The Seminar on Esotericism and Spiritual Movements at the Department of Society, Culture and Identity hosts professor emeritus Olav Hammer (Syddansk universitet), who will share some of his ongoing research on notions of Tibet among esoteric seekers in the early twentieth century.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Tibetan religion was commonly portrayed as a corrupted form of Buddhism, often labelled “Lamaism.” Helena Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy, recast this stereotype by claiming that, alongside the “Lamaist” religion known to ordinary Tibetans, there also existed an ancient wisdom tradition, preserved by a spiritual elite and accessible only to the initiated. Through her purported journeys to Tibet, she claimed to have encountered this hidden tradition firsthand.

The notion of a secret Tibetan wisdom tradition proved highly influential in esoteric circles, and during the opening decades of the twentieth century a number of books appeared in which authors claimed to have travelled to Tibet, discovered hidden spiritual masters, and received teachings that they could then transmit to a wider public. These accounts of an imaginary Tibet came to constitute a parallel genre alongside the growing body of travel writing in which non-esoteric authors presented their own images of the country.

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