Marco Alexander Pallis was a Greek-British author and mountaineer with close affiliations to the Traditionalist School.
24 Facts About Marco Pallis
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Marco Pallis wrote works on the religion and culture of Tibet.
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Marco Pallis received basic training, then advanced training as a machine-gunner.
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Marco Pallis went on expeditions to the Arctic, Switzerland, and the Dolomites, and Snowdonia, the Peak District, and the Scottish Highlands when closer to home.
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In 1933 Marco Pallis led a small mountaineering party to the area of Kinnaur, one of the Himalayan borderlands.
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In 1936 Marco Pallis returned to the Himalayas at the head of another expedition.
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Marco Pallis's party traveled first to Sikkim, an "antechamber of Tibet", where their failure to scale the summit of Simvu was, at least for Pallis, more than made up for by their encounter with the saintly abbot of Lachhen, in whom, according to Pallis, "intelligence, compassion, and initiatic authority were reflected in equal degree".
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From Sikkim Marco Pallis had hoped to cross the border into Tibet proper, but due to political circumstances it was impossible to obtain the necessary permissions.
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Marco Pallis was accompanied by his close friend Richard Nicholson and one other member of their climbing party, Dr Robert Roaf.
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Marco Pallis dedicates his Peaks and Lamas to four teachers in particular, "the great contemplator, abbot of Lachhen, the venerable Dawa, bursar of Spituk, the venerable Konchhog Gyaltsan of P'hiyang, and the venerable Geshe Wangyal of Drepung, Lhasa who for my benefit and for the good of all creatures set in motion the Wheel of the Doctrine".
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Marco Pallis was able to house members of the Tibetan diaspora in his London flat.
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Marco Pallis formed a relationship with the young Chogyam Trungpa, who had just arrived in England.
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Trungpa asked Marco Pallis to write the foreword to Trungpa's first, autobiographical book, Born in Tibet.
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Marco Pallis goes on to say that "Mr Pallis when consenting to write the foreword, devoted many weeks to the work of finally putting the book in order".
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Marco Pallis studied music under Arnold Dolmetsch, the distinguished reviver of early English music, composer, and performer, and was considered "one of Dolmetsch's most devoted proteges".
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Marco Pallis taught viol at the Royal Academy of Music, and reconstituted The English Consort of Viols, an ensemble he had first formed in the 1930s.
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Marco Pallis published several compositions, primarily for the viol, and wrote on the viol's history and its place in early English music.
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Marco Pallis described "tradition" as being the leitmotif of his writing.
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Marco Pallis wrote from the perspective of what has come to be called the traditionalist or perennialist school of comparative religion founded by Rene Guenon, Ananda K Coomaraswamy, and Frithjof Schuon, each of whom he knew personally.
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Marco Pallis was a frequent contributor to the journal Studies in Comparative Religion, writings on both the topics of Tibetan culture and religious practice as well as the Perennialist philosophy.
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Marco Pallis published three books over a span of almost forty years.
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Marco Pallis's work is cited by such writers as Heinrich Harrer, Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell, Thomas Merton, Robert Aitken, and Huston Smith.
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Marco Pallis "retired to the Heavenly Fields" on 5 June 1989.
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Marco Pallis's life was a celebration of "The Marriage of Wisdom and Method": which is the title of one of his essays.