Debate in the Tibetan Tradition

Author(s):  
Jonathan Samuels

“Debate” (Tibetan: rtsod pa), in the present context, refers to a uniquely Tibetan method of structured analysis and discourse conducted between two (or more) parties on matters pertaining to religion. The practice is extremely technical and has traditionally been the province of monks. It has medieval roots, and it references logical principles derived from the Indian Buddhist pramāṇa system. Debate is also closely aligned with the tradition of commentarial writing, in which the evaluation and critiquing of earlier interpretations of Indian-origin Buddhist works has long been standard. A custom among Tibetan religious writers has been to deal with “rival” interpretations in a truculent fashion, redolent of an actual confrontation. There is also much in the dialectical approach, analytical process, and language that can best be described as shared between the literary and oral spheres (with frequent crossover and borrowing). But debate is primarily to be understood as a face-to-face practice, distinct from what is represented in the written medium, and only truly comprehensible in terms of the institutional context of its performance. Furthermore, while inspired by Indian scholastic traditions, this kind of argumentation is peculiarly Tibetan in its formulation. The practice of debate is especially associated with the largest school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Geluk (dGe lugs). In the school’s major scholastic centers, which were, for a number of centuries, the largest monasteries in the world, debate was employed as the primary tool of education, with those trained in the scholastic tradition, including its most prominent figures, such as various Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas, having been required to master it. Academic understanding of debate relies heavily on analysis of the so-called Collected Topics (bsDus grwa) works, primer materials, chiefly composed of sample debates, from which students (and academics) learn about the logical principles, basic taxonomies, and informal “rules” that structure debate.

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-41
Author(s):  
Jacques Lezra

Humanism returns for the New Materialism in ‘nonhuman’ form as matter. New ‘matter’ and new materialism thus fashion the world to human advantage in the gesture of abjecting us. They commit us to the humanism of masochists. They offer an animistic and paradisiacal realm of immediate transactions, human to human, human to and with nonhuman, face to face, world without end. The impulse is tactically and strategically useful. But ‘matter’ will not help us if we fashion it so that it bears in its concept the signature of a human hand in its making. Can we do otherwise? Only by conceiving matter as what absolutizes what is not-one: matter from which no discipline will normally, normatively, produce an object or take its concept; on which heroical abjection will founder; matter non-human in ways the human animal can neither designate, nor ever count.


Author(s):  
Arun Kumar L.S

International business is essential for the countries to generate Economic growth or to increase in exports and reduce in imports, it encompasses all commercial and economic activities between the nations to promote the ideas, resources, transfer the goods and services, technologies across the national borders. In every country has limited resources therefore a country cannot produce all the goods and services that it requires. The present context of the world, there is imbalance in production and supply factors due to Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in market imbalances (demand and supply). The world economy has been hit hard by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, as on June end more than ten 10 million people around the globe had been affected by this pandemic, India, USA and others are worst hit countries with decrease in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and increase in unemployment rate. It may be useful to also note that prolonged lockdowns will eventually imply production shortfalls, may lead to increase in unemployment; decrease in demand for products, slowly running out stocks. In recent forecast of World Trade Organisation (WTO) indicated a clear fall in world trade between 13 per cent and 32 per cent in 2020, perhaps the highest fall since the Great Depression of 1930s. India and world can overcome the challenges by specific government fiscal and monetary policies, by providing economic relief packages and increase in employment opportunities by digitalisation in all the sectors of the economy to increase in accountability, convenience, and gross production, and investment, job security to casual labours or migrant workers. These factors may change the world present situation to productive or welfare economy. The purpose of the research paper is to explain Economic and Business crisis, due to covid-19 in present situation in India and the world. KEY WORDS: C0VID-19, GDP, ECONOMY and GLOBAL CRISIS.


Author(s):  
Ward Keeler

Looking at Buddhist monasteries as social institutions, this book integrates a thorough description of one such monastery with a wide-ranging study of Burmese social relations, both religious and lay, looking particularly at the matter of gender. Hierarchical assumptions inform all such relations, and higher status implies a person’s greater autonomy. A monk is particularly idealized because he exemplifies the Buddhist ideal of “detachment” and so autonomy. A male head of household represents another masculine ideal, if a somewhat less prestigious one. He enjoys greater autonomy than other members of the household yet remains entangled in the world. Women and trans women are thought to be more invested in attachment than autonomy and are expected to subordinate themselves to men and monks as a result. But everyone must concern themselves with the matter of relative status in all of their interactions. This makes face-to-face encounter fraught. Several chapters detail the ways that individuals try to stave off the risks that interaction necessarily entails. One stratagem is to subordinate oneself to nodes of power, but this runs counter to efforts to demonstrate one’s autonomy. Another is to foster detachment, most dramatically in the practice of meditation.


Author(s):  
Jean-Yves Lacoste ◽  
Oliver O’Donovan

Giving and promise must be thought together. Being-in-the world entails being-with the other, who is both “given” and bearer of a gift promised. But any disclosure may be understood as a gift; it is not anthropomorphic to speak of “self-giving” with a wider reference than person-to-person disclosure. Which implies that no act of giving can exhaust itself in its gift. Present experience never brings closure to self-revealing. Yet giving is crystallized into “the given,” the closure of gift. “The given” is what it is, needing no gift-event to reveal it. But the given, too, is precarious, and can be destabilized when giving brings us face to face with something unfamiliar. Nothing appears without a promise of further appearances, and God himself can never be “given.”


Libri ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-237
Author(s):  
Mahdi Zeynali-Tazehkandi ◽  
Mohsen Nowkarizi

AbstractEvaluation of information retrieval systems is a fundamental topic in Library and Information Science. The aim of this paper is to connect the system-oriented and the user-oriented approaches to relevant philosophical schools. By reviewing the related literature, it was found that the evaluation of information retrieval systems is successful if it benefits from both system-oriented and user-oriented approaches (composite). The system-oriented approach is rooted in Parmenides’ philosophy of stability (immovable) which Plato accepts and attributes to the world of forms; the user-oriented approach is rooted in Heraclitus’ flux philosophy (motion) which Plato defers and attributes to the tangible world. Thus, using Plato’s theory is a comprehensive approach for recognizing the concept of relevance. The theoretical and philosophical foundations determine the type of research methods and techniques. Therefore, Plato’s dialectical method is an appropriate composite method for evaluating information retrieval systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2068
Author(s):  
William Villegas-Ch. ◽  
Xavier Palacios-Pacheco ◽  
Milton Roman-Cañizares ◽  
Sergio Luján-Mora

Currently, the 2019 Coronavirus Disease pandemic has caused serious damage to health throughout the world. Its contagious capacity has forced the governments of the world to decree isolation and quarantine to try to control the pandemic. The consequences that it leaves in all sectors of society have been disastrous. However, technological advances have allowed people to continue their different activities to some extent while maintaining isolation. Universities have great penetration in the use of technology, but they have also been severely affected. To give continuity to education, universities have been forced to move to an educational model based on synchronous encounters, but they have maintained the methodology of a face-to-face educational model, what has caused several problems in the learning of students. This work proposes the transition to a hybrid educational model, provided that this transition is supported by data analysis to identify the new needs of students. The knowledge obtained is contrasted with the performance presented by the students in the face-to-face modality and the necessary parameters for the transition to this modality are clearly established. In addition, the guidelines and methodology of online education are considered in order to take advantage of the best of both modalities and guarantee learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 77-97
Author(s):  
John Bosco Ngendakurio

Abstract This article seeks to reveal the primary barriers to fair economic development based on Kenyans’ perceptions of power and globalization. This search was initially sparked by the seeming disinterest of First World scholars to understand the reasons why poor countries benefit so little from the global market as reflected in a subsequent lack of a wide-ranging existing literature about the subject. The literature suggests that global capitalism is dominated by a powerful small elite, the so-called Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC), but how does this relate to Kenya and Africa in general? We know that the TCC has strong connections to financial capital and wealthy transnational corporations. It also pushes neo-liberalism, which becomes the taken-for-granted everyday language and culture that justifies state policies that result in a further class polarization between the rich and poor. Using Kenya as a case study, this article draws on original qualitative research involving face-to-face interviews with Kenyan residents in different sectors who spoke freely about what they perceive to be Kenya’s place in the world order. My interview results show that, on top of the general lack of economic power in the world order, the main barriers to Africa’s performance are neo-colonial and imperialist practices, poor technology, poor infrastructure, general governance issues, and purchasing power.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Mahmoud ◽  
Anna TOKAR ◽  
Melissa ARRIAS ◽  
Christos MYLONAS ◽  
Heini UTUNEN ◽  
...  

UNSTRUCTURED As part of its transformation process to meet the health challenges of the 21st century by creating a motivated and fit-for-purpose global workforce, the World Health Organization (WHO) is developing the first-ever global Learning Strategy for health personnel around the world. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were organized as part of in-depth qualitative research on staff views, visions, and suggestions. Due to the pandemic, a flexible, multi-linguistic, participatory, iterative methodology for digitization of face-to-face FDGs to engage a globally dispersed workforce was implemented.


Due to the threat posed by COVID-19, many colleges and universities around the world opted to switch to online courses and smart working to keep their students, professors, and staff safe during the pandemic emergency. Face-to-face classes, including labs and workshops, have been canceled and substituted with online activities. New administrative procedures have also been established to support the emergency remote education. This article analyzes these changes in light of the experiences of three higher education institutions in different countries, namely Latvia, Poland, and Italy. From this analysis, some aspects have emerged that have stimulated a deeper reflection on the use of digital technology in higher education. .


2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 81-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajaya Kumar Sahoo

AbstractIndia is unique for the magnitude of her diversities in terms of languages and regions, religions and sects, castes and sub-castes, rural and urban, food and style of dress, which are also reflected by her diasporic communities. There are diasporic communities formed on the basis of linguistic or regional identities such as Punjabis, Gujaratis, Sindhis, Tamils, Malayalees and Telugus. Global organizations such as Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), World Telugu Federation (WTF), and World Punjabi Organization (WPO), have recently emerged to preserve and promote the identities and cultures of Indians, uniting transnationally India and the global Indian diaspora. The past decade has witnessed a phenomenal dynamism among the diasporic communities, made possible by the recent advancement in technologies of travel, transport, and communications. Not only did these developments bring the diasporic communities and their motherland closer but they also facilitated in bringing together the members of their community dispersed around the world. The present article examines this emerging trend with the illustration of one of the important regional Indian diasporic communities, the Gujarati Diaspora. Gujaratis, the people from the central western parts of India, are one of the early Indian communities who have ventured out to different parts of the world for multiple reasons. Today, as one of the prominent Indian diasporic communities in the world, Gujaratis are successful not only in business, which is their first love, but also in professional fields such as technology, science, medicine, and business management.


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