Editing Helena Blavatsky (section)

==== Tibet ====

[[File:Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse, the place that Blavatsky claimed held the Senzar texts she translated]]

She claimed to have then received a message from Morya to travel to Constantinople, where he met her, and together they traveled overland to Tibet, going through Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, and then into India, entering Tibet via Kashmir.{{sfnm|1a1=Goodrick-Clarke|1y=2004|1p=4|2a1=Lachman|2y=2012|2p=63}} There, they allegedly stayed in the home of Morya's friend and colleague, Master [[Koot Hoomi]], which was near to [[Tashilhunpo Monastery]], [[Shigatse]]. According to Blavatsky, both Morya and Koot Hoomi were Kashmiris of Punjabi origin, and it was at his home that Koot Hoomi taught students of the [[Gelugpa]] sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Koot Hoomi was described as having spent time in London and [[Leipzig]], being fluent in both English and French, and like Morya was a vegetarian.{{sfnm|1a1=Cranston|1y=1993|1pp=92–83|2a1=Goodrick-Clarke|2y=2004|2pp=4–5|3a1=Lachman|3y=2012|3pp=64–65}}

She claimed that in Tibet, she was taught an ancient, unknown language known as [[Senzar language|Senzar]], and translated a number of ancient texts written in this language that were preserved by the monks of a monastery; she stated that she was, however, not permitted entry into the monastery itself.{{sfnm|1a1=Cranston|1y=1993|1p=100|2a1=Lachman|2y=2012|2pp=68–69}} She also claimed that while in Tibet, Morya and Koot Hoomi helped her develop and control her psychic powers. Among the abilities that she ascribed to these "Masters" were [[clairvoyance]], [[clairaudience]], [[telepathy]], and the ability to control another's consciousness, to dematerialize and rematerialize physical objects, and to project their astral bodies, thus giving the appearance of being in two places at once.{{sfn|Lachman|2012|pp=71–72}} She claimed to have remained on this spiritual retreat from late 1868 until late 1870.{{sfn|Goodrick-Clarke|2004|p=5}} Blavatsky never claimed in print to have visited [[Lhasa]], although this is a claim that would be made for her in various later sources, including the account provided by her sister.{{sfnm|1a1=Cranston|1y=1993|1p=97|2a1=Lachman|2y=2012|2p=67}}

Many critics and biographers have expressed doubt about the veracity of Blavatsky's claims regarding her visits to Tibet, which rely entirely on her own claims, lacking any credible independent testimony.{{sfnm|1a1=Meade|1y=1980|1pp=69–70|2a1=Lachman|2y=2012|2p=57}} It has been highlighted that during the nineteenth century, [[History of Tibet#European influences in Tibet|Tibet was closed to Europeans]], and visitors faced the perils of bandits and a harsh terrain; the latter would have been even more problematic if Blavatsky had been as stout and unathletic as she would be in later life.{{sfnm|1a1=Washington|1y=1993|1p=33|2a1=Goodrick-Clarke|2y=2004|2p=5|3a1=Lachman|3y=2012|3pp=53–54}} However, as several biographers have noted, traders and pilgrims from neighboring lands were able to access Tibet freely, suggesting the possibility that she would have been allowed to enter accompanied by Morya, particularly if she had been mistaken for an Asian.{{sfnm|1a1=Cranston|1y=1993|1p=82|2a1=Lachman|2y=2012|2p=64}} Blavatsky's eyewitness account of Shigatse was unprecedented in the West,{{sfn|Goodrick-Clarke|2004|p=5}} and one scholar of Buddhism, [[D. T. Suzuki]], suggested that she later exhibited an advanced knowledge of [[Mahayana Buddhism]] consistent with her having studied in a Tibetan monastery.{{sfnm|1a1=Cranston|1y=1993|1p=84|2a1=Goodrick-Clarke|2y=2004|2p=5}} Lachman noted that had Blavatsky spent time in Tibet, then she would be "one of the greatest travelers of the nineteenth century",{{sfn|Lachman|2012|p=53}} although he added – "in all honesty I do not know" if Blavatsky spent time in Tibet or not.{{sfn|Lachman|2012|p=75}} Biographer [[Marion Meade]] commented on Blavatsky's tales of Tibet and various other adventures by stating that "hardly a word of this appears to be true".{{sfn|Meade|1980|p=69}}