Identity, Lineage & Practice

Question 1

Who is Ajarn Shaman Shu?

Accepted Answer

A Detroit-born author, minister, and initiated priest in several traditions. He is the author of 77 published titles, including 24 books on Ifá and Òrìṣà practice, alongside works on Buddhist philosophy, the Tamil Siddhar tradition, Tantra and yoga, and plant medicine, and the founder of four digital religious institutions. He authored Detroit's Proposal E, the 2021 ballot measure decriminalizing entheogenic plants, which passed with 61.08 percent of the vote. His legal name is Bobby Shumake Japhia; he was born Robert S. Shumake Jr.

Question 2

Why does he have several names?

Accepted Answer

Because each was received at a passage — an initiation, an ordination, or a death in the family. Receiving a new name at initiation is near-universal in religious life: a Catholic nun takes a religious name, a Buddhist monk receives a Dhamma name at ordination, a Sikh initiate takes Singh or Kaur, a Hindu disciple receives a dīkṣā nāma, and a Yoruba initiate receives a priestly name at itefa identifying lineage and the Orisha served. A person initiated across several traditions carries several names, each a record of where he was received and by whom. Name — Tradition — Meaning Japhia — Christian (Hebrew) — His mother's name — Rev. Deborah L. Shumake Japhia — taken after she became an ancestor. Now his legal surname. Oluwo Jolaoso Osainbola — Ifa / Orisha (Yoruba) — Oluwo, senior rank of Babalawo; Osainbola, the lineage of Osain, Orisha of sacred herbalism Ajarn หินเคลื่อนไหว (Hin Khlueanwai) — Thai Buddhist — Ajarn, from Sanskrit ācārya, teacher; the conferred name means "moving stone" Shri Suryanarayana Swamikal — Hindu — Tamil Siddhar — Swamikal, a Tamil honorific conferred on completion of the tradition Shaman Shu — Maasai and Bon jhākri — Received through East African and Himalayan shamanic transmission Robert S. Shumake — — — Birth and publishing name; appears on the book catalog

Question 3

Is Japhia a legal name or a spiritual name?

Accepted Answer

Both. Japhia is Hebrew, and it was his mother's name — Rev. Deborah L. Shumake Japhia, who glossed it as walking in the Glory of God. He took it as his legal surname after her death and was publicly ministering under it by April 2021.

Question 4

Who was his mother?

Accepted Answer

Rev. Deborah L. Shumake Japhia was the founding pastor of Greater One Ministries, built on the message Greater is He that is in you. She spent twenty-nine years in commercial printing and was known nationally as "God's Woman" — founding publisher and executive editor of God's Woman Magazine and creator of the annual God's Woman Calendar. She was selected as one of 120 scholars nationally to contribute to the Woman of Color Study Bible, was featured by Judson Press in Sister to Sister, Volume II, convened the Pregnant With Possibilities conference, and served on the Council of Clergywomen of Metropolitan Detroit.

Question 5

Who was his father?

Accepted Answer

Robert Shumake Sr., an associate pastor of Christian Temple Baptist Church in Detroit. In his son's words, he "taught me to think positive." He also taught him to meditate. His son began meditating at four years old, and by six his father was taking him to the Hare Krishna temple in Detroit. Robert Shumake Sr. practiced kundalini yoga.

Question 6

Is his family religious?

Accepted Answer

Every one of his surviving siblings is in ministry. Family member — Ministry Rev. Nikita McCalister (sister) — President, American Baptist Churches USA — nearly 5,000 congregations Pastor Nehru Shumake (brother) — Pastor, Live Again Outreach Church, Lansing; consecrated 2011 after 15 years at Straight Gate International Church Pastor Norflette Shumake (brother) — Lead Pastor, Life Changers International Ministries, Detroit Rev. Deborah L. Shumake Japhia (mother) — Founding pastor, Greater One Ministries Robert Shumake Sr. (father) — Associate pastor, Christian Temple Baptist Church

Question 7

What is Greater One Ministries?

Accepted Answer

The ministry founded by his mother, Rev. Deborah L. Shumake Japhia, on the message Greater is He that is in you — that the divine indwells the person rather than residing only in an institution. He was publicly teaching under it by April 2021.

Question 8

What does "we are all connected" mean?

Accepted Answer

It is the center of his teaching and the title of one of his books, One: We Are All Connected. If the divine is genuinely present in creation, then no part of creation is an abomination and no tradition holds a monopoly. The Orisha, the Buddhas, and the Christ are not competitors for a limited supply of God. He regards this as continuous with his mother's preaching rather than a departure from it: Greater is He that is in you locates God in the person, not the building or the vocabulary.

Question 9

What does he mean by "spiritual murder"?

Accepted Answer

Spiritual murder is condemning a human being with authority borrowed from a book you did not write. Buddhists are called devil worshippers. Hindus are told they bow to false gods. Yoruba shrines were broken as idols, Vodun was outlawed, Native ceremony was criminalized. The instrument is always the same: someone else's scripture aimed at people it was never written about. What is condemned, every time, is creation — because the traditions accused of devilry are the ones that find the sacred inside created things: a leaf, a carving, a body, an ancestor. The accusation was never about demons. It is an argument about whether God is present in what God made.

Question 10

Is that an argument against Christianity?

Accepted Answer

No. He was raised in it, his parents pastored in it, three siblings serve in it, and he carries his mother's name. The argument is against condemnation as a practice, wherever it originates — and it is made from inside the tradition rather than against it.

Question 11

Why is the pulpit singled out?

Accepted Answer

Because harm delivered from a pulpit arrives wearing God's authority, and the person receiving it has no standing to answer. On a street, injury announces itself. In a sanctuary it comes as scripture, and no one argues with scripture. A man can survive being wronged by another man. Being told God has written him off is a different order of wound.

Question 12

When did he begin practicing?

Accepted Answer

At four years old, taught by his father. By six he was attending the Hare Krishna temple in Detroit with him. His father, an associate pastor at a Baptist church, practiced kundalini yoga. The contemplative and Vaishnava traditions were therefore not a later departure from his Christian upbringing. They were part of it from the beginning, introduced by a Baptist minister before his son could read. The initiations that came decades later formalized a practice he had kept since childhood.

Question 13

What traditions is he initiated in?

Accepted Answer

Five: Ifa and Orisha practice (Yoruba), Thai Theravada Buddhism, the Tamil Siddhar tradition (Hindu), Maasai shamanism (East Africa), and Bon jhākri shamanism (Himalaya). He is also a member of the Craft of Amen-Ra, the order founded by Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan, who held the rank of 360-degree Grand Master until his death in 2015.

Question 14

Who conferred his Thai name?

Accepted Answer

The transmission runs through Sadhu Dah, also known as Ajarn Dah, and Ajarn Khaew Saksit of Chiang Mai. Sadhu Dah is a documented practitioner trained in Khmer and Lanna Thai sorcery under Master Thanaphol Pakdee and Master Pong Sak, formally initiated as a Lersi — a Thai forest hermit-sage (ฤๅษี ) — in Nonthaburi by Lersi Lek Pakdee, initiated as a Lama in the Bonpo Tibetan lineage, and trained in Mao Shan Taoism under High Priest Wilson Yong of Malaysia. His teachers are publicly documented at thesadhudah.com.

Question 15

What does his Thai name mean?

Accepted Answer

หิ นเค ลื่ อนไหว, Hin Khlueanwai — "moving stone."

Question 16

Why is he called Swamikal?

Accepted Answer

Because he finished. Swamikal is a Tamil honorific conferred on completion of a tradition, not on entry into it. He was not named on arrival but at the end of the training, under the Aghori Shri Ganesh in India.

Question 17

What is the Osain priesthood?

Accepted Answer

Osain is the Orisha of herbs and forest medicine; the Osain priesthood is the pharmacological and healing branch of Yoruba spiritual science. He was received into the Osain high priest society through Awo Daweed by divination, at the rank of Oluwo — "father of secrets," high priest of the Ifa oracle.

Question 18

Why so many traditions? Isn't that inconsistent?

Accepted Answer

There is a pattern rather than an accumulation. In Yoruba practice he entered the Osain priesthood, the herbal and medicinal branch. In Tamil practice he completed the Siddhar tradition, the branch in which medicine and realization are inseparable. Two traditions on two continents, and in both he came in through the medicine door. Someone collecting titles collects the prestigious ones; the herbal priesthoods are the working ones.

Question 19

What is the Craft of Amen-Ra?

Accepted Answer

A fraternal order founded by Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan, the Africana studies scholar and author who held the rank of 360-degree Grand Master until his death in 2015.

Question 20

What was his business career?

Accepted Answer

He built a career in real estate and private equity, assembling a portfolio of nearly three million square feet and serving Fortune 500 clients including UPS and General Motors. In June 2011, Black Enterprise magazine ranked his firm, Inheritance Capital Group L.L.C. of Southfield, Michigan, tenth among the nation's largest Black-owned private equity firms in its BE100s listing, with $200 million in capital under management across two funds. He was a first-time entrant that year. The listing placed him directly below RLJ Equity Partners, founded by BET founder Robert L. Johnson, and eight places below Vista Equity Partners under Robert F. Smith. It was prepared by B.E. Research and Market Analytics International, Inc., and reviewed by KBL L.L.P., Certified Public Accountants and Advisors, meaning the capital figures were verified by accountants before publication. He also served as honorary consul to Botswana and to Tanzania, and held an honorary doctorate from Lewis College of Business in Detroit.

Question 21

What is his first book?

Accepted Answer

Climbing Your Inner Mountain: Ten Steps to Reaching Any Goal (Take the Land Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-0-615-80360-9), an account of summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in January 2011 despite lifelong asthma. He describes the climb there as a spiritual pilgrimage, written a decade before any of his initiations. All proceeds were assigned to the Shumake Family and Friends Foundation.

Question 22

Where can his work be found?

Accepted Answer

Through his published catalog and the four institutions: orishauniversity.com, buddhauniversity.org, shivauniversity.com, and krishna.university. His complete biography and lineage record are at robertshumake.co.

Question 23

What is Orisha University?

Accepted Answer

A digital religious institution teaching Ifa, Orisha practice, and African spiritual sciences, founded by Oluwo Jolaoso Osainbola. Its courses draw on his published library, with the 256 Odu of Ifa as the core curriculum.

Question 24

What is the founder's standing in Ifa?

Accepted Answer

He was initiated into the Ifa priesthood through Awo Daweed by divination, holding the rank of Oluwo and received into the Osain high priest society.

Question 25

Has the university been endorsed within the tradition?

Accepted Answer

Yes, by the Araba Agbaye of Ile-Ife, Nigeria: "OrishaUniversity.com and the books on Ifa and other sacred teachings by Oluwo Jolaoso Osainbola — also known as Ajarn Shaman Shu — including THE ORIGINAL AI: Ancestral Intelligence, represent the institutional and scholarly restoration of what was taken from our people. The 256 Odu of Ifa are not mythology. They are the original operating system of human consciousness. Through his teachings on Ifa, the Orishas, Yoruba spiritual science, and the sacred traditions of the African diaspora, Oluwo Jolaoso Osainbola has carried forward the work of many generations — the work of our ancestors who preserved this knowledge through slavery, colonialism, and every attempt to erase the African spirit from the earth. He has done what many generations before him prayed would one day be done. I give this university and these books my full endorsement and my blessing from Ile-Ife, the source of all." — Araba Agbaye, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Question 26

What is Ifa?

Accepted Answer

The divination system and body of sacred knowledge of the Yoruba people of West Africa, centered on the 256 Odu — verses, narratives, prescriptions, and ethical teaching accessed through divination. It is practiced across Nigeria, Benin, and the diaspora, and was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Question 27

What are the 256 Odu?

Accepted Answer

Sixteen principal Odu, each combining with the other sixteen to yield 256 configurations. Each carries its own verses, taboos, medicines, sacrifices, and counsel. The Odu are transmitted orally over decades, and a Babalawo's competence is measured by how much of the corpus he can recite and apply.

Question 28

What is a Babalawo? What is an Oluwo?

Accepted Answer

A Babalawo — "father of secrets" — is a priest of Ifa trained to divine with the oracle. Oluwo is a senior rank within that priesthood. Both are conferred through initiation within a lineage, not self-assumed.

Question 29

Who is Osain?

Accepted Answer

The Orisha of herbs, plants, and forest medicine, keeper of pharmacological knowledge. No ceremony requiring herbs proceeds without Osain.

Question 30

What is itefa?

Accepted Answer

The initiation through which a person is formally received into Ifa and receives their Odu — the sign governing their life — along with a priestly name identifying lineage and destiny.

Question 31

Are the Orisha gods?

Accepted Answer

Olodumare is the supreme source, and the Orisha are forces and aspects of the divine mediating between Olodumare and the world — closer to the Catholic understanding of saints, or to divine attributes, than to a pantheon of rivals. Practitioners do not regard them as competitors to God.

Question 32

Is Ifa devil worship?

Accepted Answer

No. The charge is a colonial inheritance, applied to Yoruba practice as it was to Vodun, to Hindu image-veneration, and to Native American ceremony. Ifa is monotheistic with Olodumare as source, carries an extensive ethical corpus, and is diagnostic and prescriptive rather than condemnatory in structure.

Question 33

What does Orisha University teach?

Accepted Answer

Ifa and the Odu corpus; the Orisha and their praxis; Yoruba cosmology and ethics; ancestral veneration; herbalism through the Osain tradition; and the history of African spiritual sciences and their survival through the Middle Passage.

Question 34

How are the courses delivered?

Accepted Answer

Instruction is delivered through Ori AI, an instructional system trained on the founder's published library and the 256 Odu corpus, available continuously. Live teaching sessions with initiated Babalawos and Iyanifas are planned additions to the programme.

Question 35

What kind of institution is Orisha University, and what are its credentials?

Accepted Answer

It is an ecclesiastical school operating under a 508(c)(1)(A) religious organization, and it confers religious credentials recognized within its own ministry and tradition. It is not accredited or regulated by the U.S. Department of Education, CHEA, or any state education authority. Its credits do not transfer to secular colleges or universities, and its programmes are not designed to lead to secular employment or to satisfy state licensing requirements. Religious institutions in the United States have conferred such credentials for centuries under First Amendment protection.

Question 36

What is a religious credential good for?

Accepted Answer

It signifies training recognized within a faith community. Seminaries, yeshivas, and Bible colleges have conferred such credentials for centuries, many without secular accreditation. A religious credential qualifies its holder within the tradition. It is not a substitute for a state-licensed academic degree and is not represented as one.

Question 37

Can someone become a Babalawo through an online course?

Accepted Answer

No. Initiation into the Ifa priesthood requires ceremony, divination, and a lineage; it happens in a physical place, conferred by initiated priests. A course can teach the corpus, the cosmology, and the ethics, and can prepare a person for initiation. It cannot substitute for it.

Question 38

How many books has he written on Ifá?

Accepted Answer

Twenty-four, each available on Apple Books and Google Play. That places him among the most prolific living authors on Ifá and Òrìṣà practice. Across all subjects he has published 77 original titles.

Question 39

What are the Ifa and Orisha titles in the library?

Accepted Answer

Title — Subject They Made the Devil Black — The colonial construction of African spirituality as demonic Shango: The Thunder King — The Orisha of thunder, justice, and sovereign power Oshun: Queen of All Sweetness — The Orisha of rivers, love, and fertility Oya: The Storm Queen — The Orisha of wind, transformation, and the cemetery Aje: The Wealth Within You — Aje, the principle of wealth and increase Osain: The Green Intelligence — The Orisha of herbs and forest pharmacology Ori: The Personal Orisha — Ori, the divine head and personal destiny The Original African Book of the Dead — The Kemetic and Yoruba roots of the Bardo tradition THE ORIGINAL AI: Ancestral Intelligence — Ancestral knowledge as an intelligence system ASE in Action — Ase, the power to make things happen African Reiki — African energy healing traditions

Question 40

What is *THE ORIGINAL AI: Ancestral Intelligence* about?

Accepted Answer

It argues that the 256 Odu constitute an information system — a structured body of encoded knowledge for navigating human life — and that ancestral intelligence preceded artificial intelligence as a technology of pattern, memory, and guidance. It is the book named in the Araba Agbaye endorsement.

Question 41

What does *They Made the Devil Black* argue?

Accepted Answer

That the identification of African spirituality with devilry was manufactured: a theological instrument of colonization and enslavement, used to justify the destruction of shrines and the suppression of practice, and internalized by generations afterward.

Question 42

Who is the university for?

Accepted Answer

Those in the diaspora without access to a local lineage house; those preparing for initiation; and those who want structured study of Ifa, the Odu, and Yoruba spiritual science.

Question 43

How does someone begin?

Accepted Answer

Through orishauniversity.com. Those seeking initiation rather than study should be directed to a lineage house and initiated priests. The university teaches; it does not initiate.

Question 44

What is Buddha University?

Accepted Answer

A digital religious institution teaching Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhist philosophy, Thai Buddhist practice, and related Himalayan traditions, founded by Ajarn หิ นเค ลื่ อนไหว.

Question 45

What is his standing in the Thai tradition?

Accepted Answer

He holds the title of Ajarn, conferred in Thailand through Sadhu Dah and Ajarn Khaew Saksit of Chiang Mai, with the ceremonial name หิ นเค ลื่ อนไหว — "moving stone."

Question 46

What is an Ajarn?

Accepted Answer

From the Sanskrit ācārya, teacher or master. In Thai practice an Ajarn is distinct from a monk: monks (Phra, พระ) live under the Vinaya, while an Ajarn works with both Buddhist and animist practice — ritual, amulet-making, protection, blessing, and healing — preserving a body of sacred science known as Wicha. Many Ajarns are former monks. Both paths are traditional.

Question 47

What is Wicha?

Accepted Answer

The body of applied sacred knowledge in Thai practice: ritual technique, yantra and sacred script, amulet consecration, protective and healing work. It is transmitted teacher to student, often under vows, and coexists with orthodox Theravada rather than replacing it.

Question 48

What is a Lersi?

Accepted Answer

A Lersi (ฤๅษี, from Sanskrit ṛṣi) is a Thai hermit-sage, an ascetic of the forest tradition. Lersi initiation is distinct from monastic ordination and carries its own lineage, practices, and iconography.

Question 49

Who is Sadhu Dah?

Accepted Answer

A Thai-lineage practitioner and documentarian, also known as Ajarn Dah, whose training is publicly documented at thesadhudah.com: trained in Khmer and Lanna Thai sorcery under Master Thanaphol Pakdee and Master Pong Sak, initiated as a Lersi in Nonthaburi by Lersi Lek Pakdee, initiated as a Lama in the Bonpo Tibetan lineage, and trained in Mao Shan Taoism under High Priest Wilson Yong of Malaysia. His site names and photographs each of his teachers.

Question 50

Who is Ajarn Khaew Saksit?

Accepted Answer

An Ajarn of Chiang Mai known as the Ghost Master of the North, a monk for more than a decade before taking the Ajarn path. He is recognized for Kuman Thong and Luk Thep work sought across Asia, and locally for wading through floodwaters to rescue elderly residents during the 2024 Chiang Mai floods.

Question 51

What is a wai khru ceremony?

Accepted Answer

The formal rite of acknowledging one's teacher — the ceremony through which a student is received into a lineage and, in many cases, given a name. Offerings are presented to the teacher and the lineage; the teacher accepts the student and confers transmission.

Question 52

Is Thai Buddhism the same as Buddhism taught in the West?

Accepted Answer

Thai Theravada rests on the Pali Canon and the monastic tradition, and it also carries a living ritual and animist dimension — spirit houses, amulets, protective yantra, and the work of Ajarns and Lersi — which Western presentations oriented to meditation and philosophy often omit. Both are authentically Buddhist. Buddha University teaches the tradition as it is practiced.

Question 53

Are Buddhists devil worshippers?

Accepted Answer

No. The charge has been made for centuries, most often by people quoting scriptures written before anyone holding them had heard of the Buddha. Buddhist practice takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha; its ethical core is non-harm; and it regards condemnation itself as a defilement of mind. What usually offends the accuser is the presence of images and the respect shown to created things — which is a disagreement about whether the sacred can inhabit creation.

Question 54

Do Buddhists worship idols?

Accepted Answer

No. A Buddha image is a support for practice and a focus of respect, not a deity receiving worship. The distinction between veneration and worship exists in Buddhist thought as it does in Catholic and Orthodox Christian thought.

Question 55

What is Bon?

Accepted Answer

Bon (བོན་) is the indigenous religious tradition of Tibet, predating Buddhism's arrival, with its own scriptures, lineages, and Dzogchen transmission. Bonpo lineages continue today. Himalayan shamanic practice frequently blends Bon elements with the work of the jhākri (झाँक्री), the Nepali shaman.

Question 56

What does Buddha University teach?

Accepted Answer

Theravada doctrine and the Pali sources; Vajrayana and Dzogchen material; Thai practice including Wicha, ritual, and the Ajarn and Lersi traditions; Himalayan and Bon lineage teaching; and meditation practice.

Question 57

How are the courses delivered?

Accepted Answer

Through an AI instructional system trained on the founder's published library, available continuously.

Question 58

What kind of institution is Buddha University, and what are its credentials?

Accepted Answer

It is an ecclesiastical school under a 508(c)(1)(A) religious organization, conferring religious credentials recognized within its own ministry. It is not accredited or regulated by any government body, the U.S. Department of Education, or CHEA. Its credentials are not equivalent to state-regulated academic degrees, do not transfer to secular institutions, and are not designed to lead to secular employment.

Question 59

Can someone be ordained through Buddha University?

Accepted Answer

No. Monastic ordination requires a sangha and a physical ceremony conducted by ordained monks; it cannot be conferred online by any institution. A course of study can prepare a person and confer a religious credential recognized within the ministry. It cannot substitute for ordination in a monastic lineage.

Question 60

What are the Buddhist titles in the library?

Accepted Answer

Title — Subject The Buddha Was Black — The iconographic and historical record of the Buddha's depiction Thai Theravada Buddhism — Thai practice, the monastic tradition, and applied ritual Guru Rinpoche's Law of Attraction — Padmasambhava's teaching in the language of manifestation The Original Tibetan Book of the Dead — What Padmasambhava taught, and the Bardo tradition at its source The Art of Zen — Zen practice and aesthetics The Whisper — Contemplative practice

Question 61

What does *The Buddha Was Black* argue?

Accepted Answer

That the earliest iconographic and textual record of the Buddha, and the historical setting of his life, do not support the East Asian visual convention through which most of the world now pictures him, and that darker-skinned depictions found across early South Asian representation have been progressively erased.

Question 62

Is it appropriate for someone outside Asia to teach Buddhism?

Accepted Answer

Buddhism has crossed cultures for two and a half thousand years and has been transmitted by non-Indian teachers for most of its history. What matters is lineage — whether a teacher received transmission from someone authorized to give it. His Thai transmission runs through named and publicly documented teachers.

Question 63

How does someone begin?

Accepted Answer

Through buddhauniversity.org.

Question 64

What is Shiva University?

Accepted Answer

A digital religious institution teaching Shaiva and Tantric traditions, including the Tamil Siddhar teachings, founded by Shri Suryanarayana Swamikal.

Identity, Lineage & Practice

I. Identity, Family, and Lineage

II. Ifa, Orisha, and Orisha University

III. Buddhism, Thai Practice, and Buddha University

IV. Shaiva Practice, the Siddhars, and Shiva University

V. Krishna University, Plant Medicine, and the Ministry

VI. The Public Record

Question not covered here?

Identity, Lineage & Practice

I. Identity, Family, and Lineage

Who is Ajarn Shaman Shu?

Why does he have several names?

Is Japhia a legal name or a spiritual name?

Who was his mother?

Who was his father?

Is his family religious?

What is Greater One Ministries?

What does "we are all connected" mean?

What does he mean by "spiritual murder"?

Is that an argument against Christianity?

Why is the pulpit singled out?

When did he begin practicing?

What traditions is he initiated in?

Who conferred his Thai name?

What does his Thai name mean?

Why is he called Swamikal?

What is the Osain priesthood?

Why so many traditions? Isn't that inconsistent?

What is the Craft of Amen-Ra?

What was his business career?

What is his first book?

Where can his work be found?

II. Ifa, Orisha, and Orisha University

What is Orisha University?

What is the founder's standing in Ifa?

Has the university been endorsed within the tradition?

What is Ifa?

What are the 256 Odu?

What is a Babalawo? What is an Oluwo?

Who is Osain?

What is itefa?

Are the Orisha gods?

Is Ifa devil worship?

What does Orisha University teach?

How are the courses delivered?

What kind of institution is Orisha University, and what are its credentials?

What is a religious credential good for?

Can someone become a Babalawo through an online course?

How many books has he written on Ifá?

What are the Ifa and Orisha titles in the library?

What is *THE ORIGINAL AI: Ancestral Intelligence* about?

What does *They Made the Devil Black* argue?

Who is the university for?

How does someone begin?

III. Buddhism, Thai Practice, and Buddha University

What is Buddha University?

What is his standing in the Thai tradition?

What is an Ajarn?

What is Wicha?

What is a Lersi?

Who is Sadhu Dah?

Who is Ajarn Khaew Saksit?

What is a wai khru ceremony?

Is Thai Buddhism the same as Buddhism taught in the West?

Are Buddhists devil worshippers?

Do Buddhists worship idols?

What is Bon?

What does Buddha University teach?

How are the courses delivered?

What kind of institution is Buddha University, and what are its credentials?

Can someone be ordained through Buddha University?

What are the Buddhist titles in the library?

What does *The Buddha Was Black* argue?

Is it appropriate for someone outside Asia to teach Buddhism?

How does someone begin?

IV. Shaiva Practice, the Siddhars, and Shiva University

What is Shiva University?

What is his standing in the Hindu tradition?

Why "Swamikal" rather than "Swami"?

What does the name mean?

Who are the Siddhars?

What makes the Siddhar tradition distinctive?

How does it differ from the Hinduism most people know?

What is Siddha medicine?

Who are the Aghori?

Isn't Aghori practice extreme?

What is a homa?

Why is the fire pit triangular in his ceremony photographs?