The Life and Teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Essay Example for Free

The Life and Teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Essay Buddhism is a way of life for Buddhists, based on the teachings of a man who had lived more than two and a half thousand years ago in northern India. He was born in the foothills of Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, in about 563BCE, and was called Siddhartha. His family was called Gautama, and his father (Shuddhodana) was the rular of the Shakya clan at that time. Everyone who followed Siddhartha called him the Buddha, which means the enlightened one. They believed that he had found the truth about life. Many stories about the life of the Buddha were passed on by word of mouth for about 600 years before anyone wrote them down. They were a constant reminder of the Buddha and all the things he did for other people. Siddharthas father felt very strongly about him taking over as rular. He therefore gave Siddhartha everything he wanted and every luxury he could have. He didnt tell his son about suffering and death because he didnt want to upset him. He was afraid that these things would stop him from becoming interested in religion. Because Siddhartha was a prince, he was taught the skills of archery, horsemanship, swordplay and martial arts. He was given the staff of beautiful young women to care for him and to look after him. When he was only nineteen, he married a beautiful princess named Yasodhara. Because she was a princess, she was allowed to choose her husband from the local princes. She chooses Siddhartha after a number of competitions, which included lots of things such as sports and the singing of love-songs! They then had a son whose name was Rahula. When Siddhartha decided to go out in his chariot, his father sent all his servants to go and get all the blind and sick people of the streets because he didnt want to upset his son, but Siddhartha saw four things that changed his life. He saw an old man, a sick man, a corpse and a Hindu holy man, or a Sadhu. After seeing the first three of these, Siddhartha knew that he had to grow old and die. He no longer wanted a life of luxury but wanted to be ordinary. He wanted to help these people overcome their suffering. He wanted to become more like a Sadhu, who gave up all his possessions and time to lead a spiritual life. He knew that this spiritual life was for him to live. Then, one night, he left his family at the palace. Channa, his charioteer, drove him out of his fathers city. He cut off all his hair, took off all his fine clothes and, wearing just a simple robe, he set out to a homeless life. He was 29 years old. For six years Siddhartha lived under strict discipline of the Hindu religion. In other words he lived as an ascetic. He had settled to live with five other holy men near the River Nairanjana. He had trained himself to fast for long periods of time and when he had done that he only ate a little, just enough for him to live on. Some people said that he nearly killed himself fasting like that. He grew so thin that you could see his backbone through his stomach. Then, one day, he decided that this fasting and discipline wasnt doing him any good. He was trying to find the truth about life and this discipline wasnt helping, so he gave it up. He went down to the river and bathed, and on the way back he met a milkmaid named Nandabala, and she offered him some rice pudding to eat. He accepted it. The other holy men thought that Siddhartha was giving up his fast and as a consequence, they then decided to desert him. Unfortunately, he had not done what he came to do. He still wanted to find the meaning and purpose of life and to understand how to overcome the suffering that there was. He went and sat at the bottom of a tree and vowed that he would not move until he had achieved this enlightenment. He sat under the tree all night, trying to deal with temptations. Then, he was said to have gained this enlightenment. The tree that he sat under is now called the Bodhi-tree because the word for enlightenment is Bodhi. He was thirty-five when he became enlightened. For the rest of his life, until he died at eighty, he had walked all over India. One of the main places where he taught was Varanasi, where he explained his teaching-which is now the basis of all Buddhist understanding and practice. He found the sanga- the order of monks and nuns who spent their lives spreading the teaching. Most people dont choose to be monks or nuns. They follow the Buddhas teaching, and apply it to work and family life. The sanga refers to all those who are monks or nuns. By the time the Buddha had died thousands of people in India had become his followers. During the next century his teaching spread throughout most of Asia. Today there are well over 500 million Buddhists living in countries such as India, Nepal, Thailand, Japan etc. There are many Buddhist centres in the west, Europe and the U.S.A. The Buddhists believe that everyone can achieve enlightenment. They hope to do so. Some say that we all have the Buddha nature within ourselves. Siddhartha is called the Buddha because he was the first to be enlightened in this way. The Buddhists respect the Buddha in many different ways. They respect him as a great and famous teacher, helping others to understand the truth and meaning of life, and to help them gain enlightenment like the Buddha.

Women as News Anchors Essay -- Women Feminism Careers Employment Essay

Women as News Anchors   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women in all careers are striving to gain equality in the work force today, and female television news anchors are definitely part of the fight. The road to television news anchoring is a rocky one, where only a few women survive and many fail. Where progress was once thought to have been made, there aren't many females getting ahead in the world of television news. Today, there is a very slow, if any, gain in the numbers of women who succeed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many questions surrounding the subject of women in television news, and I will attempt to answer relevant ones in this paper. How have the women that actually make it to the top and succeed as anchorwomen, done it? What does it take to make it? Why do those few endure it/enjoy it? Why has it been and still is difficult for women? What are the expectations of women in the field, as opposed to the expectations of men?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I am interested in this topic because I once aspired to become a television broadcaster. I still have inspiration in me, but not quite as much due to the negative and discouraging aspects I have heard about in classes and in the media. I am not sure that I could be happy in a career such as this, and I know there are great difficulties in "making it" in this profession. I have read about the incredible ambition of successful females in television news, and it seems like it takes a special kind of passion to want to keep up in the business.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I kept my questions in mind when gathering research material. While focusing on the key questions, I was able to find information that led me to form answers to them. Christine Craft's biography told of her individual experience of being fired on the basis of her looks and her age. I realized from reading her story that she had a "nose for news", a passion for telling it to the world, and a unique spark that made her a good journalist, yet those qualities weren't enough in her case. She took that passion and spark, filed a sexual discrimination case and won.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hard News: Women in Broadcast Journalism had a few chapters that were relevant to today, and I could draw on some information for my paper. However, much of the information was historical and not helpful to answering my questions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Battling for News concentrated mainly on print journalism. There was material about the fi... ...ays of anchormen, "Old anchors never fade away. And they can't be killed by mortal means" (Katz 1995, p. 164).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sadly, forward movements aren't apparent today by women in television news. Forty years ago, a female gaining the anchor position on the evening news was a leap forward. Today "it feels more like a step backward, an attempt to stuff accomplished, contemporary women into an ill-fitting straightjacket" (Katz 1995, p. 164).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is apparent that women news anchors face many more struggles than men in the field. It takes a unique individual to fight through those struggles and strive for what they want most: to relay news throughout the world. Equality with men is far from being reached, but a few females have stood their ground and hopefully made a difference for others that follow. If people open their eyes and realize there are plenty of women who are just as, if not more, competent than men at holding an anchor position, women could gain respect within the field. For now, the few women who find success and are willing to endure the hardships that come along will likely survive in the business, at least until age hinders their physical appearance.

Mayan Civilization with citations!

The Mayans were an extremely advanced Micronesian civilization. They were located near modern day Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico,l on the Yucatan Peninsula. They were skilled in art and architecture. This is evident by the many pyramids they constructed. 3 This civilization also utilized a great deal of technology. They built magnificent cities with huge stone temples and pyramids. They also developed an advanced system of writing, mathematics and astronomy, which they used to calculate an curate calendar. Another example of how the Mayans were advanced is their agricultural technology. For example, they used the slash and burn method on their crops in order to clear plots of land and fertilize the soil. 2 Mayans used certain building techniques which is a part of what makes their civilization unique as well as successful. Because there were such large supplies of limestone and flint available, plaster and cement was easily produced. This allowed the Mayans to bu ild impressive temples and stepped pyramids.Flat roofs made of cedar beams overlaid with mortar were also common in this area, along with murals often displaying religious figures in vibrant colors. L Certain cities were particularly famous for this typical Amman architecture. One of these cities is Diktat. It was the largest city in the empire, home to over 100,000 people. There were eight pyramids built in the city. 2 This civilization also had its own interesting religious beliefs. The Mayans were polytheistic and worshipped hundreds of gods, each of whom played a different role n the creation of the earth.The religion seems to have been made up of thirteen heavens and nine underworlds ruled by the nine lords of the nights, whose names are not known. Of all of the gods worshipped in this civilization, the sky god was the most important to the Mayans. The god of the sky was also the most frequent to appear in their ancient art, which included sculptures, ceramics, murals and archi tectural structures. It is evident that many of the structures built by the ancient Mayans were built in honor of the gods.Certain compounds were built with large open areas, from which all the citizens could view religious ceremonies, such as sacrifices that were held on elevated platforms. L The Mayans had an advanced language that they used to communicate with each other. Their alphabet was composed of glyphs rather than letters. 2 Not all inscriptions of this text can be deciphered yet. However, analyzing the written language became easier in the 1950 when a Russian ethnologist named Yuri Valedictorian Morrison proposed that the Amman script was at least partly phonetic.His theory was later proved correct, which was a breakthrough for all those studying this ancient civilization. 4 Another impressive feature of the Mayans was their strategic military. The empire was once thought to be peaceful, and held military forces solely for defensive purposes. Eventually, population growth increased competition with others, resulting in heightened levels of violence. Military action became involved in order to gain political control of people, land and resources. Some scholars have suggested that the capture of sacrificial victims was another driving force behind warfare.Mayans also had a decentralized government which made it more difficult to defeat, in turn protecting the nation from becoming over-ruled. 6 Overall, the Mayans were an extremely successful civilization. They made many significant discoveries in math and science. They also flourished artistically. After experienced a golden age lasting five centuries (300 to 800 AD), the Mayans suddenly and mysteriously abandoned their cities. The cause could have been from disease, natural disaster, deforestation, or even revolt but it is unknown to this day.

Women’s Rights in the 1930s in the United States

In the 1930s, women’s equality was not as flashy an issue as in some previous and subsequent eras. The decade did, however, bring slow and steady progress, even as new challenges—especially economic and cultural ones—emerged that actually reversed some earlier advances. Context: Womens Roles in 1900–1929 Women in the first decades of the 20th century saw an increased opportunity and public presence, including a strong role in union organizing. During World War I, many women whod been stay-at-home mothers and wives entered the workforce for the first time. Women activists agitated for more than the vote, which was finally won in 1920, but also for workplace fairness and safety, minimum wages, and the abolition of child labor. African American women became central to the cultural flowering of the Harlem Renaissance that followed World War I. In many urban black communities, these same courageous women were also standing up for equal rights and beginning the long fight to end the horrific practice of lynching. During the Roaring Twenties, information on contraceptives became increasingly widespread, allowing women the freedom to engage in sexual activity without the often inevitable consequences of pregnancy. Other factors that led to greater sexual freedom included more relaxed clothing styles and societal attitudes that were less restrictive. 1930s—The Great Depression Minnesota Historical Society/Getty Images While the new phenomenon of the airplane drew some elite women, including Ruth Nichols, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Beryl Markham, and Amelia Earhart (whose career spanned the late 1920s through 1937 when she and her navigator were lost over the Pacific) to become pilots, with the 1929 market crash and the onset of the Great Depression, for most women, the cultural pendulum swung backward.   With fewer jobs available, employers generally preferred to award those they had to men whod traditionally worn the mantle of the family breadwinner. As fewer and fewer women were able to find employment, the societal ideals that had embraced increasing female freedoms did an about-face. Domesticity, motherhood, and homemaking once again became regarded as the only truly proper and fulfilling roles for women. But some women still needed to work, and work they did. While the economy was losing some jobs, in newer fields, such as the radio and telephone industries, job opportunities for women were actually expanding. One of the main reasons women were hired for many of these new jobs that resulted from emerging technology was that they could be paid considerably less than men (and often still are). Again, the wage gap was justified by the stereotype of the male breadwinner needing earnings that would support not just himself, but a traditional family—whether he was married or not. Another place where women were thriving in the workplace was the growing film industry whose ranks included many powerful female stars. Ironically, even as many female stars hauled in hefty salaries and outearned their male co-stars, the majority of 1930s film fare consisted of movies aimed at selling the idea that a woman’s place was in the home. Even those onscreen characters who were strong, charismatic career women usually gave it all up for the love, marriage, and the husband that were requisite for a traditional Hollywood happy ending—or were punished for not doing so. The New Deal When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, working men and women were still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. Under Roosevelts influence, a 1938 key women’s rights and labor rights decision by the Supreme Court, West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, found that minimum wage legislation was constitutional. Along with his progressive policies, Roosevelt also brought a new breed of First Lady, in the person of Eleanor Roosevelt, to the White House. Thanks to an assertive, capable, and active personality paired with an impressive intellect, former settlement house worker Eleanor Roosevelt was more than just a helpmate to her husband. While Eleanor Roosevelt did provide stalwart support with regard to FDRs physical limitations (he suffered lingering effects of his bout with polio), she was also a very visible and vocal part of her husbands administration. Eleanor Roosevelt and the remarkable circle of women with which she surrounded herself took on active and important public roles that likely would not have been possible had another candidate been in office. Women in Government and the Workplace Arrival of American Mission in Rotterdam on board SS Noordam for the Peace Congress at the Hague. Jane Adams is in the center. Bettmann/Getty Images   The issue of women’s rights was less dramatic and widespread in the 1930s than it had been at the height of earlier suffrage battles—or would be again during the subsequent second-wave feminism of the 1960s and 1970s.  Still, some very prominent women affected big changes through government organizations at the time. Florence Kelley, active in the first three decades of the century, was a mentor to many of the women who were activists in the 1930s.  She died in 1932.When she was appointed to be Secretary of Labor by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first year in office, Frances Perkins became the first woman cabinet official. She served until 1945.  Historically referenced as the woman behind the New Deal,  Perkins was a major force in the creation of the social safety net that included unemployment insurance, minimum wage laws, and the Social Security system.Molly Dewson worked with refugees during World War I and then went on to focus her efforts on labor reform. She championed minimum wage laws for women and children, as well as limiting working hours for women and children to a 48-hour week.  Dewson was an advocate for women working in the Democratic Party and became an ambassador for The New Deal.  Jane Addams continued her Hull House project in the ’30s, serving the poor and im migrant population in Chicago.  Other settlement houses, which were often led by women, also helped provide necessary social services during the Great Depression.  Grace Abbott, who had been head of the Children’s Bureau in the 1920s, taught at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration in the 1930s, where her sister, Edith Abbot, served as dean.  Abbott was a U.S. delegate to the International Labor Organization in 1935 and 1937.Mary McLeod Bethune had served on Presidential commissions under Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover but had a larger role in FDRs administration. Bethune often spoke alongside Eleanor Roosevelt, who became a friend, and she was part of FDR’s â€Å"kitchen cabinet,† advising him on matters involving African Americans. She was involved with establishing the Federal Committee on Fair Employment Practice which worked to end exclusion and wage discrimination for African Americans in the defense industry. From 1936 to 1944, she headed the Division of Negro Affairs within the National Youth Administration.  Bethune also helped bring together several black women’s organizations into the National Council of Negro Women, for which she served as president from 1935 to 1949.