This Precious Human Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-255
Author(s):  
Colin H. Simonds
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Ecological Situation ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Human Exceptionalism ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Human World

Abstract This paper analyzes the idea of “human exceptionalism” from the perspective of Tibetan Buddhism. It argues that, in the Tibetan Buddhist context, many of the negative consequences of human exceptionalism are overshadowed by the concept’s ability to promote an altruistic comportment to the more-than-human world when supported by the Buddhist ontology and its broader project of liberating all beings from duhkha. To this end, this paper looks at how Tibetan Buddhist teachers qualify a “precious human life” by conducting a close reading of primary texts before extrapolating some general themes of these selected passages and applying them to our contemporary ecological situation. In doing so, it makes the argument that human exceptionalism is not a problem in and of itself but has a positive or negative effect on the more-than-human world depending on how it is established, maintained, and understood. It also demonstrates how Tibetan Buddhism can be a useful tradition for thinking alongside as we attempt to address global issues concerning the environment and nonhuman animals.

Humanizing the Enlightened Childhood: Epistolography as Human Formation in Tibetan Buddhism

Numen ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 336-356
Author(s):  
Christina A. Kilby
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Buddhist Studies ◽  
Textual Study ◽  
Human Formation ◽  
Monastic Education

Abstract This article contributes a Buddhist studies perspective to the question of what it means to be human. By analyzing a collection of letters written to a young Tibetan Buddhist lama, I trace the contours of a humanizing project that grounds the youth within the lived experience of the human life course that his elder has traversed. I also analyze epistolography as a medium for humanistic formation within Tibetan Buddhist monastic education. This textual study, though rooted in the context of a single epistolary relationship in early modern Tibet, illuminates the search for human wisdom that is fundamental to Buddhist childhoods across historical and cultural contexts.

POST-COSMISM AND POST-HUMANISM: TWO STRATEGIES IN THE MOD-ERN PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN

Chelovek RU ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 217-220
Author(s):  
Natalia Rostova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Exceptionalism ◽  
Current State ◽  
Human World ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Post Humanism

The article analyzes the current state of affairs in philosophy in relation to the question «What is hu-man?». In this regard, the author identifies two strategies – post-humanism and post-cosmism. The strat-egy of post-humanism is to deny the idea of human exceptionalism. Humanity becomes something that can be thought of out of touch with human and understood as a right that extends to the non-human world. Post-cosmism, on the contrary, advocated the idea of ontological otherness of the human. Re-sponding to the challenges of anthropological catastrophe, its representatives propose a number of new anthropological projects.

Seeing, Touching, Holding, and Swallowing Tibetan Buddhist Texts

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 137-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Cantwell
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Sensory Experience ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
The Senses ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
Book Culture

The iconic dimension of holy books has drawn increasing scholarly attention in recent years (e.g. Iconic Books and Texts, James Watts, ed., London, Equinox, 2013). Asian Buddhism provides rich material for considering the ritualization of engagement with sacred texts. In Tibetan Buddhism, this aspect of book culture is perhaps especially pronounced (see, for instance, Schaeffer 2009, especially Chapter 6; Elliott, Diemberger and Clemente 2014). This paper explores the topic in relation to the engagement of the senses in Tibetan context, through seeing, touching, holding and tasting texts. It would seem that it is not the sensory experience in itself, but rather the physical experience of a transmission and incorporation of the sacred qualities from the books into the person which is emphasized in these practices. Parallels and contrasts with examples from elsewhere are mentioned, and there is some consideration of the breadth of the category of sacred books in the Tibetan context in which Dharma teachings may take many forms.

scholarly journals Macho Buddhism: Gender and Sexualities in the Diamond Way

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-103
Author(s):  
Burkhard Scherer
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Gender Stereotyping ◽  
Sexual Ethics ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Historical Source ◽  
The West ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Previous Scholarship

Western Tibetan Buddhist movements have been described as bourgeois and puritanical in previous scholarship. In contrast, Ole Nydahl’s convert lay Karma Kagyu Buddhist movement, the Diamond Way, has drawn attention for its apparently hedonistic style. This article addresses the wider issues of continuity and change during the transition of Tibetan Buddhism from Asia to the West. It analyses views on and performances of gender, sexual ethics and sexualities both diachronically through textual-historical source and discourse analysis and synchronically through qualitative ethnography. In this way the article demonstrates how the approaches of contemporary gender and sexualities studies can serve as a way to question the Diamond Way Buddhism’s location in the ‘tradition vs modernity’ debate. Nydahl’s pre-modern gender stereotyping, the hetero-machismo of the Diamond Way and the mildly homophobic tone and content of Nydahl’s teaching are interpreted in light of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist sexual ethics and traditional Tibetan cultural attitudes on sexualities. By excavating the emic genealogy of Nydahl’s teachings, the article suggests that Nydahl’s and the Diamond Way’s view on and performance of gender and sexualities are consistent with his propagation of convert Buddhist neo-orthodoxy.

The Era of Environmental Derangement: Witnessing Climate Crisis in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nupur Pancholi ◽  
◽  
Sanjit Kumar Mishra ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Cumulative Impacts ◽  
Environmental Deterioration ◽  
Human Interventions ◽  
Human World ◽  
Climate Crisis

Drawing on Amitav Ghosh’s novel Gun Island (2019) together with his nonfictional The Great Derangement (2016), the article strives to present that while advancing endless desires, human-centric culture and the idea of ‘good life’ drive climate change and environmental deterioration. It seeks to enumerate the devastating consequences of changing climatic conditions and degenerating ecosystems and their cumulative impacts on the humankind and non-human world. It aims to locate how human life at the margins has been affected by these cataclysmic consequences through analysing Ghosh’s Gun Island. It attempts to show that human interventions had significantly fuelled the global climate crisis in the seventeenth century, decoding the myth of Bonduki Sadagar that Ghosh identifies in Gun Island.

Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on IT Sector. The Case of Greece

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Keyword(s):  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Innovation Development ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Greek Economy ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Impact

The impact of the Information and Technology (IT) sector on the countries’ innovation development has been recognized as crucial in prior and recent research studies. Moreover, firms’ innovativeness affects positively countries’ economies. Nevertheless, the global economic crisis of the last decade constituted a significant barrier to the development of country economies and had a negative effect on firms’ performance. Specifically, the negative consequences of the global crisis became harder for Southern Europe Countries. More specifically the Greek economy was suffered by an extended period of crisis with harder consequences than those of other European countries. The main purpose of this study was to examine the financial performance of Greek IT firms in the early years of crisis. Our findings have been relevant to those of previous studies which observed negative effects of the financial recession on firms profitability.

Drought stress increases the expression of barley defence genes with negative consequences for infesting cereal aphids

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Leybourne ◽  
Tracy Valentine ◽  
Kirsty Binnie ◽  
Anna Taylor ◽  
Alison Jane Karley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Aphid Species ◽  
Susceptible Variety ◽  
Aphid Resistance ◽  
Herbivorous Insects ◽  
Cereal Aphids ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Resistant Plant ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact

Crops are exposed to myriad abiotic and biotic stressors with negative consequences. Two stressors that are expected to increase under climate change are drought and infestation with herbivorous insects, including important aphid species. Expanding our understanding of the impact drought has on the plant-aphid relationship will become increasingly important under future climate scenarios. Here we use a previously characterised plant-aphid system comprising a susceptible variety of barley, a wild relative of barley with partial-aphid resistance, and the bird cherry-oat aphid to examine the drought-plant-aphid relationship. We show that drought has a negative effect on plant physiology and aphid fitness and provide evidence to suggest that plant resistance influences aphid responses to drought stress, with the expression of aphid detoxification genes increasing under drought when feeding on the susceptible plant but decreasing on the partially-resistant plant. Furthermore, we show that the expression of thionin genes, plant defensive compounds that contribute aphid resistance, increase ten-fold in susceptible plants exposed to drought stress but remain at constant levels in the partially-resistant plant, suggesting they play an important role in modulating aphid populations. This study highlights the role of plant defensive processes in mediating the interactions between the environment, plants, and herbivorous insects.

scholarly journals THE BASIC FRAMEWORK FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GREEN ECONOMY MODEL IN THE BUSINESS PROCESSES OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (167) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
S. Burlutska ◽  
D. Krasovsky
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Management System ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Economic Science ◽  
Growth Strategies ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
The World

At present, the totality of global environmental and economic threats and challenges has put the world economic science in front of the need to find a new way of developing the world economy. The new model of economic growth must satisfy two main criteria: firstly, to find a qualitatively new direction of growth, and secondly, to ensure the preservation and improvement of the quality of the environment for human life, that is, to ensure new economic growth without negative consequences for the environment. Many modern scientists see the solution of these problems in a relatively new direction in the economy, which has existed for just over 30 years - the "green" economy. Their opinion is shared by leading politicians and civil servants of the world's economic powers. The directions of the "green" economy system are considered: introduction of renewable energy sources; improvement of the waste management system; improvement of the water resources management system; development of "clean" transport; organic farming in agriculture; energy efficiency in housing and communal services; conservation and effective management of ecosystems. As a result of the analysis, key ones were identified directions in which the green economy is moving, systematized basic support tools that divided into price and non-price, in more detail characterized by price with the separation of financial tools that experts focus on international organizations for sustainable development. The main elements of the state are defined green growth strategies and analyzed the situation harmonization of the influence of developed countries on the development of "green" economy. An understanding of the essence and description of the goals of "green" technologies is proposed, which implies work not with the consequences, but with the causes of environmental problems. Considered the "green" experience of developed countries and global companies. In conclusion, the author emphasizes that the concept of a "green" economy is an innovative development project, but to achieve sustainability it is necessary to use the experience of other companies. One of the main problems was noticed, this is the use of pseudo environmental friendliness by companies for their own commercial purposes.

scholarly journals KOSMOLOGI RUANG VERTIKAL DAN HORIZONTAL PADA RUMAH TRADISIONAL (SA’O) DESA ADAT SAGA, KABUPATEN ENDE, FLORES

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Zulkifli H. Achmad ◽  
Antariksa Sudikno ◽  
Agung Murti Nugroho
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
The Core ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Humanitarian Space ◽  
Human World ◽  
Home Space ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Universe

Title: Vertical and Horizontal Room Cosmology in Traditional House (Sa’o) Adat Saga Village, Ende Regency, Flores Cosmology is the science related to kemestaan (cosmos) in a concept of the relationship between the human world (micro-cosmos) and of the universe. Space in traditional house Saga has values and khasan interesting architecturally is examined. The influence of Ngga'e on the Du'a belief and traditional home space Saga interesting architecturally is identified. This study uses qualitative methods with an ethnographic approach that is description. The findings of this study is about the cosmology of the space on a traditional home. Cosmological view of space in traditional house Saga is distinguished into three parts namely is lewu, gara as one and mention the position of the human body parts. Cosmological view of space in traditional Indigenous Villages (Sa'o) Saga depicted horizontally with the mother lay. Nature of traditional house Saga is the core of fertility and birth. Being a mother is clearly visible on a carved door (pene ria) enter Sa'o believe carving the breasts of a woman who symbolizes the human life and a transverse under IE peneria koba leke symbolizing the human development. The position of the head of the mother at the lulu (the dugout), second legs on his back is to the fore in the tent (dugout or accepting guests), second hand mereba is at the right and left dhembi space, the womb or humanitarian space are at puse ndawa. Keywords: traditional house (sa'o), the indigenous village of saga, the cosmology of the vertical and horizontal spaces

scholarly journals Why Do People (Not) Engage in Social Distancing? Proximate and Ultimate Analyses of Norm-Following During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
James O. Norton ◽  
Kortnee C. Evans ◽  
Ayten Yesim Semchenko ◽  
Laith Al-Shawaf ◽  
David M. G. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Perceived Social Norms ◽  
The Impact

COVID-19 has had a profound negative effect on many aspects of human life. While pharmacological solutions are being developed and implemented, the onus of mitigating the impact of the virus falls, in part, on individual citizens and their adherence to public health guidelines. However, promoting adherence to these guidelines has proven challenging. There is a pressing need to understand the factors that influence people’s adherence to these guidelines in order to improve public compliance. To this end, the current study investigated whether people’s perceptions of others’ adherence predict their own adherence. We also investigated whether any influence of perceived social norms was mediated by perceptions of the moral wrongness of non-adherence, anticipated shame for non-adherence, or perceptions of disease severity. One hundred fifty-two Australians participated in our study between June 6, 2020 and August 21, 2020. Findings from this preliminary investigation suggest that (1) people match their behavior to perceived social norms, and (2) this is driven, at least in part, by people using others’ behavior as a cue to the severity of disease threat. Such findings provide insight into the proximate and ultimate bases of norm-following behavior, and shed preliminary light on public health-related behavior in the context of a pandemic. Although further research is needed, the results of this study—which suggest that people use others’ behavior as a cue to how serious the pandemic is and as a guide for their own behavior—could have important implications for public health organizations, social movements, and political leaders and the role they play in the fight against epidemics and pandemics.

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