Famed traveler and mystic Alexandra David-Neel, the first Western woman to see the forbidden city of Lhasa, Tibet, examines Eastern concepts of the afterlife in this classic study.
The question of what occurs to the individual personality after death is fundamental to the human experience. In Immortality and Reincarnation Alexandra David-Neel, the first Western woman to see the forbidden city of Lhasa, Tibet, examines Taoist, Tibetan, and Hindu concepts concerning life after death. Contrary to Western belief, which sees the human being as composed of a mortal body and an immortal soul, many Easterners believe in the immortality of both the body and the soul. Alexandra David-Neel gained firsthand knowledge of these beliefs and the practices they engendered in the course of her travels at the beginning of this century. In Immortality and Reincarnation she ties them together for a unique look at reincarnation and eternal life in a region untouched by the modern world.
The question of what occurs to the individual personality after death is fundamental to the human experience. In Immortality and Reincarnation Alexandra David-Neel, the first Western woman to see the forbidden city of Lhasa, Tibet, examines Taoist, Tibetan, and Hindu concepts concerning life after death. Contrary to Western belief, which sees the human being as composed of a mortal body and an immortal soul, many Easterners believe in the immortality of both the body and the soul. Alexandra David-Neel gained firsthand knowledge of these beliefs and the practices they engendered in the course of her travels at the beginning of this century. In Immortality and Reincarnation she ties them together for a unique look at reincarnation and eternal life in a region untouched by the modern world.
About the Author(s) of Immortality and Reincarnation
Alexandra David-Neel led one of the most fascinating lives
of this century. When she died at the age of 101 she had written over thirty
books on Buddhism and on her adventures in Asia. The first woman to interview
the thirteenth Dalai Lama, she spent much time in Tibet while it was still
closed to foreigners, and learned from personal experience the occult practices
and doctrines that characterize Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to Immortality
and Reincarnation she is the author of Magic and Mystery in Tibet,
My Journey to Lhasa, and Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist
Sects.
Praise for Immortality and Reincarnation
"Everything she had to say about Tibet in general and Buddhism in particular was stamped with poetry and insight."
Lawrence Durrell, author of The Alexandrian Quartet and Pope Joan
