year-old Alexandra David-Neel becomes a pilgrim to those childhood desires and sets out for Asia.

She does not see Philip for fourteen years.

Tibet

In search of old Buddhist books and manuscripts, Alexandra treks through India to Tibet. It is a remote land ruled by the Dalai Lama, in whom lives the spirit of Buddha, the founder of the religion.

Giant mountains ring Tibet like ramparts. Winds race undisturbed across immense tablelands thousands of feet highthe highest region on earth, it is called the Roof of the World. Buddhist monasteries dot the landscape. There, monks called lamas practice their faith. Towns are few, and many Tibetans tramp the landscape, as unhindered as the wind. They are accompanied by their yaks, which provide food, clothing, and transportation. Even the yaks' droppings are used; they are burned as fuel after they have dried.

Tibet captivates Alexandra. But Tibetans distrust outsiders and forbid them to wander their land freely. Alexandra must be content with studying Buddhism on Tibet's rim.

She becomes the student of a scholarly hermit and spends nearly a year perched atop a mountain, learning to speak Tibetan.