Author Topic: NO LONGER A MATTER OF CONCERN Floyd Buffalo Hand  (Read 47992 times)

Offline Ann

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NO LONGER A MATTER OF CONCERN Floyd Buffalo Hand
« on: June 27, 2009, 01:39:51 am »
Do anyone know about Floyd Looks For Buffalo Hand.He suppose to be a Lakota medicineman.And he made a comment to me about white people being created by those devils underground.I am not white but i found him to be racist.And i detest racism in people...I dont care who it is...besides i have come across some indian people i wonder about right on this forum calling everybody else a fraud.Creator is the judge and he is just!
« Last Edit: November 26, 2019, 10:22:13 pm by educatedindian »

Offline Cetan

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2009, 03:34:05 am »
Floyd Hand is a full blood Oglala Lakota, descendant of Chief Mahpiya Luta. Many people may not agree with him or like him and he is human but no one would ever accuse him of being a fraud or selling ceremonies.

Offline tachia

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2009, 04:07:41 am »
i do not know anything about the man other than what i have found through research .. .. in my research i did come up with the following though .. it is a review of his book "learning journey on the red road" .. and i thought it expressed quite articulately an opinion of the man and his (possible) motives .. i also thought that this review could very well be applied to many, many others ..

source: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Journey-Road-Looks-Buffalo/dp/0966395700
"Don't waste your money, August 13, 2008
By Tasunke Hakte "rezboy57770" (Pine Ridge, SD United States)
Hand's book, "Learning Journey on the Red Road", is a jumbled assortment of Native American cliches, aphorisms, and platitudes, mixed in with autobiographical emptiness that serves as filler. Beyond that, it is nearly devoid of content. The book purports to be about the "circle of life", the "brotherhood that we all share" etc etc, but its utter lack of depth precludes the reader taking any learning from it. I would feel bad giving a book with such an optimistic premise such a negative review, except that the work to me seems utterly insincere. I find that I never really believe Hand or what he is talking about. Instead, the book seems to extremely cynical; cobbling together an odd mishmash of Native spirituality, the Kabbala, Eastern mysticism and the like in order to get people to buy the book. Hand may be disingenuous, but he is clearly no dummy. He knows that there is a market for his message. The recipe is simple: take a Native American, preferably from a "popular" tribe such as the Lakota, preferably full-blood (or claiming to be), preferably claiming the title of chief, usually through lineal descendancy from an actual chief (a European notion, but no matter) and have him pen a tome about growing up "in the traditional way" and being raised by "the old ones". Throw in a heavy dash of syncretic spirituality and a lot of (mostly) white new-agers will open up their wallets faster than you can say "shaman." I must admit, I have never been a fan of the genre of mostly-interchangeable books that try to introduce Native spirituality to a mainstream audience, a genre that struck gold once again in the wake of "Dances with Wolves." But Hand's book is one of the most poorly-written and the most cynical. Worst of all, I can't escape the nagging feeling that he is using Lakota spirituality - a rich and beautiful set of traditions going back millenia - to sell his book. And his treatment of other religious traditions shows a disappointingly shallow understanding of nearly any that he talks about. A professor of comparative religion he is not. Hand is glad to mix and match world religious traditions, shoving square pegs into round holes if it will help him further his key premises. He talks about a great deal of world religions, yet it is not clear that he has a good grasp of any of them. Perhaps he did not care to take the time to. With that said, I believe that the book's greatest failing - really its greatest deception - is that it is fluffy and lightweight, and yet purports to deal with some of the deepest and most fundamental of humanity. That is where Hand's disingenuousness is really laid bare. If one were to go through the book and take out all of the empty platitudes, meaningless aphorisms, and boy-scout-handbook Indian cliches, there would be barely enough for a pamphlet. I am surprised that there is always such an outcry when non-Indian authors write books stereotyping Native American culture, spirituality, etc, but when one of their own does it, most of those voices are silent. And yet that is what Hand has done - reduced his culture and packaged it for a broader paying audience. To those who are considering buying this book: I would say look elsewhere. There are far better books on the subject, most by Native American authors, with more intricacy, depth, and sincerity, as befits the subject matter. You are better off avoiding this one."


ann .. how do you know this man? .. i would guess that if you know him you might be able to shed a bit more light than those of us who do not? .. firsthand information about someone is usually helpful .. there is an awful lot on the internet about him and i admit that i have not thoroughly researched him myself .. i have researched enough to have my own personal opinion yet not near enough to state anything as fact .. my opinion is based solely on what i have found online, so input from someone who knows him would be helpful ..

i have to say though, that there are stories in our oral traditions that speak of whites being "created" by witches etc .. one in particular that i grew up hearing is pueblo in origin .. Leslie Marmon Silko published this story in her book "Ceremony" .. that was the first that i ever saw in it print, and Silko puts a twist into her story, prefacing the telling of the story, that actually makes a lot of sense ..

indeed many people that i have re-told this story in front of have said it was racist .. personally, i do not see it that way and i do think that word racism is tossed about far too frequently .. people, especially ndn's, are often viewed as racist for some if not all of their beliefs .. .. i have been called racist far more times than i can count, simply because of my beliefs .. beliefs that were passed down to me, taught to me, and are deeply ingrained in me .. does that make me a racist? .. idk, perhaps it does in the minds of some .. i dislike a lot of things but i do not dislike any race, including whites, i think there are bad people in every race .. i dislike bad people, no matter what race they are .. i do not hate .. hate is self defeating .. ..

i do not know enough about this man and the context of what he said to you, to know whether his intent was racist or not .. perhaps it was, perhaps not .. as for the man, i do think he should probably be researched .. thanks for bringing him to the attention of the forum .. ..  

Offline tachia

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2009, 04:37:35 am »
ann .. you want all my posts deleted? .. should i delete this one as well for you? .. i hesitated to do so because i thought that it contained some good information and i thought that this was a topic for discussion .. actually i thought that all the threads in nafps were for the purpose of discussion, questions, scrutiny etc .. apparently i was mistaken .. .. please  do rest assured that i will not make any more posts in ANY threads that are your threads .. .. and please do let me know if you are also demanding that my posts from this thread be deleted as well .. .. have i posted anything else that you would like for me to delete? ..



Offline Ann

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2009, 03:29:52 pm »
Please keep this thread Tachia.This information is very important.The way i came across Floyd Buffalo Hand,i was trying to decide which medicine person to go to...to be honest i found Floyd scary...i tend to find people with too much hate scary...I beleive this earth is a school for us to learn cooperation,love and forgiveness...And if you claim to be a healer the first person to heal is ones on heart...Thanks for everyone responses...ps I found the book review accurate.

Offline Ann

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2009, 03:43:36 pm »
I also believe we have to stand up for what is right...I did not get to know Floyd that well...Did not want to...I beleive he meant what he said about the whites.Is it true or racist...I say the devil comes in all colors..
« Last Edit: June 27, 2009, 04:43:39 pm by Ann »

Offline Cetan

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2009, 12:28:23 am »
If you look at history it is not hard to understand why there is still a distrust and even hatred of outsiders, especially whites by many Lakota.  If you need healing going to a wicasa wakan is not lile looking for a western doctor; you will meet the right person if it is supposed to happen, usually through family or kolas but you dont go seeking them out.

Offline tachia

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2009, 03:28:09 am »
If you look at history it is not hard to understand why there is still a distrust and even hatred of outsiders, especially whites by many Lakota.  If you need healing going to a wicasa wakan is not lile looking for a western doctor; you will meet the right person if it is supposed to happen, usually through family or kolas but you dont go seeking them out.

(since i have been given permission to actually participate in this open forum thread)

cetan .. your statement about distrust and even hatred goes for all our peoples, not merely the Lakota .. given our histories with whites and outsiders i too would not think it hard to understand .. ..
on the second part of your post: i am glad you brought that up .. again that statement goes for all our peoples .. you do not go seeking a healer out .. there are a lot of questions about ann, but i guess i will have to leave them  for others to ask.. i really do not feel like going to the trouble of deleting yet more posts of mine because someone thinks they should be above questioning .. :) .. ..

jmo cetan .. but if you have to go around seeking out a healer or even as the OP stated "trying to decide which medicine person to go to" .. and one of your choices is a man such as this floyd guy .. then i would say something is wrong, with you, your family, extended family, friends, community etc .. but bottom line something is wrong with that picture .. ..
« Last Edit: June 29, 2009, 06:44:56 pm by tachia »

Offline tachia

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #8 on: June 28, 2009, 04:05:12 am »
interesting article on the Sundance with a quoted "story" by floyd buffalo hand .. idk, but i thought there were some strange ideas in his "story" .. .. ..
source: http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_3574.shtml

Offline tachia

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2009, 04:16:16 am »
source: http://www.rickross.com/reference/millennium/millennium1.html
an interesting quote from floyd:
"Floyd (Looks for Buffalo) Hand, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota. Hand, 59, a healer from the Oglala Sioux tribe, points to ancient Sioux and Hopi prophecies that speak of the imminent arrival of "Star People," wise extraterrestrials who will remove Indians and chosen others from a planet that will soon be deviled by a 1999 drought, followed by floods and earthquakes. "The reason is that humans have not been taking care of the land, have been chopping trees and polluting the air," says Hand. A further warning: "Get the hell out of New York in seven years! That's when the earth plates will shift and tall building will sway."

as i said, there is a lot on the internet about this guy .. some of it good and some not .. some admirable and some just weird .. .. i did find a few things about him that were positive things ..

does anyone know any more about him, possibly from personal knowledge, rather than just internet research?

Offline Cetan

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2009, 05:12:46 pm »
Yes I do know him from many years at Sundance, he is also my hunka brother's cousin. I would not post about someone I only heard internet gossip about; anythime I post with an opinion or information on someone it is from personal first hand knowledge not rumors. As I already stated he is a respected member of the Mahpiya Luta tiospaye and while some people may not like him I have never heard anyone question who he is or accuse him of selling ceremonies.  If you just want to throw mud question the integrity of a well respected full blood without personal knowledge go over to Indianz.combatzone
« Last Edit: June 28, 2009, 05:14:45 pm by Cetan »

Offline educatedindian

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2009, 12:03:40 am »
There was a concern that Hand defended an obvious exploiter, yet another Nuager posing as a Cherokee shaman.
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=997.0


 But I don't see any signs of him being what I would call an exploiter. Possibly having eccentric ideas is not the same. I don't think the story at the start of this threads is intended to be racist since western ideas about race weren't widely believed by NDNs at the time. It was a strong critique of western culture.

Offline Cetan

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #12 on: June 29, 2009, 03:05:01 am »
I know of lots of people who have been flown in to talk and run sweat lodges - Arvol Looking Horse for one has been paid to come to MI and talk and run a sweat.

Offline Ann

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #13 on: June 29, 2009, 12:09:45 pm »
I do understand the hatred towards the whites but i feel we have to learn to live together.Someone had mention Floyd to me.Tacia why insult my family.Rattlebone is right about you.And speahing of whites you have some ugly charateristics yourself...I am not trying to be mean but just calling it the way i see it.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2009, 12:12:23 pm by Ann »

Offline tachia

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Re: Floyd Buffalo Hand
« Reply #14 on: June 29, 2009, 05:45:47 pm »
cetan ..

i am only posting what i could find in research on the internet .. very often that is all we have until someone with personal knowledge, such as yourself in this case, steps forward with that knowledge .. i do not see posting information what is widely available on the internet as "slinging mud" .. the intent is to find out as much as we can about someone once they are brought to the attention of the forum, isn't it? .. the internet can be a very valuable tool .. and as we all know, it can also be used as a weapon against someone .. perhaps that is the case here with some of the information on the net about floyd? ..

ya know cetan, what your saying is very true about a lot of our people who get into the public eye, whether by choice or not .. people may not like them, nor like everything about them yet those dislikes are merely personal opinions and have nothing to do with someone being an exploiter .. i do not see floyd as being an exploiter, i merely see some rather eccentric, and yes rather nuage, ideas that he apparently holds and some associations with people that are considered exploiters .. i may not like some of his ideas but that does not mean that i am saying he is an exploiter, nor does posting info from the web mean that i am "slinging mud" at him .. i did say that i do not know near enough about him to say much of anything, and i did say that there were positive things about him as well as negative .. .. some people like him, some people don't, some opinions of him are positive and some are not .. that is pretty much the norm with anyone is it not?

i only posted in this thread because his name had been brought up to me before this .. i was hoping for more information, especially first hand information about him .. which you have now provided in here .. i do believe that first hand information/knowledge is very important and i thank you for posting such .. whether positive or negative, personal first hand knowledge of someone is very valuable, far more so than information found on the internet .. you really cannot know about someone until you know them personally .. ..

anyways .. thanks for the information .. and i am sorry if you thought i was "slinging mud" by posting things off the internet .. that was not my intent .. .. ..