Alexandra David-Néel Alexandra David-Néel was born in Paris on October 24, 1868. David-Néel died in Digne-les-Bains, France in 1969. She was known for to her travels in Tibet and wrote among thirty publications on Buddhism, its philosophy and her travels. David-Néel was a Buddhist, writer, and an explorer who travelled to England, Switzerland, Spain, China, Japan, India … [Read more...]

Bhagwan Shri Hamsa (1878-?) Bhagwan Shri Hamsa, whose original name is Shri Natekar Swami, was born in 1878. His divine master Dattatreya bestowed him the name “Hamsa”, which means ‘soul’ or ‘water-birds of lake Manasarova in Tibet.’ (Hamsa 26) He came of a wealthy family and his father, dreading that his son would become a wandering monk, as had uncles and ancestors, had made … [Read more...]

Arnold Henry Savage Landor A. Henry Savage Landor was a British explorer best known for getting himself captured and tortured while exploring Tibet in the late 1800s, a time when much of Tibet was officially closed to foreigners. The son of Walter Landor, an Englishman the Times describes as “a poet and critic,” and an Italian mother, Landor reportedly “manifested a longing … [Read more...]

Doctor Susie Rijnhart Susie Rijnhart was born in Western Ontario in 1868, and was educated in medicine. She was a Christian from when she was 16, but after she met her husband Petre Rijnhart and got married to him in 1894, they set off for Tibet. Her journey in Tibet started from Kumbum, “in the province of Amdo, on the extreme northwestern Chino-Tibetan frontier.” (Rijnhart, … [Read more...]

Adventures in Tibet by William Carey Abstract: This travel account is a combination of 19th century background information on Tibet along with an edited version of Miss Annie Taylor’s Diary. The supplementary knowledge provided by Carey is illuminating because it shows the extent of European knowledge about Tibet before Younghusband’s expedition in 1904. Annie Taylor ventured … [Read more...]

L. Austine Waddell’s Lhasa and its Mysteries: With an Account of the Expedition of 1903-04 L. Austine Waddell describes Lhasa and Central Tibet as inaccessible and dangerous. In the account, Waddell exotizes the Tibetans, who were described as “dreamy hermit-people” (v.), built them up as barbarous, their predictions as prescient, their customs as ancient and highly unique. He … [Read more...]

Explorations in Mongolia and Tibet ABSTRACT Exploration of Tibet and Mongolia is a travel account of the second attempt of the American scholar W. Woodville Rockhill to reach Lhasa. This extract documents seven months of Rockhill’s journey that started in 1892, southwards from Peking towards Nepal or India to the warmer terrain. With 5 men and 1500 rupees in his hand, he … [Read more...]

William Woodville Rockhill (1854-1914) Rockhill was born outside of Philadelphia, but his family moved to Paris in 1863 to escape the Civil War. He was educated at the Ecole Spéciale Militaire in St. Cyr, and eventually became an officer in the Régiment Etranger (predecessor of the Foreign Legion). His military service was fairly unremarkable, but it was in St. Cyr that he … [Read more...]

Sarat Chandra Das Background As the Russian Empire grew eastward and southward over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, British strategic thinkers worried that this expansion could potentially collide with and threaten British control of India. In response to these concerns, the British developed the idea of strategic pro-British “buffer” of influence in the regions … [Read more...]

Jamgön Kongtrul. (1813- 1899) Jamgön Kongtrul was a well-known leader of the “nonsectarian movement” in Tibetan Buddhism in the 19th century. He was born in Kham in late December of 1813. His father was a lama of the Bön religion. With such a family background, he was influenced a lot by Bön religion when he was young. In 1827, his father and other relatives of his were … [Read more...]

Évariste Régis Huc (1813-1860) was a French Catholic of the Vincentian order. He was stationed in Macao in 1839, where he studied Chinese and prepared for missionary operations. He was eventually stationed in a northern province near the Mongolian border in an area that the missionaries called Vallée-des-Eaux-Noires (Valley of the Black Waters). In 1844, Huc and a fellow … [Read more...]

Jamyang Kyentse (1820-1892) Jamyang Kyentsei Wangpo(‘jam-dbangs mkhyen-brtse’I dbang-po), or briefly Jamyang Kyentse, is a nineteenth century treasure-finder(gter-ston) of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in 1820 near Yaru Chungchen Drak in Derge(sde-dge), eastern Tibet. At the age of twelve he became a novice at Tartse(tar-rtse) monastery and received the monastic name whose … [Read more...]

Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdröl (Zhabs dkar tshogs drug rang grol, 1781 – 1850) Shabkar has born and grew up in the region of Amdo, near the border between Qinghai and Gansu. He traveled to Central Tibet (U-Tsang region, with Lhasa at its center), Tsari, Mountain Kailash, and Nepal. While he was on his pilgrimage, he gave a lot of teachings and sermons to the people on their … [Read more...]

Gosain A Gosain is generally described as a Hindu trading pilgrim. The term Gosain was applied loosely to Shivaite devotees, some of whom were priests, others wandering mendicants, others served as mercenaries in the army of princes and chiefs in the eighteenth century, still others lived in maths (“monasteries”) in principal cities and combined religious and commercial … [Read more...]

On the Ground in Tibet: George Bogle’s 1774 Mission As is the nature of the spring hiring season, this week found me interviewing for a position teaching seventh and eighth grade history at a day school in Boston. While my teaching experience thus far has only applied to high-school age students, the middle school history curriculum at this particular institution is very … [Read more...]