In Tibet, she met a 14-year-old monk called Aphur Yongden, whom she adopted in 1929. He was her companion for 40 years.
David-Néel wrote anarchist pamphlets, travelogues and scholarly studies of Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism and her own translations of Tibetan scripture.
Her most famous work, My Journey to Lhasa, recounts her visit to the Tibetan capital in 1924 – at a time when it was closed to outsiders. In order to sneak in, she had to disguise herself as a Tibetan, lengthening her hair with a yak’s tail and dying it black.
She died just a few weeks after Jimi Hendrix played woodstock, living long enough to see her unconventional personal philosophy – “No commandments! Live your life! Live your instinct!” – enter the cultural bloodstream of the west in the 1960s. Outliving both her husband and Aphur Yongden, her adopted son, she spent her last years cared for by her secretary, who, on her death, scattered David-Néel’s ashes in the Ganges at Varanasi.
Research and Scholary credit: 1) My Journey to Lhasa: The Classic Story of the Only Western Woman Who Succeeded in Entering the Forbidden City, by Alexandra David-Neel 2) Adventure Journal’s article, Alexandra David Neel Frases, MAY 10, 2022 BY KAMILA.