Saturday, February 22, 2020

The Buddha was a shaman (audio)

Alan Watts.org); Dr. Joy Manne; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Xochitl (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Spirits are real, spirits are real! They do good, and they do ill. Doubting humans see nothing.



Was the Buddha a Shaman? by Dr. Joy Manne is based on her firsthand research.

She went to the original Buddhist texts of the Pali canon (in the language the Buddha spoke, Magadhi, as preserved by Theravada Buddhists), shamanic literature, and Jungian psychology.

It shows that there is a pattern, a common thread, in the development of a shaman cross culturally.

Prince Siddhartha Gautama renounced the throne and the world to become a wandering ascetic, a shramana or "shaman."

He earned the title the Buddha, "the Enlightened One," by his great awakening, after practicing alone following his training with yogis and fellow ascetics in the wilderness.

His development follows this pattern. The book argues that our consciousness is naturally shamanic.

Buddhist Shaman Spring Washam leads plant journeys into the Amazon (insightLA.org).

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