Buddhism Essays (3162 words) - Gautama Buddha, Buddhism In Japan

Buddhism In Life there is suffering. This spurs on the unending search for universal truth and meaning. Jodo Shinsu is an answer to this search. The "practice" of Jodo Shinshu is the recitation of the Nembutsu with self-reflection. It involves hearing the call of Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Eternal Life and Infinite Light, Compassion and Wisdom, within others' or ours recitation of the Name. Which calls us to raise our spiritual perspectives beyond immediate ego interests to universal concerns for compassion, justice in the human community and concern for the life of nature. The hole of life is Nembutsu. A life lived in awareness, that we ourselves are the expressions, the manifestations, of interdependence and compassion and dedicated to bringing that reality to others as we have experienced it. The Nembutsu is a spiritual shrine, which can be transported and reverenced wherever one may be. Time or space does not bind religious practice. Rather, from within the deep recesses of one's spirit the call of Amida Buddha can be heard, bringing our attention back to the very source of life itself, and evidencing its presence in the very act of living itself. http://www.mew.com/shin/doc/txt/pax.html Buddhism is one of the world's great religions. The religion is based on the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as The Buddha, who lived approximately 557 BC to 477 BC. The word "Buddha" means a Supremely Enlightened One or Fully Awakened One (also a Tathagata) who has won the realization of the True Permanent Absolute Reality, the ultimate truth. Buddhism is built on a framework that consists of the Four Noble Truths, four fundamental principles of nature (Dhamma) that emerged from the Buddha's honest and penetrating assessment of the human condition and that serve to define the entire scope of Buddhist practice. These truths are not fixed dogmatic principles, but living experiences to be explored individually in the heart of the sincere spiritual seeker: To each of these Noble Truths the Buddha assigned a specific task, which the practitioner is to carry out. The first Noble Truth is to be comprehended dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness, and stress): life is fundamentally fraught with unsatisfactoriness and disappointment of every description. The second is the cause of dukkha: the cause of this dissatisfaction is tanha (craving) in all its forms. The third is the cessation of dukkha: an end to all that unsatisfactoriness can be found through the relinquishment and abandonment of the cravings. The full realization of the third Noble Truth paves the way for the direct penetration of Nirvana, the transcendent freedom that stands as the final goal of all the Buddha's teachings. The last of the Noble Truths (the Noble Eight fold Path), contains a prescription for the relief of our unhappiness and for our eventual release once and for all from the painful and wearisome cycle of birth and death (samsara) to which through our own ignorance (avijja) of the Four Noble Truths we have been bound for countless aeons. The Noble Eight fold Path offers a comprehensive practical guide to the development of those wholesome qualities and skills in the human heart that must be cultivated in order to bring the practitioner to the final goal, the supreme freedom and happiness of Nirvana. The eight qualities to be developed are Right View, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. The Quality of Right View is to aspire to attain realization of perfect wisdom, the ultimate true permanent reality. Abstain from all evil acts of thought, to attain the total destruction of all cravings. The Quality Of Right Resolve is to renounce all manifesting, all constructions, all that is "created" make-believe, to develop dispassion, total detachment, absolute renunciation, self-surrender. To bring about the cessation of all "created" realities. To self-realize is the incomparable awakening of self. To win the freedom of mind, the freedom through perfect intuitive wisdom, the sane and immune emancipation of will. Right Speech is to abstain from all lying speech, all perjurious speech, all evil abusive speech and all frivolous speech. To engage in speech and discussion that pertains to and leads to Nirvana, to what's actually permanent and real. Right Action is to abstain from all killing of all creatures, abstain from all stealing, abstain from all sensual and sexual misconduct, abstain from all evil acts, and abstain from all forms of intoxication. Right Living is to abstain from all evil methods of livelihood. Right Effort is to destroy all evil states of mind that has already arisen. To keep new evil states of mind

matrin luther king annd malcom x essays

matrin luther king annd malcom x essays During the twentieth century Black people faced a lot of discrimination from the whites and found it very difficult to achieve civil rights. Black people were at one point denied of voting. In order for blacks to achieve civil rights they needed a leader to follow. Many black leaders did rise for the fight for civil rights, some had some ways of thinking some had others. Two of the most powerful and influential leaders of the twentieth century had to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. These two leaders had different approaches, and different views towards white people, but fought for the same thing. Malcolm X was Born Malcolm Little in 1925 in Omaha, Malcolm was six years old, when his father was murdered by the Black Legion, a group of white racists belonging to the KKK. He changed his name to Malcolm X while in prison. He was serving ten years because of a robbery. Also while in prison he became a follower of Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad was the leader of an group called the Nation of Islam. During the 1950's, Malcolm became the spokesman for the Nation. Malcolm became a powerful speaker in the movement. As King captured the spirit of the Southern Black, Malcolm became the messiah of the ghettos of Harlem, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Originally a small group, the Nation grew rapidly under Malcolm's leadership. He not only spoke the words of the Koran and his spiritual adviser, Elijah Muhammad, but he also lived it to its fullest. As the crowds grew to hear him speak, so did the disapproval to his rising popularity. Malcolm taught a message of self help and personal responsibility. This is the message from the Nation of Islam. Like the Nation, he also spoke of a separate nation for Blacks only, which was also the view of Marcus Garvey, a leader that Malcolm followed, and also the view that Black is beautiful. .The beginning of Malcolm's problems with the Nation of Islam was whether or not to participate in the civil r...

How would you account fro the rise of fidel castro Essay

How would you account fro the rise of fidel castro - Essay Example Fulgencio Batista’s government which seized power illegally in 1952 was corrupt and unstable. This form of writing pieces together what might have driven Fidel Castro’s rise to power at the age of 30.Fidel Castro introduced the first communist state in the western hemisphere after a successful overthrow of Fulgencio’s government in 1959 and ruled for almost five decades with great performance in plummeting illiteracy, engraving out racism and improving public health though condemned for depriving economic and political freedoms. Fidel Castro who interestingly came to power with an intention of fighting oppression, injustice, corruption and poverty finally became the oppressor after realizing that only revolution could help Cubans. â€Å"Bio. True Story† explains that Fidel was born in 1926 in the eastern Cuba before studying law at the University of Havanna where he got into student politics (1-2). His intelligence, political savvy and being a good orator earned him a place as a student leader and later joined a political system that was opposed to Batista. His attempt to go for peaceful political change was unsuccessful and being an idealist, he believed that the populace would gather behind him to overthrow the then leader, Batista. Castro initially attacked the Moncada military barracks with only 100 followers using inferior weapons (Eldridge Web). Interestingly, Fidel Castro even prepared a revolutionary address which he expected to be broadcasted on the radio stations then give weapons to people and win Santiago. However, inadequate experience of the revolutionaries failed the mission. The failure was followed by brutal overreaction of the army killing innocent civilians and later led to Castro being put on trial and imprisoned for 15 years in Isle Pines (â€Å"Bio.True Story† 1-6). Although in prison, Castro still used his oratory prowess to make outstanding speech and ensured they were printed and circulated during his trial. Fortunately, the violent response to the attempted revolution by the army and the reaction by the Catholic Church to the army’s response made him respectable and a great hero. In 1955, Batista declared a general amnesty for all political prisoners prompting the release of Fidel, his brother Raul who went to Mexico and formed the 26th of July Movement where he officially announced that they would invade and overthrow Batista (â€Å"Bio.True Story† 2-5). On December 1956, he landed with his team in eastern Cuba where they prepared for a night march while sleeping in a cane but they were betrayed by a guide. They were then ambushed and badly tortured and butchered but still Castro survived and he continued gathering and recruiting his army. They invaded small town army posts and the army expeditions in the mountains making soldiers to refuse marching at the head of the column. He divided his army into various columns headed by numerous commanders as more people wer e recruited in the revolution. They established base camps and resembled small cities with hospitals, schools and hydroelectric station and a rebel newspaper, El Cubano Libre was published as well as telephone lines connecting several revolutionary columns (â€Å"Bio.True Story† 2-4). â€Å"Bio. True Story† explains that Fidel’

Triaxial method Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Triaxial method - Lab Report Example Insitu soil material is tested in during subsurface phase. This phase is an investigation stage that will help prepare design a waste containment facility or structures. The tests done will be used for structural fill, recompacted soil layers, and any other engineering components. These forms of tests are called conformance tests and are performed before any construction starts. Appropriate ASTM test methods must be followed when performing tests of materials. The common tests applied in geotechnical investigation are; Standard Test Method for Direct Shear Test of Soils Under Consolidated Drained Conditions ASTM 3080, Standard Test Method for Unconsolidated-Undrained Triaxial Compression Test on Cohesive Soils ASTM 2850, Standard Test Method for Unconfined Compressive Strength of Cohesive Soil ASTM 2166, Standard Test Method for Consolidated-Undrained Triaxial Compression Test for Cohesive Soils ASTM 4767 and Standard Test Method for One-Dimensional Consolidation Properties of Soils ASTM D 2435.1.0Â  Theoretical BackgroundThe purpose of this test is to establish the undrained shear strength of soil and applied to scenarios where fine-grained soils will be saturated and loading expected at a rate that overwhelms the ability of soil materials to dissipate excess pore water pressure. The author states that the shear strength parameters of fine and course grained soils in undisturbed or remolded state is quickly established. In a situation where the rate of construction is slow and allows the soil.

Business Negotiations Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business Negotiations - Coursework Example However, the employees do not want to lose their jobs or have their salaries’ deducted because of the responsibilities they have. Negotiation is a good way to handle the conflict. It provides both parties with a forum to bring forward their grievances and the affected parties will work something out that could solve their differences. I have two options: to urge the union leaders act ethically and agree to have a mature and productive negotiation process where both parties can benefit or to claim bankruptcy which will justify my firing some employees and reducing their wages. If the union leaders agree to have an ethical negotiation process, I will suggest the laying off some of the employees during this bad economic period, then rehire them once the condition is good; or convert some of the permanent employees to contracts such that they can be recalled during high peak seasons. Consequently, all employees can agree to stay in the company but have their wages reduced. The employees will have to understand that these decisions are not selfish but are circumstantial. If the negotiation process results in laying off some employees, they will be given a three months’ notice during which they can look for other jobs or sources of income. The employees will be laid off, according to their productivity levels. T hose with poor performance and poor productivity levels will be the first ones to get a compulsory leave (Reitz, Wall, & Love,

Development of memory in infancy

Development of memory in infancy Discuss, with reference to appropriate experimental studies, the development of memory in infancy. Memory is the process of encoding, storing and retrieving information. Encoding is the acquiring and the entering of information into the system. Storage is the retaining of the memories over time, and retrieval is recovering the stored memories when required to do so. Memory consists of three systems. Firstly there is the sensory memory, which is the perceptual system which stores only the recently acquired images for long enough to integrate it with the next, therefore producing an apparent motion. Secondly there is short-term memory that is a temporary storage for small quantities of information for a brief time. Finally the long-term memory system holds relatively permanent information. Studying the development of memory in infancy has many benefits, as it helps to show how memory develops over time. This knowledge from research can be applied to different settings, for example an educational setting, where the more a teacher understands about the memory development of children the more they can use this information to guide childrens learning therefore giving the best possible learning outcomes. This essay will discuss the strategies used to help with encoding, storing and retrieving information. To help compare the development of infants memory, studies with older children have been included. Memory strategies are the ways in which people effectively remember information. These strategies include encoding strategies and retrieval strategies. Encoding strategies are used to help enter the information into the memory; this can include rehearsal, organisation and elaboration. Rehearsal refers to the mental repetition of information. Brainerd and Reynas (2002) fuzzy trace theory suggests there are two memory representations. These are verbatim trace and gist trace. The verbatim trace refers to remembering information exactly, whereas gist trace is remembering the general meaning of the information. The gist trace representations last, but the verbatim trace representations leads to more forgetting. Flavell, Beach and Chinsky (1966) studied rehearsal in 5 year, 7 year and 10 year olds. Each age group had 20 children, who were all given a set of 7 pictures. The children were told to try and remember some of the pictures. After a 15 seconds gap, the children were asked to say al oud the pictures they could recall. During the 15 seconds gap a lip reader assessed what they believed each children might have been saying to themselves. They found that two of the 5 year olds, more than half of the 7 year olds, and most of the 10 year olds repeated the pictures to themselves. It was found that rehearsal lead to better recall. Flavell et al. (1966) found that age differences may show the development of strategies used, such as rehearsal. Although some of the children may have been using rehearsal strategies, but may not have moved their lips. McGilly and Siegler (1990) carried out an extension on Flavell et al.s (1966) study, by also asking children to report how they remembered the pictures. They found a high amount of children (74%) reported using rehearsal strategies. However only 39% were observed, by lip reading techniques, using rehearsal strategies. Therefore suggesting that children of all ages use rehearsal, however it may not be as effectively used in you nger children (Smith, Cowie Blades, 2003). This would explain age differences in recall in Flavell et al.s (1966) study. Ornstein, Naus and Liberty (1975) compared the rehearsal strategies of 7 year olds and adults. Participants were given a word to remember every 5 seconds, and asked to say aloud what they were thinking. They found that children repeated the word until the next word was given, then they would repeat the next word. Whereas adults repeated the word until they were given the second word, then they would repeat both words. Therefore showing that adults effectively used organization, but 7 year old children did not use this at all. This is important in showing that children use rehearsal strategies, but they lack the knowledge of how to effectively use such strategies. A study by Naus, Ornstein and Aivano (1977) taught 8 year olds a strategy of rehearsing in groups of three. They found that the 8 year olds could recall the same amount as 12 year olds, after being taught the chunking strategy. Therefore younger children can do this, but the organization of rehearsal does not occur naturally at these ages. Organisation, or chunking, is the grouping of information in an effective way to help with encoding. Moely, Olson, Halwes Flavell (1969) showed children a set of pictures that were in a random order in laid out in front of them. The set included pictures of animals and furniture, for example. The children were instructed to learn all the pictures and if it helped them they were allowed to rearrange the pictures. It was found that the children of 10 years and older had effectively used organisation strategies, as 10 year olds had categorised pictures according to whether it was an animal, or a piece of furniture, etc. As with rehearsal strategies, the younger children were not effectively using the organisation strategy. The children use this strategy, but do not seem to have developed knowledge of how it is best to be used, like the older children had. Elaboration is the strategy when people make associations between given information to help with encoding and the subsequent recall of this information. Foley, Wilder, McCall and Van Vorst (1993) gave 6 and 9 year olds verbal images to help them to recall pairs of words. The childrens recall was better if the image was basic, yet memorable. Pressley and Levin (1980) found that children of 7 years could use elaboration if an effective image was given with the pair of words, of which one was English and the other was its Spanish equivalent. This led to children learning the words better. Therefore children can use elaboration as an encoding strategy when given support, but the use of elaboration by themselves had not yet developed fully. As Buckhalt, Mahoney and Paris (1976) found when children first begin to use elaborations they use simple, static elaboration, whereas older children use active elaborations. Active elaborations are images that are distinctive and therefore remembered better, allowing for a better recall. Leichtman and Ceci (1995) studied the reliability of childrens testimony. The study was set in a preschool, where a stranger, Sam Stone, came in for a day. Some of the children were then given suggestive interviews every week for four weeks after. All of the children were interviewed on the fifth week, by a new interviewer, who had not seen Sam Stone or any of the previous interviews. The children were firstly asked for a report of what happened on the day of Sam Stones visit, and then asked questions. The leading questions had led a high majority of the 3-4 year olds to make false claims, although the 5-6 year olds were less likely to do this. Therefore younger childrens encoding is effected by what is inferred by other people, for example the leading questions in Leichtman and Cecis (1995) study inferred that Sam Stone had done something wrong, this lead to 72% of the 3-4 year olds saying he had done it, and 44% even claiming to have seen him do it. The older children were not affe cted by the leading questions as much, therefore showing that the encoding for the older children may have been better as they felt secure in what they could recall. Retrieval strategies are the ways in which people recall information from long-term memory. Kreutzer, Leonard and Flavell (1975) studied how 5 and 10 year olds would retrieve information from long-term memory. They used a story and asked the children how they could remember the answer. Kreutzer et al. (1975) found all 10 year olds could think of one way at least, whereas only half the 5 year olds could do this. Therefore the 5 year olds had not all developed effective retrieval strategies. Kobasigawa (1974) used 24 pictures, from 8 categories, for children of 6, 8 and 11 years of age to learn. Along with the pictures the children were shown 8 cue cards, one for each category. Later on the children were shown the cue cards and asked to recall the earlier pictures. A third of the 6 year olds used the cue cards, whereas most of the older groups did this. The 11 year olds only effectively used the cue cards, by using them to help name all the pictures they could remember from that catego ry. The 6 and 8 year olds who used the cue cards, only named one picture from each category. Therefore suggesting that the 6 year olds had not developed the knowledge of how to use cue cards. The 8 year olds knew to use the cue cards, but they didnt know exactly how to use them. Therefore full knowledge of the usefulness of cue cards must develop later on, as the 11 year olds could use them effectively. Retrieval cues, such as cue cards, are strong aids to recall, according to Nelson (1990) people have no early memories because verbal cues are used as retrieval cues. Simcock and Hayne (2002) assessed the language skills of infants of 27, 33 and 39 months, and then tested the infants verbally and non-verbally. The infants were then tested on their recall at 6 or 12 months later. Simcock and Hayne (2002) found retention on both verbal and non-verbal recall, however non-verbal memory recall was better than verbal. They also found that verbal recall reflected the verbal abilities at the time of encoding, therefore showing that encoding is important in the recall of information. Overall many of the basic processes are seen at birth, and are crucial from the early days. Memory strategies develop from the second year, but only become predominant between 5 to 7 years old, these strategies include rehearsal, organisation and elaboration. With age comes the development of quality, frequency, flexibility and the effective use of these strategies. Changes in the efficiency with age of encoding can be seen, as at the age of 2-5 years children can hold from 2 to 4 pieces of information in short-term memory, and at 7 years this is increased to 5 pieces of information. This is through the effective use of rehearsal, as this helps the child to become better at registering information as well as organising it and therefore helping to make storage and retrieval easier. Meta-cognitive skills refer to knowing that you know. Implicit knowledge of meta-cognition skills can be seen later on in infancy, whereas explicit knowledge develops from the age of 5 to 15. In general children under-report, therefore specific questioning leads to greater reporting and prevents the information from decay. To increase retrieval of information in infants it is important to encourage them to think deeply about what they are being asked to remember (Butler, Gross Hayne, 1995). The phrasing of the question can clearly lead children into the answer they think the interviewer wants, as Leichtman and Cecis (1995) study has shown. An important area to study in memory is forgetting, as a lot can be learnt about memory from what is not remembered as well as what is. For example, Hartshorn et al. (1998) found that infants aged between 2 and 18 months exhibited retention after the shortest test delays. They also found as the interval increased the younger infants were the first to forget, this is determined by experience. This study shows that forgetting is affected by experience; therefore what is remembered must also be affected by experience. Research into memory development in infants needs to take into account the biological side, as the brain is still changing and developing itself and plays a huge role in memory. References Butler, S., Gross, J., Hayne, H. (1995). The effect of drawing on memory performance in young children. Developmental Psychology, 31, p. 597-608. Brainerd, C. J., Reyna, V. F. (2002). Fuzzy-trace theory and false memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, p. 164-169. Buckhalt, J.A., Mahoney, G. J., Paris, S. G. (1976). Efficiency of self-generated elaborations by EMR and nonretarded children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 81, p. 93-96. Flavell, J. H., Beach, D. R., Chinsky, J. M. (1966). Spontaneous verbal rehearsal in a memory task as a function of age. Child Development, 37, p. 283-299. Foley, M. A., Wilder, A., McCall, R., Van Vorst, R. (1993). The consequences for recall of childrens ability to generate interactive imagery in the absence of external supports. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56, p. 173-200. Hartshorn, K., Rovee-Collier, C., Gerhardstein, P., Bhatt, R. S., Klein, P. J., Aaron, F., Wondoloski, T. L., Wurtzel, N. (1998). Developmental changes in the specificity of memory over the first year of life. Developmental Psychobiology, 33, p. 61-78. Kobasigawa, A. (1974). Utilization of retrieval cues by children in recall. Child Development, 45, p. 127-134. Kreutzer, M. A., Leonard, C., Flavell, J. H. (1975). An interview study of childrens knowledge about memory. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 40, p. 1-58. Leichtman, M., Ceci, S. (1995). The effects of stereotypes and suggestions on preschoolers reports. Developmental Psychology, 31, p. 568-578. McGilly, K., Siegler, R. S. (1990). The influence of encoding and strategic knowledge on childrens choices among serial recall strategies. Developmental Psychology, 26, p. 931-941. Moely, B. E., Olson, F. A., Halwes, T. G., Flavell, J. H. (1969). Production deficiency in young childrens clustered recall. Developmental Psychology, 1, p. 26-34. Naus, M. J., Ornstein, P. A., Aivano, S. (1977). Developmental changes in memory: The effects of processing time and rehearsal instructions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 23, p. 237-251. Nelson, K. (1990). Remembering, forgetting, and childhood amnesia. In R. Fivush J. A. Hudson (Eds.), Knowing and remembering in young children. P. 301-306. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. Ornstein, P. A., Naus, M. J., Liberty, C. (1975). Rehearsal and organizational processes in childrens memory. Child Development, 46, p. 818-830. Pressley, M., Levin, J. R. (1980). The development of mental imagery retrieval. Child Development, 61, p. 973-982. Simcock, G., Hayne, H. (2002). Breaking the barrier: Children do not translate their preverbal memories into language. Psychological Science, 13, p. 225-231. Smith, P. K., Cowie, H., Blades, M. (2003). Understanding Childrens Development (4th Edition). Blackwell.

Analysis of The World Bank’s Findings on Air Pollution Essay -- Pollut

Analysis of The World Bank’s Findings on Air Pollution (PM10 Concentration) in World Cities The World Bank is an international non-governmental organization with the goal of aiding developing countries throughout the world with financial and technical assistance. Besides the obvious concern of financial stability for the impoverished countries of the world, the World Bank also focuses on education, health, infrastructure, and communications. Our analysis deals with the environment and infrastructure aspects of the World Bank’s work. The World Bank provided us with the dataset entitled â€Å"Air Pollution in World Cities (PM10 Concentration).† â€Å"PM† stands for particulate matter pollution in the air. This dataset showed every major city in the world with a population of 100,000 or more and also every country’s PM concentration. The country-based portion of the dataset was used for this analysis. The primary determinants of PM concentrations are the scale and composition of economic activity, population, the energy mix, the strength of local p ollution regulation, and geographic and atmospheric conditions that affect pollutant dispersion in the atmosphere. (World Bank) Thanks to economic improvements throughout the world and technological advancements, PM10 concentration has increased at a very slow rate. The objective of this analysis was to determine the pollution concentration of several regions throughout the world, including Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South America. Our original null hypothesis was that the ÃŽ ¼ of the pollution concentration of each region was equal. Conversely, the alternative hypothesis states that the ÃŽ ¼ of each region is not equal. We used se... ... show the discrepancy between region means, but it can also be physically observed when comparing the two extremes of Europe at 30.95 and Africa at 73.31 PM10 concentrations. It is obvious from the results of this analysis that the world has a wide range of pollution effects. Traditionally more advanced regions such as Europe and North America have pollution under control because of a stable economy and a wide array of technological resources. Other regions such as Africa and Central America are struggling with pollution, relative to more developed regions, improvements in technology and structural shifts (World Bank) in the world economy are helping these regions keep air pollution to a minimum. WORKS CITED 1. The World Bank http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:20785646~pagePK:64214825~piPK:64214943~theSitePK:469382,00.html