Tibetan Tale of Love and Magic by Alexandra David-Neel is a fascinating narrative that blends Tibetan spirituality, culture, and folklore. The story revolves around a love affair that transcends the boundaries of the physical and metaphysical worlds. It explores the mystical side of Tibetan life, including practices like Tantra and the concept of tulku-the reincarnation of spiritual masters. The central character is a young monk who embarks on a journey of self-discovery, love, and spiritual awakening. His deep affection for a woman leads him to challenge traditional norms and explore magical realms beyond the ordinary world. David-Neel, a pioneering French explorer and scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, skillfully weaves together elements of romance, mysticism, and philosophical reflection. Through this tale, she provides a glimpse into the richness of Tibetan culture and the profound ways in which love and magic intertwine in its spiritual traditions.
Alexandra David-Neel was a pioneering French explorer, writer, and scholar, best known for her extensive travels in Tibet and her contributions to the study of Tibetan Buddhism. She was one of the first western women to visit Tibet, where she spent time in Lhasa, gaining firsthand knowledge of Tibetan culture and spirituality. Also published by us are David-Neel's other books, including Magic and Mystery in Tibet, Buddhism: its Doctrines and its Methods, Tibetan Tale of Love and Magic, Initiations and Initiates in Tibet, My Journey to Lhasa, The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects, The Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling, and Tibetan Journey, sharing her insights into Tibetan rituals, mysticism, and philosophy. Her groundbreaking work bridged Eastern and Western thought, making her a key figure in the study of Buddhism and Himalayan cultures.
I have hesitated a long time, in fact for several years, before deciding to publish this book because of the particularly horrific nature of the events described in chapter IV and even more so in chapter VI. Once more back in Asia I recently had the opportunity, whilst visiting the holy Five Peak Mountain near the Mongolian border, of meeting some Tibetan lamas who had gone there on a pilgrimage. Two of them came from the province of Gyarong. We happened to talk about sorcerers and Bons, of whom there are quite a few in Gyarong. I have personally witnessed a strange phenomenon there, in one of their monasteries (see: Au pays des Brigands-Gentilshommes, Plon, Paris). These monks told me that although they knew many perfectly respectable white Bons, they had also heard of certain black Bons who engage in strange and cruel magical practices. And, to my great surprise, they mentioned the hollow table with the heavy lid, underneath which live men are left to starve to death and putrefy, thereby producing an elixir of immortality. It was in that region that the hero of this autobiographical story which is the subject of this book claimed to have actually seen it. No doubt he was not the only one to have set eyes upon this macabre spectacle and at any rate what these pilgrim lamas told me forced me to conclude that rumours about this do exist but that they are only whispered for fear of the Bon sorcerers. This chance confirmation of what had been told to me in confidence dispelled my doubts regarding the ethnological interest of this publication.
The circumstances under which I received the material for this present work are clearly described in the prologue. The reader will of course understand that the narrator of this autobiography only told me the essential facts. The peculiar state of mind which made him tell the events of his earlier life ruled out any form of digression. My host was gripped by emotions which caused him to remember and re-live the drama he had played a part in, and he was in no state to describe to me the places where these events had taken place nor to explain the beliefs and customs which form the background to the story. He knew that most of the regions in which he had lived were well known to me and furthermore he took me for a Tibetan.
If I had reproduced the story briefly, the way it was told to me, many parts would have been unintelligible to strangers unfamiliar with Tibet and its inhabitants. I therefore decided to write this book in the form of a novel in order to be able to describe the scenery as well as the ideological background and thus to surround its characters with the physical and mental setting in which they moved and which influenced them. However, throughout the following pages, the reader should remember that this story has been lived.
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Art (289)
Biography (239)
Buddha (1970)
Children (96)
Deities (48)
Healing (35)
Hinduism (56)
History (544)
Language & Literature (464)
Mahayana (414)
Mythology (91)
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Sacred Sites (115)
Tantric Buddhism (90)
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