Abstract There is always good performance in business for the first generation of today¡¦s entrepreneurs. These first generation entrepreneurs have much to contribute to the economy of Taiwan nowadays. However, illicit activities were committed unceasingly in the last five (5) years by some of the owners, such as diverting funds, making illegal deals in stocks, gaining illegal profit, faking financial reports, lending and borrowing illegally, failing in investment etc. As a result, firms failed to operate during financial crisis, hurting the rights and interests of investors. Furthermore, employees were laid off. These illicit activities were not the result of operation but were motivated by greed and other ulterior motives. This research shows that there are four common major problems in the enterprises of the present age. 1. Shortsightedness. 2. Lack of principle & ethic of management. 3. Lack of innovation. 4. Benefiting the self at the expense of others. Buddhist doctrines explore and solve problems based on cause-effect using psychology and mentality. This research recommends four methods based on the Buddhist doctrines to rectify the four major problems. 1. The Bodhisattva is afraid of cause and the ordinary is afraid of effect to overcome shortsightedness. 2. To obey the precepts and ethics to overcome the lack of principle & ethic of management. 3. To cultivate oneself according to the self-reflection Buddhist doctrines to overcome the lack of innovation. 4. To operate with compassion and kindness to others to overcome benefiting the self at the expense of others. The aim is to apply Buddhist doctrines in this research, rectify the corruption of enterprises of the present age, and assist them to be successful businesses. Moreover, it could help them to be excellent and prosperous businesses. In addition, companies can learn how to avoid failure. Business failure is not shameful; it is only a process in any venture. It is encouraging when a firm rebuild again from failures. According to the findings of this research, it is correct to fulfill the Buddhist doctrines to rectify business corruption of the present age.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-210).

The thesis examines the encounter between the normative ideology of sustainable development on the one hand, and Buddhist Ladakh’s older ceremonial landscape on the other, whereby the reproduction of material and religious life is managed with the assistance of enlightened monastic rulers, transcendental Buddhist protector deities, sacred technology, and supernatural beings inhabiting the landscape. It narrates the religious historical discourse of a decline into an “era of demerit”, evidenced through aspects of economic and technological transformation, increasing climate instability, and the threat of conflict along the disputed national borders with Pakistan and China. It examines also the participation of supernatural beings in the political landscape; as guardians of religious law, governors of weather, and landlords of the soil and water, supernatural beings can dictate the delivery of development by punishing transgressions that upset the moral order or pollute their abodes. This was profoundly experienced when Ladakh’s settlements were devastated by a cloud burst and flooding previously unwitnessed, and expressed locally as a sign of religious demerit and supernatural retribution for ritually and morally unchecked social transformation. When this occurs, ritual intervention from monastic specialists is required to restore order. The thesis is thus an account of two distinct approaches to history operating in the same social and political landscape: an objective, evidential account of history in which progress is determined by the existence of a rationally-organised modern economy and bureaucratic structures of governance; and a mythical historical narrative of progress and decline, requiring ceremonial offering and ritual intervention to maintain blessing and prevent religious decline. It examines how the two approaches to history and governance combine to produce a locally-contextualised modern identity in which the discourses and technologies of modern government are utilised to ensure that the Tibetan Buddhist teachings, and their attendant ceremonies, remain relevant in the contemporary era.

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published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

This dissertation explores Buddhist architecture in America from the nineteenth century through the present day. It examines significant examples of Buddhist architecture with respect to the spiritual beliefs of the practitioners who created them. Its goal is to understand these structures from the point of view of human experience. Given the large number of Buddhist structures that exist in the U.S., the narrative navigates the major contours of its development. It follows in isometric fashion the parallel history of Buddhism’s emergence in America that started with the California Gold Rush and its influence on the New England Transcendentalists. Proceeding chronologically through the twentieth and early twenty-first-centuries, the historical sweep of Buddhism’s architectural presence in America is articulated by exploring important structures in depth with respect to Buddhist belief, human emotion, socio-political contexts, and religious faith. A number of hermeneutic binaries are employed throughout the history presented here. Space and Place, East and West, Interior and Exterior, and Spirit and Matter are the major motifs implemented to explicate the buildings and environments under investigation. The overwhelming feeling pervading the discourse and design of Buddhist architecture and its co-extensive belief system is that of the heart. The human proclivity to attach personal meaning and deep emotion to a space or a place is at the express core of the Buddhist structures that house Buddhist practices. As a result, the study’s methodology is inspired by Yi-Fu Tuan’s humanistic geography, whose work explores the relationship between environment and human subjective experience. The study finds that ritual, lineage, and heritage work in tandem with heart, home, and the human body in the construction, understanding and experience of Buddhist architecture. It argues that traditional forms and practices derived from each community’s home culture infused a sense of shelter and protection onto these buildings. Buddhist belief and its associated architecture assuaged the new and sometimes hostile setting of the United States. As the first study of its kind, this dissertation opens the field of Buddhist architecture in America as a distinct branch of scholarly inquiry.

This study concerns the investigation of the mind training method called Lojong, as portrayed by the Gelug branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The emphasis is placed on the practical application of the philosophical tenets underlying this set of routines. Some of the issues to be addressed are: the use of imagery in the process of emotional healing, the ethical concerns that arise in regards to interpreting key concepts pertaining to the Mahayana Buddhist world view, the importance of individuality and the problem of selflessness in practices that deal with alleviating negative emotions, and the suitability of the specific practices for the contemporary western female practitioner. In consideration of the pragmatic nature of this study, conclusions have been drawn towards the possible changes that might be made, when a form of training devised for a distinct group of practitioners, is extended to a more diversified population.

This thesis deals with the myth of Maitreya, the next Buddha to come. The myth is traced from its earliest emergence in the Buddhist scriptures, briefly through its metamorphosis in China, with a view to presenting its evolution in Japan. The myth's history in Japan spans thirteen centuries, and as a result it is interesting to explore it in its historical context to see how the myth evolves and changes according to the exigencies of the times. / Buddhism has in many ways been synthesized into the Japanese indigenous Shinto context, with the result that the myth of Maitreya has emerged not simply as a Buddhist figure, but a pan-Japanese phenomenon very much responding to the Japanese ethos of "world-mending". This underlying current has become particularly strong in the twentieth century with the result that Maitreya has become a vehicle for social rectification as well as hope.

Buddhist monastic law usually divides infractions of precepts into either five or seven groups—the most serious offence of which is known as a pārājika. These are offences of non-celibacy, murder, theft and lying about spiritual attainments. It is generally accepted in the West, where the focus lies on Mainstream or Theravāda Buddhism, that these offences entail permanent expulsion from the monastic order. The present thesis sets out to show that not only do pārājika offences not necessarily entail expulsion, but a monk or nun who transgresses against a pārājika dharma may in fact remain within the saṃgha if his/her transgression was not concealed and if he/she was truly repentant. This procedure is known as pārājika penance. Evidence for this is provided by means of a systematic survey of texts ascribed to five Vinaya traditions, viz. Mahīśāsaka, Sarvāstivāda, Mahāsāṃghika, Dharmaguptaka and Mūlasarvāstivāda. The Vinaya of each of these traditions has been examined and the results produced here in order to shed light on their respective stance with regard to pārājika penance.

This thesis examines accounts of the life of Ras-chung-pa, also known as rDo- rje Grags-pa (1084-1161), written from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries. It identifies what sources are presently available and discusses their inter-relationship. The thesis will present a development of narrative traditions that fuse and eventually climax in the sixteenth century Ras-chung-pa'i rNam-thar by rGod-tshang Ras-pa, which is the standard biography for present-day Tibetan Buddhism. This thesis will reveal how rGod-tshang Ras-pa's version of the first half of Ras-chung- pa's life is a late composite of various conflicting narratives. As the primary source materials have been little studied or even identified, a major part of the thesis will be an exploration and identification of the sources. The thesis will both show how narratives about Ras-chung-pa evolved and suggest their possible historical sources.