Question by Jeremiah: Shaman biography book?
Are there any really good biographies about the life of a native american shaman?
Best answer:
Answer by SheWhoWatches
He’s not called a shaman, but there is a biography of Horace Axtell, an elder of the Nez Perce, called “A Little Bit of Wisdom.” http://www.amazon.com/Little-Bit-Wisdom-Conversations-Perce/dp/0806132698/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257608191&sr=8-1-spell
What do you think? Answer below!
Yes:
Hum na ya um duh um huh.
by Wondering Feather
Shamanism is not the same thing as Native American spirituality.
The word shaman, used internationally, has its origin in manchú-tangu and has reached the ethnologic vocabulary through Russian. The word originated from saman (xaman), derived from the verb scha-, “to know”, so shaman means someone who knows, is wise, a sage. Further ethnologic investigations shows that the true origin for the word Shaman can be tracked from the Sanskrit initially, then through Chinese-Buddhist mediation to the manchú-tangu, indicating a much deeper but now overlooked connection between early Buddhism and Shamanism generally. In Pali it is schamana, in Sanskrit sramana translated to something like “buddhist monk, ascetic”. The intermediate Chinese term is scha-men
It has been adopted into the English speaking world not unlike words such as kayak for example, but when it is used to describe Native American holy men or women it can be offensive to traditional Natives and their Elders.
1. we don’t use the term ‘shaman’
2. our doctors don’t write books.