Ethics in Noble Truth and Eightfold Path Essay Example for Free

Ethics in Noble Truth and Eightfold Path Essay In this paper I will be discussing the concept of the four noble truths and eightfold path within the Buddhist religion. The four noble truths do not give concrete answers to metaphysical questions, unlike other religions. Buddhism teaches human existence is imperfect and the four noble truths are a guide to help steer away from suffering. The four noble truths are important to Buddhist ethics in that they are the way to nirvana and enlightenment. The first noble truth is life is suffering. To live means to suffer and since it is human nature, no one is perfect in any shape or form. While we develop, we inevitably have to endure physical and psychological suffering sooner or later. Each of us, no matter how rich or poor, is going to get sick, grow old, and die. Nothing is permanent, nothing can permanently satisfy us. â€Å" Any aspect of life, no matter how seemingly pleasant, already has the seeds of the suffering that is a common denominator of all human experience† (Young) This is because things change and pass away; everything and everyone we love will someday pass away. The Buddha also taught the reason behind the suffering that individuals experience. The second noble truth is suffering is caused by craving. â€Å"We suffer because our craving leads us to become attached to things or people and deluded as to the real nature of our situation in life (Young). † As long as we are unable to detach of moral pleasures, we will experience suffering. One must learn to overcome these greed, aversion, hatred, jealousy, etc. These conditions are always in hand with society, family, and within one’s self. Recognizing and understanding the second noble truth gives way to the freedom from suffering. The third noble truth is cessation of suffering. It is the complete fading-away and extinction of this craving, its forsaking and abandonment, liberation from it, detachment from it†(welsh). This may be the most significant of all the noble truths, as it reassures us that true happiness is possible. When individuals give up useless cravings and learn to live each day to the fullest, enjoying what each day brings with no expectations, they are able to live a free life. Nirvana arises when an individual becomes free of all sufferings, and eliminates cravings. When an individual is able to attain nirvana, they are able to move on to the next noble truth. The forth noble truth is the means to liberation. This noble truth teaches how to remove all suffering from your life, and explains the various levels of achieving such. So, first of all, in order to gain the good qualities, we need to work on creating all the different conditions that will make those qualities emerge. To develop the various insights of meditation and real wisdom, we need to develop great faith and confidence in the validity and usefulness of that wisdom. Buddhist needs to change their habits so that they have the ability to do all the necessities to make insight and wisdom emerge. Therefore, there are many factors and conditions we must generate within our life that will bring about our happiness. The guide to peace and the end suffering is the eightfold path. The eightfold path is a guideline to ethical teachings and growth of an individual. The goal is to free believers from attachments and ultimately leads to understanding. â€Å" â€Å"Everyone should attempt to live by the eightfold path, and (theoretically) enlightenment is open to anyone, regardless of caste, gender, or whether lay or ordained. † Young. The Eightfold Path consists of three components: wisdom (prajna ): (1) right views and (2) right intention; morality (sila ): (3) right speech, (4) right conduct, and(5) right livelihood; and concentration (samadhi ): (6) right effort, (7) right mindfulness, and (8) right concentration. (Deal). The eightfold path is the way to avoid self-denial and self-indulgence considered the middle way. The first step in the eightfold path is the right view, which falls under the category of wisdom. The right view means understanding the four noble truths and grasping the nature of objects and ideas. Right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind. It begins with the insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature of all things. The second step, which also falls under the component of wisdom, is correct intention. This refers to abandoning one’s own thoughts and desires. This is the step of the eightfold path that one must give up selfish attitudes that lead to more suffering and replace them with the opposite. â€Å"The point is not to nattached from oneself to a particular person but with a caring attitude, but to practice a â€Å"universal goodwill† young† The third step is correct speech. This means to tell the truth, to speak friendly and to talk only when necessary. †Man’s speech must be the truth, his conversation must be edifying and he must not engage in scandal gossip. One should take control with one’s word not only for the sake of truth but to demonstrate control and discipline. † Right speech can be seen as an ethical conduct in Buddhism. The forth step in the eightfold path is that of correct conduct. Young mentions that unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind. â€Å" Not taking life, not stealing and not having sexual intercourse† (Van Voorst). It is important in Buddhism to concentrate on actions that will help the well beings of others. The fifth step is the right means to livelihood. This path represents earning an honest living. An occupation that is against the other steps of the eightfold path is in return against right livelihood. One should acquire only by legal means, not by illegally; one should acquire it peacefully, without coercion or violence; one should acquire it honestly, not by trickery or deceit; and one should acquire it in ways which do not entail harm and suffering. † (Bodhi) Selling of weapons would be an example of wrong in this religion as the consequences of weapons can cause harm to others. The sixth step in the eightfold path is right endeavor. This step is very important, as it is a necessity to put a conscious effort in what we do. Without right effort less would be able to get achieved. â€Å" Avoiding any sort of unwholesome action that will have a negative karmic influence, and pursuing beneficial deeds. †(Young) being aware of your own mind and not to have a mind that is diluted. This brings us to our next step, the seventh step, which is right mindfulness. This step in the eightfold path refers to the ability to see things without any delusions. â€Å" Right mindfulness refers to the deep, ultimately non-dual, understanding of the body, feelings, mind, and experienced things†(Koller. In the step being consciously aware of all that is that is going on with ones mind and body. Van Voorst states, â€Å" To remain focused on the body in and of itself- he is fervent, aware and mindful- putting away the greed and distress of the world. This step helps to actively observe and control our thoughts. The eighth step in the eightfold path is correct meditation. Once at the stage nirvana is at hand and, in a flash of intuition that state of final bliss dawns† (Young) This step leads to developing a deep insight into reality and the ability to be able to apply levels of concentration regularly. We see by the study of the noble truths and the eightfold path that Buddhist put great emphasis on the practices that they follow in order to reach nirvana. The noble truths and the eightfold path are essentially the ethics of the religion. The foundation of the path is moral virtue. Buddhist ethics is concerned with the practices that contribute to a believer to act in ways that help rather then harm. By following the noble truths and the eightfold path Buddhist are able to reach the goal of nirvana and non-attachment.

The Problems Defining Genre :: Literature Essays Literary Criticism

The Problems Defining Genre Genre denotes a systematic way to categorize literature. The term might be considered academic jargon; however, it produces up a set of expectations that allow us to judge literature. These expectations or criteria also allow us to compare with other literature in the same as well as different genres. In spite of these expectations, genre does not dictate a set of rigid rules; in fact, genre is more descriptive than prescriptive. Problems in defining genre often arise because there are frequently sub-genres: romantic comedy might be considered a sub-genre of comedy, revenge tragedy of tragedy and gothic horror of horror. It becomes increasingly difficult to see where one sub-genre ends and another begins. Also these categories are seldom pure. For example, Hamlet, a revenge tragedy, includes aspects of romance and even a comic scene or two. Our popular culture makes defining genre challenging because what is vital one day might disappear the next. An example of this is the current insistence upon a happy ending. Since tragedy is often characterized by an unhappy or "right" ending, according to Aristotle, popular culture no longer welcomes the tragedy with the relish it did at other times in history. Our Town being the exception that comes to mind, as well as the one-man shows. Poetry makes frequent use of this voice. In Daddy by Sylvia Plath, the author address "Daddy" throughout the poem. Shannon Chamberlain's use of Aesop's fable The Parrot and his Cage was another example of this single voice narrative. A second voice option is the drama or dialogue that involves talking between two characters with no narration. All of the plays we are reading in class fit this category as well as Stacy Burleson's example of Merlin as a legend in film. Finally, the combination of the narrator plus dialogue is just as it seems, a narrator talks to the audience (or reader) but the characters talk to each other. The TV shows The Fugitive, Dragnet, and Twilight Zone come to mind as examples of this. Narrative genre, by contrast, focuses on the storyline or plot. Tragedy frequently introduces a problem, there is struggle for control, finally a realistic and often unhappy ending that resolves the problem.

Columbia Capital Structure

Some other risk factors include substantial cyclical fluctuation, the effects of unseasonable weather conditions, and the popularity of the outdoor activities. In order to minimize the negative impacts on this business, the company started a series Of strategic initiatives, such as product innovation program, new multi-channel and multi-country direct-to-consumer platform, information management and their enhanced marketing efforts. All those improvement and implementation involve significant investment in SO&A expenses and its fixed cost.Thus it is essential to look back and evaluate their current capital structure and payout policies to exam whether the company would start on carrying debt or whether they have residual cash return to their investors. Despite Columbians regular dividend payouts and stock repurchases, they does not maintain a healthy cash and short-term investment balance. According to the financial data provided in Annual Report, the major financing needs include ca pital expenditures, working capital expenses, stock buybacks, and dividend payouts. In 201 1 , Columbia spent $78 million in capital expenditure and $92. Million in working capital investments; which was increased from $29 million and $78. 9 million from last year. Even though the company's net income increases over time, they have generated negative free cash flow for both fiscal year of 2011 and 2010 with around $14. 6 million and $53 million respectively. Currently, the company sales short-term investments to finance those capital expenditures which should not be a long term strategy as the company only has $2. 9 million short-term investments sitting on the balance sheet at the end of 2011.If the company maintains its profitability and its capital structure as the end of Fiscal year 2010, Columbia will have significant financial difficulties to meet capital expenditure requirement and will have emitted resources for distribution to investors in the form of a cash dividend and st ock repurchases with current payout rate. In conclusion, Columbia may need to seek additional funding. Even though, historically the company have limited their reliance on debt to finance their working capital, capital expenditures and investing activity requirements.We suggest that the company need to revise their capital structure policy by increasing debt to finance the business activities. Debt not only can provide coverage for any general costs and unforeseen expenses, it also serves as a tax shield allowing more capital to be available to investors. The assumption here is that the company can earn more in tax savings from borrowed funds than it pays in interest expenses and fees on these funds. As shown in Exhibit X, Columbians WAC hit a minimum of 6. 6% at 30% debt ratio, or debt to equity ratio of 0. 3. As the graph illustrates below, less than 30% debt or debt beyond 40% cause WAC to increase. Also, the PEPS and ROE increase compared to the current 100% equity model. In a b usiness, debt is a two-edged sword. Aggressive use of leverage increases the amount of financial resources available for growth, expansion, and payout for investors. But if Columbia adopts a highly leveraged capital structure policy, it may find its freedom of action restricted by its creditors and its profitability may hurt as a result of paying high interest expenses.It may also affect the company's profitability and liquidity when the business has trouble meeting Operating and debt liabilities during unfavorable economic conditions. Additionally, too much debt versus equity would potentially affects business' credit rating, which is the evaluation of a company's ability to repay principle and interest on debt obligations. Since the company do not have much experience on carrying debt on their lance sheet, we recommend the company to start the process slow.

Socio-Cultural Analysis Of Israel. Sgt Bush. Alc Class

SOCIO-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF ISRAEL SGT Bush ALC Class 004-17 NCO Academy SFC Hunsecker Socio-cultural analysis of Israel Culture, defined by the Cambridge english dictionary states that culture is the way of life. Especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time. Culture can be broken down into five major characteristics, which are customs, values, religion, government, and ideas. Customs can be explained as a usual way of doing something by a social particular group or people. In Israel it is customary for the people to be very straight forward while conversing. The people are often seen as rude, with their style of quick and loud conversation skills. It is also customary to†¦show more content†¦Judaism has two founders, Abraham and Moses. Religion is a very pivitol part of Israels very being, manly because of the values the religion instills in its followers. Israel has been under scrutiny for centuries, because of their religious veiws. It is through their worship that they have been able to overcome such adversity. Government in israel is much like Americas, with open elections to apointed positions, voted on by the people. Also israel holds a three part system, much like our own. Legislative, the executive, and the judiciary branch make up there government. These branches are created to oversee the creating and ruling of Israel’s basic laws. The current basic laws are as follows, President of the state (1964), The knesset (1958) | The government (2001), The Judiciary (1984), Israel defense force (1976), The Capital Jerusalem (1980), The peoples lands (1960), The state comptroller (1988), The state economy (1975), Human dignity and liberty (1992), and Freedom of occupation (1994). These laws make up how the people of Israel control and govern themselves. One of the most grand ideas of the Israeli people is that of Zionism. Zionism, Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews. Though Zionism originated in eastern and central Europe in the latter part of the 19th century, it is in many ways a continuation of the ancient