shamanism
metaphorical expression for anus and by extension male love. The
Chinese use the term jijian, which literally means chicken lewdness. The
term also conveys the meaning of sodomy because of a common belief
that domesticated chickens act in this way.
In comparison to Buddhism, the major monotheistic faiths – Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam – encourage sexual relationships within the con-
fines of marriage. The early primary texts of these traditions have little
to say about homosexuality or lesbianism. The story of Lot in the Hebrew
Bible (Gen. 19) tells the subject’s horror about the possibility of homo-
sexuality; whereas the book of Leviticus makes it clear that sodomy is an
abomination, although homosexuals do not violate Jewish law if they
remain celibate. The orthodox Jewish attitude towards homosexuality is
that it is unnatural. The Christian apostle Paul (Rom. 1.26) seems to
assert that lesbianism is also unnatural. In the Qur’an (4.16; 7.81; 29.29;
7.72), there are some passages that apparently condemn same sex rela-
tionships. In the Islamic legal tradition, there is no ambiguity about same
sex relations because they are strongly prohibited by legal scholars.
Judaism and Islam do not advocate the development of monastic orders,
although mystical movements do develop in each religion that compro-
mise the original allowance for sexual relations between a man and a
woman to some degree. A strong monastic trend develops in Christianity
that dictates the necessity for celibacy, which is traceable to the letters of
Paul and his dualism between spirit and flesh. The general Christian atti-
tude toward sex is that it is natural and necessary for the future social life
of the community, but many writers urge moderation of sexual activity
during marriage. From within the context of Christian marriage, the proper
role of sexuality is not pleasure but rather the propagation of the species.
Further reading: Boswell (1980); Brooten (1996); Faure (1998, 2003a,b); Gulik
(1961); Hollywood (2002); Kripal (2001); Urban (2006)
SHAMANISM
A shaman is a master of ecstatic trance states and can be either male or
female, although most of them are men. Being able to enter into an
ecstatic trance state allows the shaman to travel to or commune with
spirits in order to cure the sick with the help of the spirits, or to find hid-
den things. A shaman receives power directly from the gods and spirits,
acquiring his/her status through personal communication with the