Buddhism Essay Example for Free

Buddhism Essay Ultimate reality:Â  None, Nothing is permanent. Holidays:Â  Buddhas birthday, Buddhas enlightenment and lunar quarters Human nature: There is no self or soul. Human existence is nothing more than a combination of five impermanent components (khandas). Purpose of life: Theravada Become an arhat, escape the cycle of rebirth, and attain nirvana. Mahayana Become a boddhisatva then help others attain enlightenment. Afterlife: Rebirth or nirvana. Nirvana is seen simply as the cessation of suffering by some and as a heavenly paradise by others. Founder/Leader Siddhartha Gautama Buddha was born a prince in Lumbini, Nepal, at the foot of Mount Palpa in the Himalayan ranges, in 580 B. C. He died at age 80 in 480 B. C. His father was Suddhodana, king of the Sakhyas-. His mother, Maya, died seven days after his birth, he was raised by his foster mother, Maya’s sister Mahaprajapati. He was also known as Sakhya Muni, meaning an ascetic of the Sakhya tribe. He is also called the Enlightened One. Upon his birth, astrologers predicted that upon achieving manhood, Siddhartha would become ither a universal monarch (Chakravarti), or would abandon all earthly comforts to become a monk and a Buddha. Siddhartha married Yasodhara at age sixteen, who subsequently gave birth to their son, Rahula. Desiring to see how the people in his town were living, he managed to get out of his walled enclosure accompanied by his servant, Channa. He came upon a decrepit old man, a sick man, and a corpse and he was shocked. He then met a monk who impr essed him with his serenity and beauty. Siddhartha left his home forever, donning yellow robes and shaving his head, to take up Yogic practices. Seeking instruction from several hermit teachers who lived in caves in the neighboring hills, he practiced severe Tapas (austerities) and Pranayama (breath control) for six years, during which time he almost starved to death and became exceedingly weak. Given food by a young woman, he sought a comfortable place to sit and eat it. He found a large tree, now known as the great Bo-tree, or Tree of Wisdom. He came out of the meditation victorious, his face shining with illumination and splendor, having attained Nirvana. At age 35, Siddhartha was a Boddhisatva. Buddha left his wondrous Bo-tree behind, venturing out into the world to teach others who were seeking Wisdom and Enlightenment. The subsequent teachings of The Buddha are the foundation of Buddhism. Creed The Four Noble Truths 1. Life means suffering 2. The origin of suffering is attachment 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable 4. The path to the cessation of suffering Code Five Percepts 1. I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life. 2. I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given. 3. I undertake the training rule to abstain from sexual misconduct. 4. I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech. 5. I undertake the training rule to abstain from fermented drink that causes heedlessness. Eight Percepts 1. I undertake to abstain from causing harm and taking life (both human and non-human). 2. I undertake to abstain from taking what is not given (for example stealing, displacements that may cause misunderstandings). 3. I undertake to abstain from sexual activity. 4. I undertake to abstain from wrong speech: telling lies, deceiving others, manipulating others, using hurtful words. 5. I undertake to abstain from using intoxicating drinks and drugs, which lead to carelessness. . I undertake to abstain from eating at the wrong time (the right time is after sunrise, before noon). 7. I undertake to abstain from singing, dancing, playing music, attending entertainment performances, wearing perfume, and using cosmetics and garlands (decorative accessories). 8. I undertake to abstain from luxurious places for sitting or sleeping, and overindulging in sleep.

Jeanne La Pucelle (joan The Maid) :: essays research papers

1412, it is in the last half-century of the Hundred Years' War in which the French attempted to attain freedom from English rule by fighting to eradicate English strongholds. An unusually strong, healthy, and possibly clairvoyant girl is born to Isabelle Romà ©e and Jacques d'Arc in the small village of Domremy, France. Her mother is from the town of Vouthon, which is west of Domremy. Her surname concurs that either she or a family member has visited Rome. Her father was born in a village called Ceffonds in the province of Champagne. His last name indicates a connection with Arc-en-Barrois, a small town fifty kilometers north of Ceffonds. She had a somewhat wealthy family as you can tell from their home with a stone construction. You can still visit her home today. It has since been used as a wine cellar, a wine press, and a stable. She was one of five children: Jacques, Catherine, Jean, Joan, and Pierre. Their wealth came from their farming of wheat, flax, beet hemp, and colza. They also bred livestock, spun wool and tow, and kneaded their own bread. She was baptized by Jean Minet in the Church of St. Remy. She is admired by patriots, women's rights activists, paranormal investigators, and playwrights. The woman I am talking about is commonly known as Joan of Arc. When Joan was 13 she began to see visions and hear voices who she later determined to be Saints Catherine, Margaret, and Michael. They convinced her that she was chosen by God to help the dauphin, Charles VII free France and take his seat in the throne. At age 17 in 1429 she gained access to the King through the military commander in Vaucoulaurs. Charles was desperate because the English had captured almost half of France including Paris. When Joan told him of her visions of the Saints he was doubtful so he set up two tests for her. In the first he disguised himself as a courtier, but she pointed him out immediately. For the second test he asked her what he prayed to God for the night before she arrived; she told him exactly. Some of the clergy believed her to be Satanic, but Joan was approved. Charles fitted her with armor and gave her command of the military. Soon after she set out to free Orleans from a brutal siege. The other French commanders hesitantly followed orders, but soon they obeyed her whole-heartedly. Under Joan's command the siege was broken after only ten days and the English fled. She was given the everlasting title "The

English language

II. In his 1946 essay, Politics and Language, George Orwell addresses the stagnation and misuse of the modern English language. In particular, Orwell addresses but does not limit his discussion to the use of language in the political spectrum. Increasingly, Orwell attempts to demonstrate, written language has become unnecessarily complicated and many times insensible. In describing particular offenses such as â€Å"dying metaphors,† â€Å"operators or verbal false limbs,† â€Å"pretentious diction,† and â€Å"meaningless words† Orwell shows how the meaning of ideas and the language itself is sometimes lost in the over-the-top prose of the writer.Orwell calls for a simpler turn to language, which doesn’t seek to necessarily eliminate particular turns of phrase or vocabulary but rather increases the precision of the words and to this extent the ideas. Instead of losing their ideas in convoluted sentences that say little and mean even less, Orwell call s on writers and politicians to express themselves with clarity and a familiarity with the language they choose to employ. III. Orwell addresses the misuse and overuse of language in political and general writing.He shows how writing or speaking in a manner that is seeks more to impress than express, modern writing increasing lacks imagination and coherence with the message frequently being lost in the words rather than being expressed by them. 2. Orwell’s conclusion is not to eliminate the language that is misused but instead to educate the writer in the misuse and to promote clarity in writing. 3. Orwell’s reasoning behind both his argument and his conclusion appear to be a love of language.While he admonishes overused metaphors, he presents several of his own throughout the text. He is not asking for perfect writing but rather an appreciation and an understanding of language and the ideas it is used to express. 4. N/A 5. N/A 6. Orwell presents several fallacies in h is argument, chief among them being the generalization of the five examples he presents at the beginning of the essay as indicative of modern writing. Also present is a faulty causal argument that connects the insincerity of politics and ideas with this kind of writing.However, it’s important to note that while simplifies this issue in this manner, Orwell also addresses these fallacies within his argument. He makes it clear that by dramatizing the prevalence of this type of language, he is simply attempting to better employ language to clearly express his ideas. 7. Orwell’s argument is largely based upon personal observation. There is the distinct feeling that while Orwell has support in this idea, especially when he notes the popular distaste among journalist for worn-out and uninspired metaphors.However, Orwell’s own observations of the over-done quality of academic and political writing. 8. Arguments could be made against Orwell’s claims on language, p articularly in his attacks on literary/art criticism or political literature. Literary and art critics coming from a particular school of thought could make the argument that in addressing their topics they must seek a new language to express their distinct interpretations. Politicians would make an argument against Orwell’s claims to their insincerity which they attempt to cover with language a lack of ideals or actual stance.N/A 10. There is much information omitted from Orwell’s argument, especially the writers who have not fallen to abusing and misusing language. However, as with the fallacies of his argument, Orwell is clear in noting that he is not speaking of all but rather drawing attention through a handful of examples to a growing trend. 11. Overall, Orwell presents a strong though admittedly biased argument. That it is Orwell himself who admits to this bias, illustrates the presence of his own ideals of clarity as beauty in language as a basis for the essay. My value assumption allows that there is a major basis of truth in Orwell’s argument and that the commonality of the types of language he rails against are as prevalent now as it was in 1946. 13. While the personal edge to Orwell’s argument could be seen as a drawback, I believe it instead highlights the very personal nature of language and how it is meant to express rather than suppress ideas. In his essay, Orwell is advocating for this expression and a strengthening of language through proper use and clear understanding. 14. Orwell’s essay remains as valuable today as it was in 1946.He could not have predicted and would likely be disheartened that despite his call to lingual arms that society and politicians continue to use â€Å"dying metaphors,† â€Å"operators or verbal false limbs,† â€Å"pretentious diction,† and â€Å"meaningless words. † However, his lessons of clear, simplistically beautiful prose is as needed to today as it was 60 years ago. Politicians and regular people alike still hide behind overblown and misunderstood language, failing to understand their own words and creating ignorance as the rest of the world struggle to understand as well.

Primary Stakeholders of Google Inc Essay

Introduction The American multinational enterprise, Google Inc., predominately leading the globe in internet services and products. They provide online advertising technologies, search engine, cloud storage, applications and other software. Their customers are advertising agencies and large businesses who pay to be exposed on the many free services Google offers to internet consumers. The largest shareholders Brin Sergey and Larry Page, founded Google while attending Stanford University. Google is the most universally used internet search engine, which allows them to gather interests and information about the consumers using their free services. Advertisers spend billions to strategically place their ads through Google because the free Google services accumulates personal interests and information needed to identify consumer demographics on the internet. In recent years the government and general public have raised concern about consumer privacy, as well as, the monopolistic presence in the internet market. Their shareholders are predominately internal making any external influence to the company improbable. Google employees are carefully selected and generally consist of newly graduated software geniuses; recently the media has criticized Google for the majority of their employees being Caucasian and Asian males. Google Inc. has a responsibility to manage its operations to maximize shareholders profits, but how well does it treat the other four primary stakeholders: the government, employees, customers, and general public. (Google, n.d.) Government Google has gained the government’s attention through multiple investigations over the years. In 2011, Google government officials from Europe joined the United States Congress to bring antitrust investigations against the Company. The next year in 2012, the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, conducted an investigation to gather evidence suggesting Google is a monopoly. Apple competes through SIRI and the app store as alternative search methods to  Google. Amazon holds the lead in product searches and Facebook is commonly used to search for trusted customer reviews by friends. The FTC was unsuccessful in proving their monopoly case and Google still dominates the internet/ computer market easily eliminating any start up competition. The Google business model makes sure no shareholder has a vote that could significantly impact the company, but the way media, government, and the majority of web users, interpret their activity could influence the company’s objectives. The FTC government agency has the influential power to investigate and bring media attention to the topic of Google’s seemingly unfair advantage in their market (Singer, 2012). Customers Approximately 99% of Google’s revenues are derived from businesses advertising on the free services it provides users. In Google’s system many advertisers bid on keywords. Popular keywords like â€Å"Miami Florida† are sold for much higher â€Å"value-per-click† than other less popular search topics. This revenue method allows Google to attract both large corporations and small business to place advertisements. The free services provided for Google users has destroyed markets. Decreasing the demand for products/ services like GPS, road atlas, and current traffic status by allowing the free anytime access to Google Maps. Google distracts its users with free services that make their life easier when Googles actual intent is selling individual attention and information about the users to advertisers. Google users are the product and not the customer. Through Google user’s searches and personal information like passwords saved in google chrome or contacts from gmail accounts, Google can deliver a product to advertisers tailored to their exact needs; people looking for shoes are delivered to shoe sellers, and people located in a certain town are delivered to local restaurants (Newman, 2011). Shareholders Google Inc. is a huge company owning 66 percent of its shares leaving 34 percent of the company owned by external shareholders. Founder Brin Sergey owns the largest amount of shares by an Individual at 21.8 million shares. There are less than five major external shareholders are institutions such as, FMR LLC, Vanguard Group INC, State Street Corp, Price T Rowe Associates INC, and Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings LTD. Unlike Microsoft, Intel,  and Apple; Google does not give cash back to its shareholders. Amazon and Facebook also do not yield cash dividends, but they are not as large, mature or as profitable as Google. If Google wanted to increase its shares a capital return program could be attractive to new investors. The cost of Google offer such a program would mean applying a payout of about 1.5 to 2.5 percent to compete with its peers. Google has three classes of shares: Class A gets one vote per share, Class B gets 10 votes per share, while Class C receives no voting privileges. Class B shares are only held by company insiders so Brin Sergey, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt own 92.5 percent of these shares, thus the majority vote (Niu, 2015). Employees Google is universally acclaimed as a great place to work. Its stock has soared 674% since its inception in August 2004. Their offices abound with areas designed to promote interaction, like a bowling alley in the California office or a pub lounge in the Ireland office. The search engine company provides its employees with a great health plan, legal aid, travel assistance, and a college reimbursement plan. If an employee dies, Google will continue to pay 50% of the deceased’s salary to his or her family for a decade (keep in mind they higher new graduates with an expected long life ahead of them). The California headquarters lobby is decorated with lava lamps, a piano, and search query projections posted on the wall. There are colorful fun exercise balls and bicycles for physical fitness in the hallways. Google receives 3 million applications annually and only higher about 0.2%, statistically Ivy League schools have a higher acceptance rate than Google. Engineers make up the majority of Googles employees and their salaries range from $ 100 thousand to $ 200 thousand. Engineering interns make approximately $ 7 thousand monthly (Unknown, 2014). Over all Google is more than generous when it comes to the treatment of their employees and promotes job low turnover (Waggoner, 2013). General Public According to Forbes magazine in 2013 four companies tied for first in corporate social responsibility: Microsoft, The Walt Disney Company, Google and BMW (Smith, 2013). Google has gained its popularity though the free services it provides all Google users. They have about $62.3 billion in cash and even after subtracting out its long and short term debt it has $57.2  billion. The majority of its profits, $41.8 billion, are held in foreign subsidiaries for tax avoidance. Being a technology based company, replacing hardcopies with electronic documents saves the company money as well as the preservation of the environment. Therefore google can brag about its efforts to achieve â€Å"green† status whether they are simply eliminating supply costs or have a general concern for the environment. Google has minimized the environmental impact of their services. Their carbon footprint is practically zero, but it doesn’t need an access amount of environmental resources (Google, 2015). Conclusion Google is a young, expanding, and profitable company. The government is concerned and continually investigating Google because of its controversial monopoly in the search engine market and antitrust based on the selling of user information. The general public and government should be concerned that Google invests approximately two –thirds of its cash overseas to avoid tax laws in the United States. The advertisement customers that Google provides as their revenue generating services are given information tailored to view ads strategically and that makes Google more successful than other internet marketing company. The shareholders of Google are mostly internal owners; no capital return programs have been established and all impacting votes are controlled by the internal shareholders only. The employees are treated extremely well compared to companies across the globe. Google will continue to grow based on its business plan, which brilliantly manipulates the general public users into thinking they are getting services for free while they make billions by selling adverting companies the information they want without breaking any laws. Google could treat the general public and government stakeholders better by improving user privacy and cease avoiding taxes. Bibliography Google. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google Google. (2015, 3). The Big Picture. Retrieved from Google: http://www.google.com/green/bigpicture/#/ Newman, N. (2011, May 29). You’re Not Google’s Customer. Retrieved from The Blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-newman/youre-not-googles-custome_b_84159

Xenon Facts - Periodic Table of the Elements

Xenon Facts - Periodic Table of the Elements Xenon is a noble gas. The element has atomic number 54 and element symbol Xe. Like all the noble gases, xenon is not very reactive, yet it has been known to form chemical compounds. Here is a collection of xenon facts, including the elements atomic data and properties. Xenon  Basic Facts Atomic Number: 54 Symbol: Xe Atomic Weight: 131.29 Discovery: Sir William Ramsay; M. W. Travers, 1898 (England) Electron Configuration: [Kr] 5s2 4d10 5p6 Word Origin: Greek xenon, stranger; xenos, strange Isotopes: Natural xenon consists of a mixture of nine stable isotopes. An additional 20 unstable isotopes have been identified. Properties: Xenon is a noble or inert gas. However, xenon and other zero valance elements do form compounds. Although xenon is not toxic, its compounds are highly toxic due to their strong oxidizing characteristics. Some xenon compounds are colored. Metallic xenon has been produced. Excited xenon in a vacuum tube glows blue. Xenon is one of the heaviest gases; one liter of xenon weighs 5.842 grams. Uses: Xenon gas is used in electron tubes, bactericidal lamps, strobe lamps, and lamps used to excite ruby lasers. Xenon is used in applications where a high molecular weight gas is needed. The perxenates are used in analytical chemistry as oxidizing agents. Xenon-133 is useful as a radioisotope. Sources: Xenon is found in the atmosphere at levels of approximately one part in twenty million. It is commercially obtained by extraction from liquid air. Xenon-133 and xenon-135 are produced by neutron irradiation in air cooled nuclear reactors. Xenon Physical Data Element Classification: Inert Gas Density (g/cc): 3.52 ( -109 °C) Melting Point (K): 161.3 Boiling Point (K): 166.1 Appearance: heavy, colorless, odorless noble gas Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 42.9 Covalent Radius (pm): 131 Specific Heat (20 °C J/g mol): 0.158 Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 12.65 Pauling Negativity Number: 0.0 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 1170.0 Oxidation States: 7 Lattice Structure: Face-Centered Cubic Lattice Constant (Ã…): 6.200 References: Los Alamos National Laboratory (2001), Crescent Chemical Company (2001), Langes Handbook of Chemistry (1952), CRC Handbook of Chemistry Physics (18th Ed.) Return to the Periodic Table

How to Train Your Brain to Keep You Healthy in Times of Stress

How to Train Your Brain to Keep You Healthy in Times of Stress A recent study in the Journal of Personal and Social Psychology found that your habits- good and bad- come out in full force during times of stress.  That  means if you’re in the practice of  mindlessly eating junk, you’ll revert to a diet full of Doritos and Frappuccinos when you’re in the middle of a big project; if you’re  already in the habit of a  more virtuous morning oatmeal, you’ll reach for that during busy times. Your body keeps up what it’s used to and what it knows. What can you do? Sculpt your habits carefully- from sleep patterns to gym routines. They just might turn out to be the rock your brain turns to in times of doubt.German researchers hypothesized in 2012 that this phenomenon is due to stress hormones in the brain, which cause it to revert to normal  routines in stressful scenarios, even if that means abandoning its goals. When stressed, the brain  favors the routine and reduces activity in the decision-mak ing part of the brain.The best way to keep our heads in times of stress, then, is to make sure we cultivate the best habits in our downtime. You never know what you can train your brain to do- so start making better choices while you have the conscious chance.It turns out that our behavior is much more important than we realized. It can form the basic building blocks to build our own way out of stress.

Academic montioring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Academic montioring - Essay Example It is worthwhile to consider some of the possible monitoring systems and strategies that a teacher can employ in K-5 grade class room. One strategy a teacher can use in a class to monitor the understanding level of lesson materials of students in K5 is to ask the students to draw pictures on the taught items. Sometimes the children may not be willing to draw the picture. But if they are motivated they do the work. The teachers can understand the child’s level of understanding even if the pictures are not worth watching. The drawn up piece can be considered to be a mirror kept against the child’s progress. In certain cases the teacher can ask the students to take the role of a teacher in group works. A talented or pre instructed student can easily find out the problems of his or her friends. Students will easily be able to gather information from their friends. Children open up their difficulties in studies to their friends. Then the teacher can cleverly identify the pro blems and help the children in tackling their problems. Effective monitoring in the classroom can be done in a different way. If the child is totally indifferent to the works given in the class, the teacher can promote him to do works of his or her own. Sometimes the child may select works outside the syllabus and it may not come up to the expected standard. Through this the teacher can understand the student’s ability in different areas. Once he or she gets the appreciation from the teacher there starts the change .Gradually the teacher can bring the child to class related assignments and activities. Similarly, the teacher can also do the strategy of assigning the works and telling the students to do it for their loving ones. Sometimes they will do it for their parents, siblings or friends. At the end of each week the teacher can ask them how much they could score for their loved ones. This has shown great results in the progress of most students in