Ruth Middleton's Alexandra David-Neel: Portrait of an Adventurer (1989) is a celebration of the inner journey of one of the West's earliest Buddhist scholars and certainly the least respected one. She lived 1868 - 1969, and was a Belgian-French anarchist, writer, musician, exolorer, spiritual seeker and devout Buddhist. Her over twenty popular books about the buddha-dharma titillated, tantalized and teased spiritualists with tales of levitation, clairvoyance, astral projection and past life recalls. In her day, she became a popular lecturer on Buddhism, feted by the elite of Western society. However, David-Neel's most scholarly, serious work - well written and researched - was largely unread and ignored by students of Buddhism. Gratefully Middleton's appendix introduces us to two of these works available on Amazon: The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects, paperbacks in stock at $9.79 and Buddhism: It's Doctrine and It's Methods, which is available at very reasonably priced paperbacks ( $2.63 + shipping). I intend to read both.
I checked out Wikipedia and learned that Alexandra David-Néel wrote over 30 books about Eastern religion, philosophy, and her travels. Her teachings influenced beat writers Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg, and philosopher Alan Watts. She is, however, best known for her 1924 trek to Lhasa, Tibet when it was forbidden to foreigners. It is this visit and the events that led up to it which is the focus of Ruth Middleton's well researched, well written sympathetic biography.
I am a Buddhist convert. Since 1992, I have read well over a hundred books on all forms of Buddhism and a dozen books on the history of Buddhism and never heard of Alexandra David-Néel. While doing research on Theosophy and its possible influence on the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard I read about this wild woman who personally knew Madame Blavatsky, who traveled to first Sikkim (a Tibetan Buddhist kingdom on the Southern border of Tibet) which was then under British control and then, later, Lhasa, Tibet itself. In Sikkim she met the Great 13th Dalai Lama and was personally a dharma sister of one of Sikkim's most important teachers, a prince. The 14th Dalai Lama, my Dalai Lama, said of Alexandra David-Neel , she really knew Old Tibet. I had to know more about this mysterious woman.
I checked Amazon for a book that would give me an overview of Alexandra David-Neel's life. In the U.S. two biographies are available. Barbara Foster and Mike Foster's Forbidden Journey 9 (1987) / The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel (1997) and Ruth Middleton's book. I almost chose one of the Foster's two books. Barbara Foster is a professor and experienced in research, while her husband is a novelist. I haven't read Forbidden Journey or its other reiteration,The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel and probably won't - reviews such as "Astral Bodies and Tantric Sex" by Janwillem van de Wetering (January 10, 1988) convinced me to skip it.
The Foster's published two biographies of Alexandra David-Neel which are actually one biography written contemporaneous to this Middleton's biography and reissued a decade later with some additional information). The Foster's efforts are apparently a much less serious and more sensationalized work. For instance it suggests that David-Neel's books influenced L. Ron Hubbard. Nonsense. I found no serious Theosophic influence on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. For a serious discussion of the Scientology-Theosophy-Buddhist connection check out Pseudo-Buddhism in the form of Scientology, an article by Helle Meldgaard, MA at Google's cache of http://www.empire.net/~sgorton/cos/maitreya.html.
Dialog Center International, Denmark) Hubbard used the Maitreya myth popular in Theosophic circles to promote the idea that he was the future Buddha, Maitreya. (Elsewhere he suggested in tape lectures that he was the historical Buddha.) Alexandra David-Neel never mentions Maitreya and was only interested in Theosophy when she was a young adult. Middleton is clear on this point. Theosophic sites in London, Paris and India provided a place of safety and refuge but very early on, Alexandra David quickly recognized that Theosophy was a deadend for any serious student of Buddhism.
During Alexandra David's childhood she exhibited a very strong desire for both freedom and spirituality. Both were actualized by her Buddhist study, reflections and meditation. In chapter one, "A Small Anarchist" we learn the causes leading to the effect of Alexandra David becoming a lifelong Buddhist. Middleton reveals how Alexandra came to Buddhism through a personal knowledge of suffering - her mother wanted a son and rejected her at birth. As a result, Alexandria utterly rejected the Roman Catholic steeped elitism and bourgeoisie social climbing mentality of her shop owning mother. Through her republican-leaning father, her blessed friend in an early life otherwise devoid of personal connections, her consciousness expanded to see the truth about bourgeoise French society of the Belle Epoch - France's Gilded Age, and its alienation of both French intellectuals and the laboring classes. Perched on her father's shoulders as a little girl she saw heaps of dead heroes of French democrats crushed by the forces of repression. She developed a compassion for the oppressed and later became a non-statist socialist and anarchist.
Alexandra David head and heart were drawn to Buddhism by its message of suffering and the end of suffering and, she was drawn on a visceral, emotional level through and by art. She cared little for William-Adolphe Bouguereau the most successful artist of her day or any of his students. Even the Impressionists, considered avant guarde in her parent's circle, were too egocentric and bourgeois.
Private art collectors and museums in Paris possessed some of the finest of Buddhist and Hindi art in the world. The statuary and artistic depiction of the serenity of the Buddha and bodhisattvas and the spatious, peaceful landscape paintings of Japan and China were more than a tonic. Alexandra David-Neel experienced a profound spiritual experience, awakening a deep desire to follow the Eightfold Path. I experienced a similar experience when I was 16 years old. Upon seeing a cover of a magazine showing a painting of the Buddha at the moment of enlightenment, I felt an unexplained visceral longing to become a Buddhist. Middleton explains that such awakenings through art is common in the West.
Her successful coming out at a reception by French royalty and her debut as a prize winning operatic soprano pleased her mother. That was probably accidental. Alexandra apparently never bonded with her mother. However, from an early age, she experienced solace and joy from music. By age 5 she already showed promise as a pianist. Piano instruction was followed by voice training.
While she was never a true diva, she was a soloist. Music was not only a spiritual experience but a vehicle of independence. But an opera singer in her day was barely above a courtesan in the minds of the male dominated society of the day. For a wonderfully entertaining film depiction of this reality contemporaneous to Alexandra's time, I recommend "Topsy Turvy," the story of Gilbert and Sullivan available on DVD and Blue Ray on Amazon. From Middleton we learn that Alexandra David-Neel wrote a novel, Le Grand Art, based on her experiences in the opera.
In chapter 3, "Beside the Other Life" Middleton relates how beautiful music, while remaining a source of joy, was less satisfying as a vehicle of indepence. Middleton posits the autobiographical nature of Le Grand Art. Middleton explains how in over 800 pages, Alexandra David's Le Grand Art tells in intimate, and painful detail, the dark side of show business. What happens to the singers - even the stars - when the season is over and the young women have to eat and keep a roof over their heads? Those traumatic experiences of sexual exploitation, of being used and abused by powerful male patrons, helps explain David's lifelong feelings of disgust toward sex. Writing the book proved therapeutic. Unpublished in her lifetime, it helped put those painful episodes behind her.
In Chapter 4, "Philippe" we are introduced to her husband. In the Foster - Foster account, Alexandra David is portrayed as a gold digger looking for a sugar daddy and Philippe Neel a lost and lonely man. Middleton, using the same extensive cache of letters between the two suggests a more nuanced relationship. Philippe appears throughout the book as someone Alexandra loved deeply and best from afar. We learn that Philippe, was a generous, well meaning, wealthy philanderer. He preferred his women sexy, young and empty headed. The 37 year old Alexandra was neither of the latter two. Still she was a talented artist who provided amiable company. And she was an aristocrat, born and bred. After bedding her on his yacht, he was intrigued enough to pursue her as a suitable wife, which at 40 years old he felt he needed.
From Middleton, we learn that Frenchmen of that generation often married women who were not their (preferred) lovers while carrying on as they wished. In a letter from Philippe he admits to Alexandra that, while he adored her and wished her close to him always, he was a petite bourgeoisie with typical male appetites and no aspiration to change. And she admitted that while she loved him completely and missed him terribly she would not give up her desire to complete her inner/outer journey.
As to why Alexandra married him, Philippe was handsome, charming, and wealthy. The money was a biggie. While she had her articles, the stage (she was now behind the footlights) and lectures to support her they were not enough. In her time, a single female author was not viewed with the same level of respect as a married one. Lectures paid well but were too infrequent to be a dependable source of income. Finally, Alexandra loved her creature comforts. She came to Buddhism from a family of substance. And she did not easily let go of her expectation of daily baths, delicious - well prepared meals, and servants at her beck and call. Marriage to a fairly well-to-do professional meant greater freedom to combine her passion for the outer and inner journey.
Even with Philippe Neel's generous and unstinting support Alexandra struggled to support herself in her travels and in her pursuit of enlightenment. Philippe was half way around the world and Alexandra often traveled in regions in the midst of civil wars. The Great War and the Spanish Influenza kept her away from France 1914-1920. But even when she could come home she wouldn't.
Her remarkable journey to Lhasa was the focus of the final chapters of the Middleton slim biography. And it is truly an amazing accomplishment covering years of herculean efforts. While Middleton focuses primarily on the inner journey the outer aspects of that final unprecedented trek to Lhasa is also there. However, for those who want the cliff hanging outer journey account read David-Neel's own book available on Amazon: My Journey to Lhasa. Middleton touches on these considerable barriers that David-Neel had to overcome : British, Chinese and Tibetan officials blocking her way. Wars roiling around her. Snow storms through mountains almost killing them. Bandits accosting them. Why risk the precious human life of her and her adopted son to make such a perilous journey?
She was a European woman traveling for years often on foot to complete a pilgrimage lacking a concrete purpose, She wasn't looking for a teacher or to learn about Buddhism. Middleton tells us and her more serious work reveals that she already possessed a profound grasp of Buddhism and in her life she had had outstanding instruction in Tibetan Buddhist practices of the deepest kind. Alexandra David-Neel was a complex individual whose motivation was possibly unclear even to herself. And Middleton, who obviously feels deep affection and respect for this amazing woman, does not force any theories on her readers.
Middleton's account suggests some explanations for David-Neel's journey and final return to France and her husband. Middleton is spot on in explaining Alexandra's deep and abiding disgust of French culture. She once wrote that living the life of "une petite bourgeoisie" was 'too horrible even to contemplate.' This is something the Fosters interpreted as mere snobbery. Certainly there was an element of aristocratic snobbery in her consciousness. A dedicated practitioner such as David-Neel knows their feelings and failings and are not afraid to share these weaknesses with others. Why not? They are weaknesses we all share. Non-attachment is a big deal in Buddhism. It's something you wish for, cultivate and seldom accomplish: the ability to be simultaneously detached and compassionate toward other's suffering. And many a Buddhist experiences a feeling of revulsion at the poisons of life so amply rewarded in the West: greed/avarice, anger/hatred, and an ignorance driven egotism.
I can recall traveling to Las Vegas for my sister's birthday celebration and feeling physically ill and emotionally on edge during and after the visit. I experienced the bright lights, unabashed excesses, and naked greed as a hell realm. There is no way I could live there. After coming out of a retreat even living in the lefty-liberal Northern California college town of Arcata, California felt jarring and alien. David-Neel's need to remain away from French culture makes perfect sense to me.
From the Amazon consumer reviews: readers of the Fosters' biography came away feeling that Alexandra David-Neel was a conflicted, mess of a person and probably a pretentious, arrogant Buddhist wanna be. From Middleton, I came away feeling that she was a sincere Buddhist living as long as possible far apart from a conflicted, mess of a culture - the capitalist West and her sweet, hopelessly afflicted husband - completely captivated by the temptations of a mad society not that different from our own. Alexandra David-Neel felt that in her gut, head and heart. Yet she and her adopted son returned to France in 1925.
Many, including her husband, was surprised she returned at all. She obviously was more comfortable in Asia. Depression and illness vanished whenever she was trekking. We know she returned to France and a very difficult transition. As she suspected the love between her and Philippe worked much better from a distance. He was jealous of the obviously deeper bond between Alexandra and her son.
Not all was bad. She was admired and widely sought after. And she had material for dozens of books. So, to our benefit, she proceeded to write and publish. Which suggests one possible motivation not posited by the Fosters' or Middleton. Suppose Alexandra David-Neel was a bodhisattva - a being dedicated to bringing enlightenment to all sentient being. Suppose she decided to fulfill her bodhisattva vow by returning to the West and bring the Buddha-dharma to where it was most needed. While Middleton doesn't make this suggestion her research suggests that Alexandra David-Neel did everything possible in her long life to popularize and present the deep and profound teachings of the Middle Way to the West.
I highly recommend the Middleton book for anyone who cares about biographies that explore the inner way; who want to know what motivated Alexandra David-Neel or want to understand this amazing proto-feminist. So much has been written about Western men who introduced the nontheistic religious philosophies, Vedantic Hinduism and the Buddhism in all its many forms. Men like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and in the 20th Century the dharma bums Jack Kerouac and Allan Ginsberg and of course Allan Watts figure prominently in the popularization of Eastern thought. With the exception of Snyder and Ginsberg these guys were book-Buddhists. They were seriously moved and dedicated but not enough to find a teacher and really immerse themselves. When serious early Buddhist scholarship is discussed Paul Carus, Henry Steele Olcott, and Dwight Goddard are usually mentioned. They each went to the East, found teachers and spent a year or two of study and practice before writing. None of them can hold a candle in knowledge, experience or understanding to this largely ignored woman who deserves so much more attention and respect than she has received. My suggestion: read her books and, for an overview, read this biography.
Part of Alexandra David-Neel's reform efforts centered on the treatment of lay people by their Tibetan Buddhist lamas and leaders of sect. Over the centuries a certain disdain crept in and needed to be addressed. Lay people, typically experienced a Buddhism driven by blind faith, seemingly superstitious in nature.
Her other concern was with Westerners getting lost in the esoteric nature of Buddhist practices, "disappear[ing] in the quicksand of exotic experiences for which they were unprepared."
Middleton experienced "an identification with the natural world, above all its mysterious light that transported her into [a] poetic mode of expression. It amounted to a kind of intoxication.... She belonged to this place, and her body responded by an incredible rejuvenation." Whenever she experienced the clean, clear Himalayan air and was away from "civilization" she experienced a physical and spiritual "rejuvenation." Her "neurasthenia" - her depression vanished. Part of this experience was the reflection the "light of the mountains. Light was more than a metaphor, it was the physical context of her new awareness."
At the age of 18, she was studying in Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society after traveling in Europe. She continued her search for answers while supporting herself as an opera singer in Asian in North African opera houses. In Tunis in 1900 she met and moved in with the successful engineer Philippe Néel. They married in 1904.
In 1911 Alexandra traveled 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 (crown prince) Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal. Sidkeong Tulku was a rarity in his day, steeped in Tibetan Buddhism's Kagyu school as a recognized reincarnated master and obtained a degree in Oxford. She became Sidkeong's "confidante and spiritual sister." He believed from the beginning and she came to believe that they connection began in earlier life and continued in this life in order to reform Buddhism. She met the 13th Dalai Lama twice in 1912. And in Sikkim she found her Buddha-Dharma teacher, the gomchen of Lachen.
In the period 1914–1916 she lived in a cave in Sikkim, near the Tibetan border, learning spirituality, together with the young (born 1899) Sikkimese monk Aphur Yongden, who became her lifelong traveling companion, and whom she would later adopt. From there they trespassed into Tibetan territory, meeting the Panchen Lama in Shigatse (August 1916).
Upon the death Sidkeong the British Raj which controlled the governing forced her to leave Sikkim She and her adopted son were forced to leave Sikkim and ended up in 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 two months there.
1928 Alexandra legally separated from Philippe, but they continued to exchange letters and he kept supporting her till his death in 1941. Alexandra settled in Digne (Provence), and during the next nine years she wrote books. In 1929, she published her most famous and beloved work, Mystiques et Magiciens du Tibet (Magic and Mystery in Tibet). One chapter called "Psychic Sports"describes the lung-gom-pas runners who run incredible distances while in a trance, warming oneself in the snow through psychic heat, telepathy, etc.
Book Description Release date: June 1, 1971 Seeker, adventurer, pilgrim, and scholar, Alexandra David-Neel (1868–1969) was the first European woman to explore the once-forbidden city of Lhasa. This memoir offers an objective account of the supernatural events she witnessed during the 1920s among the mystics and hermits of Tibet — including levitation, telepathy, and the ability to walk on water. Includes 32 photographs.
The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects, Alexandra David-Neel (Author), lama Yongden (Author), H. N. M. Hardy (Translator), Alan Watts (Foreword) The most reliable names in modern Buddhism, including the Dalai Lama, have sung this author's praises, but some will never be able to see past her prior interest in Theosophy (in her early 20's), which she ultimately realized was fraudulent nonsense and left to spend the rest of her life very bravely exploring new territory in dangerous times and learning real Tibetan Buddhism right from the source.
As the Dalai Lama said when he came to speak at the inauguration of David-Neel's museum, "She knew the REAL Tibet." She was one of the first Westerners, and certainly the first Western woman, to have a private audience with the Dalai Lama, helping to teach him about the West. When it was time for the Dalai Lama to pay back her kindness with an authentic Tibetan teaching, often he would direct her to a specific lama, one of his own teachers. The author of David-Neel's recent biography was invited on a speaking tour alongside high lamas, thus demonstrating the importance of her subject, Alexandra David-Neel. How many other western authors have lived in Tibetan caves for several years? Or adopted a monk as their son? These are "secret" teachings in the sense the book says they are: up to the hearer who hears them to realize the truth of the teachings, to penetrate their subtlety and depth. They are not often-repeated, worn-out teachings that everybody already knows. Not at all.
In classical Marxism, there is a one way nature between what Max called the Superstructure of a society: the institutions, power structures, religious rituals, arts and sciences and government and the base - how the goods of a society are produced and distributed. In short form, in a capitalist society where the means of production all is determined by greed and avarice.
the base is the whole of productive relationships, not only a given economic element, e.g. the working class
historically, the superstructure varies and develops unevenly in society’s different activities; for example, art, politics, economics, etc.
the base–superstructure relationship is reciprocal; Engels explains that the base determines the superstructure only in the last instance.[4]
The marxist Base-Superstructure dialectic
In Marxist theory, human society consists of two parts: the base and superstructure; the base comprehends the forces and relations of production — employer-employee work conditions, the technical division of labour, and property relations — into which people enter to produce the necessities and amenities of life. These relations determine society’s other relationships and ideas, which are described as its superstructure. The superstructure of a society includes its culture, institutions, political power structures, roles, rituals, and state. The base determines (conditions) the superstructure, yet their relation is not strictly causal, because the superstructure often influences the base; the influence of the base, however, predominates. In Orthodox Marxism, the base determines the superstructure in a one-way relationship.[1] However, in more advanced forms and variations of Marxist thought their relationship is not strictly one-way, as some theories claim that just as the base influences the superstructure, the superstructure also influences the base.
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stephen kevin linden
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 19, 2015