Faith in Buddhism

Faith (Pāli: saddhā, Sanskrit: śraddhā) is an initial acceptance of the Buddha's teaching prior to realising its truth for oneself. It is an important constituent element of all traditions of Buddhism, although the kind and nature of faith changes in the different schools. Other translations of saddhā/śraddhā include confidence and trust. According to received Pali-Buddhist tradition, some of the first words voiced by the Buddha after resolving to teach Dharma were, "Wide opened is the door of the Deathless to all who have ears to hear; let them send forth faith [saddhā] to meet it."

Early Buddhism

Kalama Sutta

According to Guiliano Giustarini, "Saddhā is usually translated as faith, but it is not to be meant as a dogmatic belief." In the Kalama Sutta the Buddha himself argues against simply following authority, tradition or specious reasoning. Instead, a person should himself derive a moral judgement thus:

Even though one's own experience and judgement is emphasized in accepting Buddha and Buddhism, one should also heed to the counsel of the wise, meaning a Buddha or a Buddhist teacher well versed in the Buddhist teachings.

Grilled Cheesus

"Grilled Cheesus" is the third episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the twenty-fifth episode overall. It was written by Brad Falchuk, directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and premiered on the Fox network on October 5, 2010. Prior to its broadcast, series co-creator Ryan Murphy predicted the episode would be Glee's most controversial, as it focuses on religion and what God means to the members of the glee club. When Burt Hummel (Mike O'Malley) has a heart attack, the glee club rally around his son Kurt (Chris Colfer), attempting to support the Hummels through their various faiths. Meanwhile, club co-captain Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) believes he has found the face of Jesus in a grilled cheese sandwich.

Murphy hoped to produce a balanced depiction of religion, and he, Falchuk and series co-creator Ian Brennan worked to ensure that there was an equality between pro and anti-religious sentiments expressed. The episode features seven cover versions of songs, each of which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the series' one-week debut high in the US. Critics disagreed over the appropriateness of the musical performances, with some complaining of the tangential relationship between the numbers and religion, and others appreciating that the Glee versions brought new meaning to the songs.

List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters

This article lists the major and recurring fictional characters created by Joss Whedon for the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For detailed descriptions, see individual character pages.

Main characters

The following characters were featured in the opening credits of the program.

The show's titular protagonist, Buffy is "The Slayer", one in a long line of young girls chosen by fate to battle evil forces in the form of vampires and demons. The Slayer has no jurisdiction over human crime. This calling mystically endows her with a limited degree of clairvoyance, usually in the form of prophetic dreams, as well as dramatically increased physical strength, endurance, agility, intuition, and speed and ease of healing. There traditionally has been only one Slayer alive at any given moment, with a new one called upon the event of her death.

Xander is a close friend of Buffy. Possessing no supernatural skills, Xander provides comic relief as well as a grounded, everyman perspective in the supernatural Buffyverse. In another departure from the usual conventions of television, Xander is notable for being an insecure and subordinate male in a world dominated by powerful females.

Come Sail Away – The Styx Anthology

Come Sail Away – The Styx Anthology is a musical album by Styx, released on May 4, 2004. It is a compilation consisting of two compact discs and contains a thorough history of the band. The album encompasses many of the band's most popular and significant songs, ranging from the band's first single from their self-titled album, "Best Thing," through the song "One with Everything," a track included on Styx's most recent album at the time of release, Cyclorama.

The most notable omission from the compilation is "Don't Let It End," Dennis DeYoung's top-ten single from their 1983 album, Kilroy Was Here.

This is the only Styx compilation album to date to combine the original versions of songs from the band's early Wooden Nickel albums with their later material. Their Wooden Nickel breakout hit "Lady" was included on the 1995 Greatest Hits collection, but as a note-for-note re-recording, labelled "Lady '95." As such, this is the first truly career-spanning collection for the band ever compiled.

Gold (crater)

Gold is a crater in the Oxia Palus quadrangle of Mars, located at 20.2° N and 31.3° W. It is 9.0 km in diameter and was named after a town in Pennsylvania, USA.

Gold is famous as being one of several craters showing clear evidence that it was affected by floods of water from Maja Valles on Mars.

References

Gold (Rhodes novel)

Gold is a novel by British author Dan Rhodes published in March 2007 by Canongate. It won the inaugural Clare Maclean Prize for Scottish Fiction and has since been published in four other languages. It was also one of the 'best books of 2007' according to critics at The Independent.

Plot introduction

Set in a coastal village in Pembrokeshire, the novel concerns Miyuki Woodward, a young Welsh-Japanese woman who spends a month every winter staying in a nearby cottage, away from her female partner Grindl (with whom she runs a decorating business), as a lesson in not taking each other for granted. Her appearance in the local pub is welcomed by all, but this year she becomes more involved in the local community than usual; the gold in the title referring to her impulsive gold spray-painting of a prominent boulder on a nearby beach, which soon attracts the attention of the local police.

References

External links