Alexandra David-Néel

Alexandra David-Néel was a Belgian-French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist, anarchist, opera singer, and writer. She is most known for her 1924 visit to Lhasa, Tibet, when it was forbidden to foreigners. David-Néel wrote more than thirty books about Eastern religion, philosophy, and her travels, including Magic and Mystery in Tibet, which was published in 1929. Her teachings influenced the beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, the popularizers of Eastern philosophy Alan Watts and Ram Dass, and the esoterism of Benjamin Creme.