{"product_id":"alexandra-david-neel-paperback","title":"Alexandra David-Néel - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarion Dapsance's new biography of Alexandra David-Néel delves into her subject's prolific writings to discover the true origins of her philosophy, casting new light on the myth that has grown up around the French \u003cem\u003eexploratrice extraordinaire\u003c\/em\u003e for almost a century. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough little known outside Western Europe, Alexandra David-Néel (1868-1969) is celebrated in her native France as a major spiritual figure of the 20th century. She is remembered as a fearless adventurer, the first Westerner to enter Tibet's forbidden city of Lhasa, the bringer of Buddhism to the West, an erudite chronicler and author of over 40 books. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut far from adopting Buddhism, she is revealed in this work as a staunch materialist, hostile to all forms of religion. We follow her journey from Catholic convert to Protestantism, to her obsession with late 19th-century esotericism and finally to nihilism and anarchism, before she invents her own belief system after decades in the Far East, which she calls Buddhist Modernism. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book shows how her free-thinking independence is the true source of the myth of the intrepid journalist-orientalist, the \"lamp of wisdom,\" the \"woman with soles of wind.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67953398317279,"sku":"9781733100731","price":20.47,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/iZgVkF9cTr9781733100731.webp?v=1791636737","url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/products\/alexandra-david-neel-paperback","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}