(This article was first published in 1994 and has now been rewritten and updated by the author, Stuart Camps – November 15, 2020)

The Lakota Sioux maintain a centuries-old legend involving two warriors from the region known today as Dakota. One day, the two young braves were confronted by a brilliant white buffalo who, before their eyes, turned into a youthful-looking woman – the White Buffalo Calf Woman. She instructed them on how the people should live and prophesied her return in the form of a white female bison calf who would reinvigorate their culture in a time of need, and bring peace and harmony to humanity.

In 1994, a year after I arrived in the United States from Australia, I heard about this Lakota prophecy, together with news of the recent birth of a white buffalo in Janesville, Wisconsin. Thinking that Adi Da might be interested, I wrote to him about the new calf and her significance to the Native Americans. I learned later that, synchronistically, just before receiving my report he had been perusing some volumes and videos about Native American culture, including the book The Sacred Pipe, by Black Elk. He asked me if a buffalo is the same as a bison, which I confirmed (“buffalo” is commonly used in North America to refer to what is formally a bison; true buffaloes are only distantly related to bison and are found in Africa and Asia). Then he asked about the prophecy.

Adi Da (November 8, 1994): As I remember, the source of the legend of the White Buffalo Woman is the tradition of the sacred pipe described by Black Elk. I have the impression that the return of this Spirit is regarded to be a sign of the end of the world and of the restoration of Native Americans to their integrity, which inherently has something to do with their lands. The prophecy contains both suggestions. What are they actually presuming? Does the appearance of this white buffalo signal the restoration of the Native Americans, or is it associated with the end of the world – a judgement day, a holocaust, or some such event?

Born on August 20, 1994, the new calf was named Miracle. She was pure white, except for a black nose, hooves, and eyes.

Many Native Americans felt that Miracle’s appearance was the long-awaited fulfillment of the prophecy. Word of her birth spread, and pilgrimages commenced. Native Americans traveled from all over the continent to pay homage. They brought gifts – dream-catchers, medicine wheels, sweet-grass, turquoise, cedar berries, and alabaster. They performed ceremonies and offered prayers.

Adi Da requested that I talk directly to Native Americans to find out about the legend first-hand. Since the White Buffalo Calf Woman prophecy originated with the Sioux, I contacted several men of the Lakota Sioux Nation in Rapid City, South Dakota.

– Floyd Hand Looks for Buffalo, a shaman

– Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the lineal Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe

– Chief Joseph Chasing Horse

I reached the men with ease, and they were receptive to my inquiries on behalf of Adi Da.

They said that the white calf’s arrival was a sign of a new time of purification for Native Americans and the world, initiating the regeneration of humanity through a period of difficulty. The ordeal described was expected to turn people back to their roots – the Great Mystery. The prophecy signaled the ending of the white man’s era and the restoration of human spiritual integrity in the world. Each of the men asked me to give their respective messages to Adi Da. 

Chief Joseph Chasing Horse invited Adi Da to a large gathering of Native Americans at Big Mountain, Arizona, during the last week of June 1995. The purpose of the four-day ceremony was to inspire Native Americans, and all people, to return to their roots. With the current state of the world, Native American leaders are urgent for all cultures to reconnect with the spiritual sources of life. The Big Mountain ceremony was one long prayer for the healing of humanity and the Earth. Adi Da was resident in Fiji at the time and did not attend the ceremony.

Floyd Hand

Looks for Buffalo

Floyd Hand described two visions he had received about the prophecy. He said that many white animals would be born during the predicted restoration period, signaling the returning of goodness. And he noted that many black animals would be born, signing the ending of old ways. As our conversation concluded, he also asked me to pass on to Adi Da another vision, received while we were talking. 

Floyd Hand: “Tell him to watch the left side of his body and his left hand, for a serpent is crawling, and the serpent is not a snake. He goes to a small hill with trees, where he meditates. A person will approach him from his left side, and it will be a female. Tell him to watch, to be careful.”

When I asked Floyd to explain the vision, he cut me off, saying that I didn’t need to know anything. He said the message was for Adi Da, who would see the meaning. The next morning, Adi Da received my report of these conversations and the messages from each man. Only on a handful of occasions did Adi Da hand-write a letter to someone. And on this morning of November 16, 1994, Adi Da wrote Floyd Hand a reply to his verbal message.

Adi Da: Dear Floyd Hand Looks for Buffalo,

Adi Da Samraj

If you see right visions, then See Who I Am. I Am Adi Da, the Expected One, Named John by Birth. The Woman you see on My left Is Not here to do harm. I have Husbanded Her, So That the coming events May Be Made “Bright”. She Is the One you see Appearing As the White Animals, but She Is Only My Own “Bright” Spirit-Power. What you see as the serpent of harm Is Only the Rising of My Own Spiritual Energy, to Purify and Control the earth and the ego. The white tribes, and every tribe of every color must be Purified at heart, or all will suffer. I Am the Sun of the Heart. I Stand At the right-hand side of every one. Therefore, do not meditate on harm, or on what you see to the left. Keep your eye to the right, and only meditate on Me. Every one must meditate only on Me, for the Sake of “Brightness”. Ask Her, and She will also Tell you This of Me. [Adi Da often wrote with a unique form of capitalizing words which he wished to emphasize.]

Adi Da Samraj

In his letter, Adi Da refers to himself as “John by Birth”, pointing to another Native American prophecy of a white-skinned man named John, who would appear for the spiritual benefit of the world. Adi Da’s name at birth was Franklin Jones, which means “a free man” (Franklin) through whom “God is gracious” (Jones, a variant of John).

The “woman” whom Adi Da said he has husbanded is the very presence of cosmic nature, conditional manifestation, or the divine goddess. When the goddess is un-husbanded and independent, she is out of control, indiscriminately birthing and killing living beings. In Hindu tantric traditions, a woman on a man’s right is considered independent and unhusbanded. When a woman agrees to be husbanded, she stands to the man’s left. Adi Da wrote that he stands to the right of cosmic nature, indicating his heart-mastery of her.

Floyd’s “serpent of harm” was clarified by Adi Da to be only the benign rising of his spirit energy.

For many years Adi Da described the present times as among the worst in human history. All the cultures of humankind have developed prophecies expressing their hopes and prayers for divine intervention to restore the world to the sacred. By stating that he stands “At the right-hand side of every one”, Adi Da affirms the fulfillment of all such prophecies.

Adi Da addressed Floyd as a shaman experienced in greater energies and powers. And he asked Floyd to prove the truth of his words by consulting the White Buffalo Calf Woman: “Ask Her, and She will also Tell you This of Me.”

Adi Da’s letter to Floyd Hand is also an open letter to men and women everywhere, inviting everyone to this understanding.

Floyd Hand Looks for Buffalo is a traditional shaman of the Lakota Sioux. He had never heard of Adi Da before our first contact in 1994.

In the chill, dusky evening of November 16, 1994, Floyd Hand listened to Adi Da’s letter, read to him over the telephone by a friend of mine, Crane Kirkbride.

After listening, Floyd Hand Looks for Buffalo sat quietly for nearly a minute, then said, “This is a good letter. This is a letter for the whole world to hear.”

The following day, we mailed Adi Da’s hand-written letter to Floyd in South Dakota.

Ten years later, Miracle, the buffalo, passed away on September 19, 2004.

Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Chief Joseph Chasing Horse, Floyd Hand Looks for Buffalo, and many other Native Americans continue serving their peoples’ return to the Great Spirit and Mother Earth.

Likewise, Adi Da’s Vision of Fear-No-More is dedicated to sacredly serving the natural world and all of its interrelated inhabitants.

The times continue to be challenging, and all cultures, both human and non-human, must come together as equals if true change is to be realized. All the tribes, and all people, must recognize that we are all one at heart. Such a miracle would fulfill the deepest intuitions and hopes of all peoples.

May it be…