Tobacco and Shamanism in South America by Johannes Wilbert Cone Burner and the importance of sound

and the importance of sound and silence

or vishvavajra

These hand-crafted instruments are made with cacho seed pods on a bamboo stick

Thich Nhat Hanh brings his gifts of clarity and poetry to an explication of the basic teachings of Buddhism--the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path

known as the Shining Ones

Tobacco and Shamanism in South America by Johannes Wilbert Cone Burner and the importance of soundAnthropologist Johannes Wilbert here presents a comprehensive ethnography of magico religious, medicinal, and recreational tobacco use among native South American societies. Surveying nearly three hundred societies, Wilbert has found that South American Indians employ numerous means of nicotine application and that a close functional relationship exists between tobacco and shamanism. His book is "a superb reference and a pleasure to read."Robert Byck,