The Five Powers of Buddhism

The Five Powers of Buddhism The spiritual path can seem a frustrating slog much of the time. The Buddha knew this, and he taught that there are five spiritual qualities that, when developed together, become the panca bala in Sanskrit and Pali, five powers that overcome hindrances. The five are faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. Faith The word faith is a red flag for many of us. The word often is used to mean blind acceptance of doctrines without evidence. And the Buddha clearly taught us to not accept any doctrine or teaching blindly, as found in the Kalama Sutta. But in Buddhism, faith shraddha (Sanskrit) or saddha (Pali) means something closer to trust or confidence. This includes trust and confidence in yourself, knowing that you can overcome obstacles through the power of practice. This trust does not mean accepting Buddhist doctrines as true. Rather, it means that you trust the practice to develop your own insight into what the doctrines teach. In the Saddha Sutta of the Pali Canon, the Buddha compared trust in the dharma to the way birds trust a tree in which they build their nests. Often we experience to practice as a balancing act between faith and bewilderment. This is good; be willing to look deeply at what bewilders you. Looking deeply does not mean concocting an intellectual explanation to cover your ignorance. It means practicing wholeheartedly with your uncertainties and being open to insight when it comes. Energy The Sanskrit word for energy is virya. Virya evolved from an ancient Indo-Iranian word that meant hero, and in the Buddhas day virya had come to refer to the strength of a great warrior to overcome his enemies. This strength can be mental as well as physical. If you are struggling with inertia, torpor, laziness, or whatever you want to call it, how do you develop virya? Id say a first step is to take inventory of your daily life to see whats draining you and address that. It could be a job, a relationship, an unbalanced diet. Please be clear, however, that addressing your energy drains does not necessarily mean walking away from them. The late Robert Aitken Roshi said, The first lesson is that distraction or obstruction are just negative terms for your context. Circumstances are like your arms and legs. They appear in your life to serve your practice. As you become more and more settled in your purpose, your circumstances begin to synchronize with your concerns. Chance words by friends, books, and poems, even the wind in the trees brings precious insight. [From the book, The Practice of Perfection] Read More: Virya Paramita: The Perfection of Energy Mindfulness Mindfulness sati (Pali) or smriti (Sanskrit) is a whole-body-and-mind awareness of the present moment. To be mindful is to be fully present, not lost in daydreams or worry. Why is this important? Mindfulness helps us break the habits of mind that separate us from everything else. Through mindfulness, we stop filtering our experiences through judgments and biases. We learn to see things directly, as they are. Right, Mindfulness is part of the Eightfold Path. Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh said, When Right Mindfulness is present, the Four Noble Truths and the other seven elements of the Eightfold Path are also present. (The Heart of the Buddhas Teaching, p. 59) Concentration Concentration in Buddhism means to become so absorbed that all distinctions between self and others are forgotten. The deepest absorption is samadhi, which means to bring together. Samadhi prepares the mind for enlightenment. Samadhi is associated with meditation, and also with the dhyanas, or four stages of absorption. Wisdom In Buddhism, wisdom (Sanskrit prajna; Pali panna) does not exactly fit the dictionary definition. What do we mean by wisdom? The Buddha said, Wisdom penetrates into dharmas as they are in themselves. It disperses the darkness of delusion, which covers up the own-being of dharmas. Dharma, in this case, refers to the truth of what is; the true nature of everything. The Buddha taught that this kind of wisdom comes only from direct, and intimately experienced, insight. It does not come from crafting intellectual explanations. Developing the Powers The Buddha compared these powers to a team of five horses. Mindfulness is the lead horse. After that, faith is paired with wisdom and energy is paired with concentration. Working together, these powers dispel illusion and open doors of insight.

Cellular respiration and fermentation Lab Report - 1

Cellular respiration and fermentation - Lab Report Example The key materials used are the following: 10 percent sucrose solution; 10 percent glucose solution; peas; distilled water; phenol red; yeast stock; wax pencil; water bath; hot plate; test tubes of various sizes; beaker; test tube corks and holders; test tube rack. The idea behind the test tubes of varying sizes is to create a respirometer using two sizes of test tubes, for the experiment involving the yeasts. A practice session involves filling the smaller tube, measuring 15 x 125 mm with water, placing that inside a 20x150 mm test tube, and inverting to the point where the air bubble in the smaller test tube is as small as can be made from the process. In the actual experiment, three different test tubes are filled with two thirds of either ten percent sucrose solution, ten percent glucose solution, or distilled water, and then topped off to the brim with yeast suspension. The inversion method practiced above is utilized to mix the solutions and form the respirometers. The respirometers are allowed to incubate for one hour, while placed in a water bath set at 37 degrees Celsius. The gas bubble heights are measured after the period of incubation. The idea is to be able to undertake a comparison of how the three sources of food in the test tub e compare with regard to their suitability as food for yeast. This is the first part of the experiment (Experiment 7 n.d., pp. 59-61). In part two of the experiment., 10 peas that were either soaked, not soaked, and soaked and boiled were placed in each of three different test tubes, fulled with water up to the two-thirds level, and covered with corks. After an hour and a half, two drops of phenol red were placed in each of the three test tubes containing the seeds, more when no color was visible or the color is too vague/thin. The results of the color observations were tabulated. (Experiment 7 n.d., pp. 59-61) The first part of the experiment measured the amount of respiration from the

Examine and discuss the influence of individual resistance to change, Essay

Examine and discuss the influence of individual resistance to change, potential sources of stress, and consequences in organizations. Recommend approaches to managing change and stress - Essay Example But it is equally true that people tend to resist any kind of change within and outside their professional life for variety of reasons. Hence, organizations need to implement the changes in a manner that mitigates the resistance of the individuals and instills confidence in them. In the book ‘Organization Behavior’ the authors Hitt et al, have cited four basic causes of resistance to change: lack of understanding; different assessment; self interest; and low tolerance (Hitt, A. Miller, C. Chet Miller and Colella, 2005). The first factor normally happens when the employees and staff are not clear about the changes that need to be made which creates fear of the unknown among the persons who need to adapt to the changes. The second factor is crucial because the management may resist to the change as a result of assessing the change in a differently perspective, mainly due to lack of communication on the part of management. This type of resistance develops when organization is in the process of adopting newer technology which creates self doubt of the new technology and at the same time they become unsure about their own ability to successfully adapt the changes in their work practice. Finally self interests and low tolerance for change is usually o bserved when people in the organization do not anticipate changes and therefore often undergo different modes of emotional resistance before accepting the changes. These are major factors that create irrational fear, emotions like anger, frustration and reluctant acceptance that promotes non-congenial atmosphere for work. They fight against any change to defend their position and job in the organization, keeping their self interest in mind. A good leader ensures that all types of changes must be gradually introduced with full participation of the employees so that at each stage, they are able to understand the necessity and viability of the changes that must be

Emigration of the Jews from the Soviet Union Essay - 2

Emigration of the Jews from the Soviet Union - Essay Example The Christian Zionists in America focuses on the covenant God had with Abraham in the Old Testament. The group had sympathy for Jews in the Soviet Union because of the suffering they went through in the hands of Nazi. The British restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine under the terms of the Mandate (Galili y Garcia & Morozov, 2006). The political situation reached a point, which it was not familiar to Arabs and Jews. The route into and out of Europe for Jews who wanted to enter Palestine was false. Three incentives lie behind the emigration of the Jews from the Soviet Union. Individuals from the Jewish societies find it hard to integrate into communities that host them. Jews are secluded in their social environment. The Jews grew to believe that they could preserve their culture and traditions through identifying the ethical values. Moral values play a significant role in the values of most societies. Moral incentives focus on the rights of individuals in the society. The Russian society fails to protect its citizens by catering for their rights. In capitalist's economies like Russia, material incentives are one of the factors for the emigration of Jews in the Soviet Union. Liberal societies provide ample environment for Jews to settle into their economic systems.

Analysis of Emily DickinsonI Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died

Analysis of Emily DickinsonI Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died The Tone and Mood in I Heard a Fly BuzzWhen I Died Dickinson writes this poem from a perspective after she has died. She is describing the experience of dying, the final aesthesis before the exact moment of death. The speaker is both observer and participant, which means the Self is divided. The poem shows her own sight of death- a common yet indescribable mystery of human experience. She imaginatively explores the mystery. The tone is very calm. This coolness of the speaker who is dying helps the readers understand the level of acceptance of her own fate. Furthermore, the tone is quite a robotic narration, the kind that one would expect from a dead person, with no emotion. Flies are creatures that eat carrions. It is an ironic and cruel admonisher of the fate of a dead person’s body after he or she has died, which is a contrast of the traditional Christian belief about the holiness of life and death. Angels or God himself dont come to take the soul of the her after the death, instead, a mere fly comes, and then the whole feeling changes and leaves total darkness and oblivion to the readers. In the first stanza, Dickinson tells us that she is in the room, which is silent and the most important element of the poem, the dead scene, waiting for her death. The poem describes the tranquility between heaves, suggesting that upheaval has happened in this moment and that more upheaval will follow. It is a moment of anticipation, of waiting. The air is still, and the witnesses of her death are silent, yet the fly is buzzing. The speakers tone is tranquil, even flat. Her narration is concise and factual. She repeats the word Stillness twice with both capitalized, which shows how strong that emotion is. However, in this stillness she heard a buzz of a fly, which interrupts the calmness n apparently annoys her. That is why she says I heard a Fly buzz when I died, to express the interruption of her certainty of death. In the second stanza, we are still in the room, but the speaker leaves the fly behind and talks about the people witnessing the death during her last moment. Her breathing shows that that last onset is about to happen. Last onset is an oxymoron, while onset means a beginning, and last means an end. The people around her are now stop crying and are calmly preparing for her death. It shows everything is ready and she is now going to unite with the King in heaven. We can still see that although this is her last moment, there is no fear or sadness in this atmosphere. On the other hand, except for her inner calmness, the people around her are quiet and calm too, other than weeping and crying. This strengthens the stillness in the first stanza. The third and forth stanzas are an introduction of the fly. In the third stanza, when the speaker knows she is now ready and is giving away her wills and heritage, without any trace of sorrow and fear, the fly a reappear intruder, a weird, unnecessary, and gross little bug breaks in her calmness again. This sudden interruption of the fly damages the peaceful image of this poem unexpectedly. Although the fly doesnt appear in most of the poem, it comes back in a big way. The speaker uses the word interposed, which changes everything and makes the atmosphere much less comfortable. In the forth stanza, it is the first time that the speaker describes the fly in details. She uses words Blue uncertain stumbling buzz to show the image of it. It gives readers a stronger image of the colors and movements that go along with that annoying sound. Dickinson doesnt write a sentence to describe the fly, on the contrary, she only drops a few words, and we begin to build a picture in our minds. Also, the word uncertain is definitely a completely opposite image of her willingness towards her death. When flies, which eat dead bodies, are associated with decay and death, this intruders interruption of the speakers progress toward the comforting of the light is evil. And right when the fly interposes between the light and her, she closes her eyes and dies, in other words, the moment when she dies, she does not die comfortably, which is out of expectation of the stillness in this poem. Although death is expected, the actual moment of death happens suddenly. Also, when read the poem as a whole, the eyesight has been narrowing, closing and centralizing on the fly throughout the whole incident. Every line in this poem is written in perfect iambic meter. They are divided into two syllable chunks, while emphasizing on the second syllable. The length of the stanzas and the lines are also regular. There are four stanzas each with four lines. The first and the third lines in each stanza have eight syllables. The second and fourth lines each have six syllables. Dickinson gave this poem a smooth, rhythmic feel. Rhyme also plays a significant role in this poem. The first stanzas have no apparent rhyme, until the last stanza that we see a rhyme pattern of ABCB, which indicates that true rhyme comes with true death. The rhyme finalizes the death in a way that making it a major part of the poem by putting emphasis on it. Dickinson also uses a lot of hyphens, which seems randomly put in but in fact it is another important strategy. A dying person gasping for breath that have abrupt pauses in their speech. The way they force you to pause again and again, even in weird places, gives readers the sense of slow, certain anticipation. These lines represent those abrupt pauses, causing readers to read the poem much as the speaker herself would. The overall atmosphere in this poem is quiet, calm and peaceful, though, except when the fly interrupts the speakers waiting of death. When the sound of the fly fades, the vita of the speaker also fades, until the poem’s final moment of silence. It is very different from the stereotype feeling when people talk or write about death. In this poem, the death is painless, yet the vision of death is horrifying. At the beginning, the insignificant fly merely startles and disconcerts us. But at the end of the poem, the fly assumes dreadful meaning. Obviously the central image is the fly. It expresses the mood and experiences in the speakers death. Although the tone is calm, the mood is somber and sad, as the fly apparently interrupts her anticipation of a peaceful death. In conclusion, this poem represents the nature of death, what everyone has to encounter when they die. However, most of us believe we, human beings are special, superior to the other animals and that our deaths should be treated with more honor, while the fact is that human beings are animals, too. Our deaths are no more or less significant than the others. Death is natural. This poem represents the obscure feeling within Emily Dickinson. She could simply write a poem about seeing herself going to heaven, but she didnt consider death was as honorable as many would think and in the end she â€Å"could not see to see† References 1. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. . 2. On 465 (I Heard a Fly Buzzwhen I Died). On 465 (I Heard a Fly Buzzwhen I Died). Web. 11 Mar. 2015. 3. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. . 4. Shmoop Editorial Team. I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died –. Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. .

Being a Good Leader in the Marines Essay -- Marines Leadership Counsel

Being a Good Leader in the Marines â€Å"In order to be a good leader, there are two things to remember. Lead from the Front and always set the Example. From these two leadership principles, everything else will fall into place.† These are the words that have ended all of my counseling sheets with since I began writing them as a Corporal and will continue to do as long as I counsel Marines. I was brought up in the Marine Corps with this philosophy and have adopted it as my own. Leading from the front is often times one of the leadership principles that is easier said by some than actually done. Those so called leaders that would tell their Marines to do something that ‘they’ would never really do themselves. Coming in font of your Marines on a Monday morning without a fresh haircut or pressed uniform and actually having the nerve to address them on how ‘unsatisfactory’ they appear. I have actually had the unpleasant experience of witnessing this, from a receiving perspective. Is this what anyone would call Setting the Example? I have had both the pleasure and discomfort of being led by good and bad leaders. The way I simply define leadership is by being able to do as you say. Lead from the front and Set the example. There are several different items that I have stored in my leadership â€Å"bag of tricks†. The one that I find myself applying the most is the ability to be both stern but flexible. I am a true believer in the statement that no one is perfect. As a leader I feel tha...

Food Waste? Too valuable to waste! Essay

! According to statistics from the Environmental Protection Department, in Hong Kong, solid waste generated daily weighs around 17000 tones, of which around 30% is organic matter (2700 tones) which is roughly equal to 120 double-deck buses in size. Compared this to the US where, revealed by the Environmental Protection Agency, only 12% of waste stream was scrap of food in 2005. Extra care in disposal is required for these putrescible wastes, otherwise nuisance to the environment will be caused. Food waste not only causes a feculent choking smell, but also discharges a huge amount of concentrated greenhouse gases, methane and polluted water, all of which are leading to the global warming that we highly concerned about. All the food wastes are currently disposed to landfills, however all the existing landfills will be saturated within 5 years. Construction of new landfill is a problem because of a lack of available space that is far away from residential areas. Therefore, seeking out alternative ways for food waste treatment has become an imperative for the government. Before discussing cutting food waste at its source, there is another possible destiny for surplus food besides disposal – Food recycling. The food waste for food recycling can be categorized into two parts: edible (bread, vegetable and meat) and inedible (bones and eggshell). Food Waste Processor Basically, inedible food wastes are useful in that they can be recycled and reused. Through natural biodegradation by bacteria, all the organic waste will be converted into organic fertilizer and soil stabilizer. According to the journal of â€Å"Food waste composting – sustainable organic waste management† (Jonathan, 2003), in some advanced countries in Europe, central food waste treatments has been practiced for years. All the domestic food waste will be collected and transported to central composting facilities which are installed far away from the residential areas. However, this huge facility is not available to Hong Kong owing to the limited area. The Ecotech Food Waste Processor, a new technology for the same purpose is being tested in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong International Airport, housing estates and universities. Due to the tiny space of Hong Kong, it is well-designed for being used in small communities such as restaurants and housing estates which are the main sources of food waste. A large processing capacity 100kg per day is supported with a small sized machine. The automatic processor is easy to operate and is equipped with self-adjustment of temperature and moisture which are decisive parameters for the speed of reaction. Also, the specially formulated microbes and materials are used in the processor to increase the rate of biodegradation. To enhance the transportation efficiency, the volume of food waste will be reduced by about 90% in 24 hours. The composite fertilizer contains high nutrient value including nitrogen which is a major element for plant growth. This new technology is suitable for Hong Kong, as it has limited space. All the food waste can be recycled and become useful materials rather than being disposed in landfill. Besides reducing the load of landfill, the valuable organic materials, which are transformed from the â€Å"waste†, are nutrients to our health and the Earth. Since vegetables grown by organic fertilizer is much healthier to human than those grown by chemical fertilizer. Therefore, this processor should be widely used in Hong Kong in order to minimize the amount of food waste and raise public awareness of this exigent problem. Surplus Food Donation The Environmental Protection Department stated that â€Å"the amount of food wasted by Hong Kong’s restaurants, hotels, and food manufacturers has more than doubled in the past five years.† Effort should be focused on collecting leftover food donation as a huge pile of edible food waste is created from restaurants every day. Foodlink is a nonprofit organization working on this aspect. It takes surplus food from over 40 hotels and restaurants and delivers it to charity groups such as Home of Love in Sham Shui Po and Action Care that works with the less privileged communities in society. Regarding to an article â€Å"The food chain† (Grace, 2012), about one million people in Hong Kong are suffering from hunger and struggling to fill their stomachs. Freshly cooked food is something that they cannot support on a daily basis, especially for the one million people in Hong Kong who are living below the poverty line. Actually, those government-sponsored food banks only provide canned or prepackaged food which is unhealthy in the long term. On the contrary, the hot leftover food from the hotels and restaurants is nutrient rich. In fact, this creates a triple win situation for the landfills, charities and hotels. By examining the amount of excess food that transport to the charity, the hotel can determine the appropriate quantity of food for each day. Eventually, not only less food waste will be produced, but the cost of excess food production and food waste treatment can be reduced and eliminated. Also, less recyclable food will be wasted and disposed to landfills. Therefore sponsorship to those charities and public promotions is an obligation for the Hong Kong government. As the old saying goes â€Å"Prevention is better than cure†, cutting the food waste at its source is the best ways to solve this issue. However, despite there being less food waste being disposed to landfills, the food waste problem will continue to occur if the eating habits do not change. Food waste charge Similar to the solid garbage charges being promoted in the past few months, food waste charges could be implemented in restaurants to minimize this problem commercially. According to Friends of the Earth, in the catering industry, hotel buffets and restaurants that offer â€Å"all you can eat† are the major sources of uneaten food, which then goes into the landfills. Many customers whose â€Å"eyes are bigger than their stomachs† usually order far more dishes that they are able to consume, so the surplus food eventually has to be disposed of. Some hot pot restaurants that provide â€Å"all you can eat† strictly charge the leftover food per kilogram in order to minimize the  problem. However, only a few hotel buffets in Hong Kong are willing to charge for the uneaten food since it may lower its attractiveness. In foreign countries, London and America are good role models that are attempting to use this policy to solve the food waste issue. A Chinese restaurant Kylin Buffet in London will charge a $32 â€Å"wastage fee† for the excess food. A â€Å"guilty fee† is imposed to charge the uneaten food in a Japanese restaurant located in Manhattan. In order to enhance the popularity of food waste charges, promotion and communications with restaurants are necessary for the government. Through this policy, it arouses public awareness of food waste so that the eating habit may finally improve. Since the food waste fee acts as a reminder and warning to customers to make self-adjustments to their appetite. All in all, for thousands of years, famine has continued to happen somewhere throughout human history. In fact, the current food production and storage in the world is more than enough to support the whole populations if we are able to minimize food waste. The food waste processor, leftover food donation and fee charging are the substantive measures to minimize the food waste and reduce the load of landfills from two main aspects (usage and source of food waste). As a Chinese proverb says â€Å"every grain is from hard toil†, hardship is required in food growing, we should cherish food and respect the nature that nurtures us. (1261 words) References 1. Food Waste Management in HK. (2011). Environmental Protection Department. Retrieved from http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/prob_solutions/owt_food.html 2. Municipal Solid Waste in The United States – 2009 Facts and Figures. (2010). Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/wastes/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009rpt.pdf 3. Jonathan, W. (2003, May). Food waste composting – sustainable organic waste management. New Horizons, 3, 12-13. Retrieved from http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~cpro/online_pub/nh0203/nh0203_12-13.pdf 4. Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong – Waste Statistics for 2011. (2012). Environmental Protection Department. Retrieved from https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/materials/info/msw2011.pdf 5. Grace, T. (2012, April 19). The Food Chain. Retrieved from http://hk.asia-city.com/city-living/article/food-chain 6. Order Less Waste Less. (2012). Friends of the Earth. Retrieved from http://www.foe.org.hk/welcome/geten.asp?id_path=1,%207,%2028,%20150,%204310,%204566