Unchanging Nature Research Articles

Does happiness really happen in Andrei Platonov’s stories?

The theme of happiness is one of the constants of Andrei Platonov’s minor work. He reflects on it perpetually, turning it from positive to negative, and eventually concluding his ‘quest for truth’ in the idea of the world’s and human existence’ integral complexity, where happiness is interwoven with grief, emotions fuel the intensity of thought, individual life merges with the great stream of all-human fate, and romantic drive towards the unknown and uncommon comes into harmony with the deep, compassionate and accepting insight in the eternal and unchangeable nature of being.

“Light Verse Can Be Serious” in the Songs of W. H. Auden

This study evaluates Auden’s “Twelve Songs” (1935-38), “Five Songs” (1948-53), “Two Don Quixote Lyrics” (1963) representing three different periods in the Auden canon in order to discuss the senses of anxiety and desperateness felt by the poetic personas. As the last major voice of Eliot generation, Auden poeticizes his process of problematic uniformity. In other words, he feels at home after the harassing motion of centring and decentring reflected in his early poems. The songs from the different periods of Auden demonstrate the unchangeable nature of hopelessness in his poems. However, the awareness of a broken link with various defining factors such as love and nature evolves into a humble acknowledgement in Auden’s later works. Thus, the selected poems share a similar attitude towards the basic arguments of love, loneliness, and bourgeoisie values besides the political implications on capitalism and religion. In conclusion, the analysis of “Twelve Songs,” “Five Songs” and “Two Don Quixote Lyrics” from his early, transition and later periods suggests that Auden’s poetry cannot be reduced into any formula and reflects his problematic perception of ‘peace’ as the poems waver between the songs of reunification and those of separation.

Mathematical Modeling Approaches for Blockchain Technology

These days blockchain innovation has become a significant issue as of late and greatly affected the business. Even though blockchain innovations was reliable for security issues, advantageous administrations, and difficulties for procedure assumes a significant key job that we have to break down. To have a superior observation about this square chain innovation, we will find out about the essential security highlights like-expanded limit, better security, unchanging nature, quicker settlement, and decentralized framework. The range of blockchain applications limits from budgetary, human services, vehicle, chance administration, Internet of things to open and social administrations. In this paper, by examining its structure to various agreement calculations just as difficulties and openings, we endeavor to lead an expansive going review on blockchain innovation and also the few mathematical models behind this blockchain technology.

Methodological Problems and Guidelines of Studying Social Inequality

The Object of the Study. Social inequality.The Subject of the Study. Methodology and guidelines of the social inequality studies.The Purpose of the Study. Support efforts of researchers in the field of the social inequality.The Main Provisions of the Article. Ideological basement of the studies of social inequality is the indispensable precondition of ensuring their scientific profoundness, reliability and practical value.In the current article two types of social policy are differenciated: the first one is based on the nesessity of the total elimination of the social inequaltiy in the future, and the second one – on the assumption of unchanging nature of social inparity in the public life. Different types of social policy of a government or of major social actors define a specific set of necessary and sufficient problems which have to be scientificantly deep formulated and solved.

THE ANTROPOLOGY OF GENDER BY VASIL ROSANOV AND THE ETHICS OF SEXUAL DIFFERENCE BY LUCE IRIGARAY

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to compare the anthropology of gender by Vasil Rozanov and the ethics of sexual difference by Luce Irigaray, to identify similarities and distinctions between these theories, and to assess their role in the development of the gender studies. Theoretical basis combines the comparative method and the gender approach, which is based not only on describing the difference of statuses, roles and other aspects of men’s and women’s lives, but also on overcoming the androcentrism in the contemporary world. Originality of the work consists in the fact that, in the context of the gender studies, the special philosophical and anthropological comparison of the gender concepts by Rozanov and Irigaray were carried out for the first time. This allowed reckoning Rozanov’s theory in essentialism, and Irigaray’s theory in anti-essentialism. The article also reveals the similarity in the anthropology of gender by Rozanov and the ethics of sexual difference by Irigaray in terms of sexuality concept, analyzes and details their main ideas. Conclusion. The important similarity between Rozanov’s and Irigaray’s concepts is the assertion of female subjectivity as equivalent to male one. The female equivalent of sexuality by Rozanov manifests itself in the concept of "cunnicentrism", but by Irigaray, it is in the metonymy of "two lips". The methodological basis of their concepts is the insuperable opposition of "masculine" and "feminine". Rozanov seeks to identify "masculine" and "feminine", but Irigaray rather concentrates on their radical distinction. According to Rozanov, sexual differences are determined biologically or metaphysically, which defines their eternal and unchanging nature. In turn, Irigaray argues that phallocentric culture is the condition of sexual differences, which may be overcome with changing linguistic structures. The fundamental similarity of the anthropology of gender and the ethics of sexual difference is that not only "masculine", but also "feminine" principles are sexualized in them. Thus, Rozanov in his style and attention to physicality is surprisingly close to the modern gender anthropology and may be regarded as its forerunner. At the same time, the influence of Irigaray’s philosophical concepts on the contemporary gender studies is that she was the first to point out the need to create a woman’s other discourse that respects sexual difference and revealed the problematical character of singling out the distinctions between the female different and any other different in it.

RESPONS TERHADAP KONSEPSI ALLAH DALAM TEOLOGI PROSES

Teologi Proses telah mempengaruhi pandangan dunia teologi Kristen. Penekanan teologi proses adalah pada doktrin Allah. Teologi proses secara konsisten diterapkan berdasarkan sifat dipolar, yaitu sifat yang berubah dan tidak berubah. Kedua sifat ini mempengaruhi pandangan tentang Allah. Teologi Proses juga termasuk sebagai teologi alam, yang sifatnya mencari tujuan teodisi. Dalam artikel ini, ada dua jenis respons, yaitu penghargaan dan posisi berlawanan. Semua tanggapan akan dijelaskan berdasarkan pendekatan konsep teologis dan studi biblika.

Evolution of war. Issues of variability or invariance of Nature and Character of War

The study of the nature and character of the war has probably been the subject of research since the first organized clash between the two opposing groups. My purpose in this paper is to elaborate on specific aspects of evolution of nature and character of war. First, based on the analysis of different theories of study of war and warfare, which includes examination of how warfare has evolved over a long history, analyzing important issues related to evolution of war, consider different considerations specifically what was and is the catalyst for changes in the character of war vs. unchanging nature of war. It is important to analyze the evolution of warfare, regard to revolutions in military affairs and the analysis of four generations of war. Revolutions in the military affairs have analyzed the issue in three directions: technological development, doctrinal innovations, and orga-nizational adaptations, which have been an essential process in light of developments taking place in chronological order throughout the world. Four Generations War Analysis is catalysts for change to understand the real drivers of the generational shift. The discussion of the fourth generation of war leads to the important issue what we today call the dilemmas posed by modern warfare, which brought war into the abstract dimension. Military theorists such as Martin van Creveld, Mary Kaldor, and Max Boot, have analyzed and saw the nature and character of war from a new prism, but to this day abstract nature of war “fog of war” remain unexplained, unresolved issue for modern military theorist

The Cycles of Defense Acquisition Reform and What Comes Next

The Cycles of Defense Acquisition Reform and What Comes Next

Natures in Translation: Romanticism and Colonial Natural History

Natures in Translation: Romanticism and Colonial Natural History

Whiteness, class and place in two London suburbs

ABSTRACTThis article addresses a specific intersection of class, place and whiteness by focusing on distinctions between middle-class owner-occupiers in suburban London. Where whiteness is constructed through association with an imaginary of the unchanging nature of rural England and, in particular, the village, some suburban places provide a more ready village metaphor in support of whiteness than others. In a securely middle-class suburb residents are able to misrecognize their neighbourhood as a village, and beyond the metaphor, report feeling at home in rural England. In a marginal middle-class suburb whiteness is founded on weaker claims to the English village metaphor and, moreover, residents feel less at home in rural England. This article demonstrates the need to go beyond the often made distinction between the tactics of middle class (owner-occupiers) and working class (tenants) by identifying distinctions within the former group.

What Constitutes the Concept of Law? Potentialism as a Position Beyond Positivism and Natural Law Theory

The dispute about the proper concept of law has long suggested that there is one concept of law that does not change with society or time. In this regard, positivism and natural law theory agree that there is a definite concept of law, although they disagree about its precise content. The paper examines this assumption by looking at the reasons that constitute the concept of law. It argues that this assumption of an unchangeable nature of the concept of law is implausible as normative reasons turn out to be decisive for this formation. The weight of these reasons might, at least, in principle depend on changing circumstances. The same holds if empirical circumstances are constitutive for the concept of law, because they might change as well. Consequently, the concept of law does not have an a priori fixed content. Instead, it takes on a mere potential relationship to morality. This paper outlines this theory of potentialism.

Jewish Books and their Readers: Aspects of the Intellectual Life of Christians and Jews in Early Modern Europe, ed. Scott Mandelbrote and Joanna Weinberg

This collection of essays has its origins in the European Seminar on Advanced Judaic Studies held at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies in 2012. As the editors, Scott Mandelbrote and Joanna Weinberg, explain in their brief introduction, the volume seeks to ‘undermine traditional paradigms of so-called Christian Hebraism’ and to ‘challenge simplistic visions either of the unchanging nature of Jewish cultural life or of its isolation from or hostility to the intellectual influences of Christian society’ (p. 1). Perhaps inevitably, the contributions cluster around the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, though some do occasionally look earlier or later; similarly, and again as one might expect, they tend to focus especially on Italy and Germany. The twelve contributions to the volume are arranged under five sub-headings. The first pair of chapters appears under ‘Manuscript, Print and the Jewish Bible’. Mandelbrote examines the early modern reception of the so-called Letter of Aristeas, a Greek text written by an anonymous Jew, most probably some time between 200 and 100 bce. This text appeared in numerous Latin and vernacular (especially Italian) editions: interest initially lay in its ideas about kingship, but in due course this shifted to the information it provided about the origins of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), before that also waned and it returned to being a primarily Jewish text again. Alessandro Guetta examines the use made of the Italian translation of the Bible made by the Florentine humanist Antonio Bruciolo (d. 1566) by Italian Jewish communities: paradoxically, while this text found its way onto the Index because of its alleged Protestant sympathies, Guetta finds evidence of its use in a series of Jewish works of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

Blood, Sweat and Tears: The Changing Concepts of Physiology from Antiquity into Early Modern Europe

Preface and Acknowledgements Notes on the Editors Notes on the Contributors List of Illustrations Introduction Helen King PART ONE HISTORY OF PHYSIOLOGY IN CONTEXT: CONCEPTS, METAPHORS, ANALOGIES Physiologia from Galen to Jacob Bording Vivian Nutton Physiological Analogies and Metaphors. In Explanations of the Earth and the Cosmos Liba Taub The Reception of the Hippocratic Treatise On Glands Elizabeth Craik Between Atoms and Humours. Lucretius' Didactic Poetry as a Model of Integrated and Bifocal Physiology Fabio Tutrone Losing Ground. The Disappearance of Attraction from the Kidneys 85 Michael R. McVaugh The Art of the Distillation of 'Spirits' as a Technological Model for Human Physiology. The Cases of Marsilio Ficino, Joseph Duchesne and Francis Bacon Sergius Kodera The is a Battlefield. Conflict and Control in Seventeenth-Century Physiology and Political Thought Sabine Kalff Herman Boerhaave's Neurology and the Unchanging Nature of Physiology Rina Knoeff The Anatomy and Physiology of Mind. David Hume's Vitalistic Account Tamas Demeter More than a Fading Flame. The Physiology of Old Age between Speculative Analogy and Experimental Method Daniel Schafer Suffering Bodies, Sensible Artists. Vitalist Medicine and the Visualising of Corporeal Life in Diderot Tomas Macsotay PART TWO BLOOD Blood, Clotting and the Four Humours Hans L. Haak An Issue of Blood. The Healing of the Woman with the Haemorrhage (Mark 5.24b-34 Luke 8.42b-48 Matthew 9.19-22) in Early Medieval Visual Culture Barbara Baert, Liesbet Kusters and Emma Sidgwick The Nature of the Soul and the Passage of Blood through the Lungs. Galen, Ibn al-Nafis, Servetus, Itaki, 'Attar Rainer Bromer Sperm and Blood, Form and Food. Late Medieval Medical Notions of Male and Female in the Embryology of Membra Karine van 't Land The Music of the Pulse in Marsilio Ficino's Timaeus Commentary Jacomien Prins 'For the Life of a Creature is in the Blood' (Leviticus 17:11). Some Considerations on Blood as the Source of Life in Sixteenth-Century Religion and Medicine and their Interconnections Catrien Santing White Blood and Red Milk. Analogical Reasoning in Medical Practice and Experimental Physiology (1560-1730) Barbara Orland PART THREE SWEAT AND SKIN The Body without in the Homeric Poems Valeria Gavrylenko Sweat. Learned Concepts and Popular Perceptions, 1500-1800 Michael Stolberg Of the Fisherman's Net and Skin Pores. Reframing Conceptions of the Skin in Medicine 1572-1714 Mieneke M. G. te Hennepe PART FOUR TEARS AND SIGHT Vision and Vision Disorders. Galen's Physiology of Sight Veronique Boudon-Millot Early Modern Medical Thinking on Vision and the Camera Obscura. V.F. Plempius' Ophthalmographia Katrien Vanagt The Tertium Comparationis of the Elementa Physiologiae. Johann Gottfried von Herder's Coception of Tears' as Mediators between the Sublime and the Actual Bodily Physiology Frank W. Stahnisch PART FIVE BODY AND SOUL From Doubt to Certainty. Aspects of the Conceptualisation and Interpretation of Galen's Natural Pneuma Julius Rocca Metabolisms of the Soul. The Physiology of Bernardino Telesio in Oliva Sabuco's Nueva Filosofia de la Naturaleza del Hombre (1587) Marlen Bidwell-Steiner Full of Rapture. Maternal Vocality and Melancholy in Webster's Duchess of Malfi Marion A. Wells The Sleeping Musician. Aristotle's Vegetative Soul and Ralph Cudworth's Plastic Nature Diana Stanciu Index Locorum Index Generalis

COMPETITIVENESS OF UKRAINIAN EXPORT-ORIENTED FIELDS

The article presents the results of the study of the current state of competitiveness of the export-oriented industries of the Ukrainian economy. It shows that the level of engagement in international trade determines the international competitiveness of the national economy, its readiness and the ability to create developed competitive advantages. It is proved that in Ukraine today just a small number of branches of the economy are competitive in foreign markets as they offer raw materials or products with a low level of positive value to the countries abroad. Taking it into account, this research goal is to determine, which export-oriented industries deserve state support and which tools and methods should be used for this purpose. The methodological basis of the research was the general scientific methods of dialectics, observation, measurement and formalization; methods of the system, statistical and graphical analysis. In particular, to identify the export-oriented industries of the domestic economy, the methodology for calculating the index of identified competitive advantages was used. It is determined that the export-oriented branches of the domestic economy include: extractive industry, metallurgy, agriculture, food industry, and chemical industry. The calculations showed that among the 223 items, which were under the analysis, only for 47 of them these figures are greater than 1. This high indicator is mainly featured for commodity products. It is concluded that without reforming the structure of the domestic economy, there will be no significant changes in the national economy since the main items of export will continue to remain the raw materials and semi-finished products in terms of the unchanging nature of the specialization of the domestic business. It is substantiated that one of the directions of increasing the competitiveness of the domestic business is increasing both the production of the added value of high-tech industries (such as the chemical industry) and the export of intermediate and end products, in which it is embodied. It has been determined that changes in the sectoral structure are needed to increase non-raw added value created in the areas of the added value. Further research will be aimed at improving the mechanism of state support for export-oriented industries of Ukraine.

Analytical Study on Social Change in Tunisia from the Pre-colonial Period to Arab Spring

There are natural forces of circumstances that control human system; inclination of change in man is very high and quick, however, occurrence of change has become constant and unchanging nature of life. In fact, that has become permanent phenomenon in human society. What are the components that changes in man’s life, behavior and characters, dogmas and beliefs, customs, norms and values, or all together? This research aims to provide an answer to the above question, through the study of radical socio-political changes in Tunisia from Precolonial Period until 2011 Revolution. Tunisia which is one of the most beautiful society, and the model of profound radical change at times, such as the revolution that sparked the Arab Spring (al-Raī’u al-‘Arabī) which is expected to change the Arabs world in twenty years or more, and in another time, an example of gradual change that takes a long time, as it happened during the time of independence and Bourguiba’s negotiation with the French colonists. In fact, Tunisia is claimed to be considered as the citadel of the West and the model that all the countries of the South must adopt and follow. This research has revealed that the phenomenon of radical change has occurred twice in Tunisia after its independence in 1956: first: when Habib Bourguiba issued the family code after four months from the independence, in which he abolished the legitimate provisions that related to religion and faith of the citizens by the force of law, and consequently followed by the series of decisions until the end of Bin Ali's reign, secondly: when Bu’azīzī set fire on himself, in fact as if he set the whole Arabs world ablaze. The research has figured out that Tunisia has been a pioneer in many fields, including its leadership in the establishment of the first educational institution in the sense of the university - Zaytuna University, it also pioneered the application of a new concept in the ideological war waged against the Islamists; policy of the sources drains which has become an exemplary strategy in the global war on the terrorism, as well as its application to finance, liquidation and others. The research confirmed that there are some symbolic community titles and ranks such as mysticism leaders, chief Shūrā of al-Mālikiyyah Council, first Imam of al-Zaytūnah Mosque, representing the moral weight in Tunisian society and playing vital roles in the community as well, especially in reconciling and bringing people of different segments in the society together on the public interests. In addition, the public Awqāfroles were also very essential, where its activities did not only limit to the Tunisian citizens but there were also allotted amount to the two Holy Mosques (Makkah and Madinah Mosques). The research concluded that the change occurs in any given society through one of these ways: law, principle of education and force, and for different purposes, including: Human need for dignity and personal respect, social need for justice and political need for freedom. What usually changes in man is conduct, by changing the values governing behaviors, through the interference in people’s identity, language and religion. In a nutshell, there is a definite effect between the system adopted by the authority and the impact of this system on the societal, economical and moral structures.

Beyond Intentionality: On the Non-dual Contemplative Practices of the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition ‘The Great Perfection’

The Buddhist vision of liberation is intimately related with an experiential state that transcends intentionality, temporality and causality, owing to its non-directed, unchanging and unconditioned nature. As such, this vision reveals a novel mode of non-dual awareness, which is not divided into perceiving subject and perceived objects. In order to directly recognise this mode, several Buddhist traditions utilised diverse contemplative instructions that were meant to dissolve the intending tendencies of consciousness. This paper discusses one of these traditions – ‘The Great Perfection’ (Tib. rDzogs pa chen po) – which affirms an inherent experiential state that is open, luminous and all-encompassing. For the sake of realising such a state, this tradition advocates a contemplative approach which emphasises relaxation, spaciousness and non-intending. Through its view and practices, ‘The Great Perfection’ introduces a vision of lived experience that goes beyond the structures of intentional consciousness and entails a reassessment of our basic assumptions about human awareness.

Reorganizing Algebraic Thinking: An Introduction to Dynamic System Modeling

IntroductionIn this paper I show, using a nested sequence of simple examples increasing in complexity, why math teachers need not rely solely on the current symbolic representation (closed form equation) for studying dynamic problems in algebra.Mathematizing story problems into closed form has, historically, been difficult for students (Schwartz & Yerashalmy, 1995). However, new technologies can provide alternate and more visual representations of many functions studied in algebra, making algebraic concepts accessible to more students. While the closed form representation of problems has served us well in the past, many of the problems our students will face, as adults, will require the ability to understand and make decisions about complex systems (Lesh, 2006). The goal of this paper is to support an evolution in teaching strategy and the content employed so as to make the study of complex systems accessible to algebra students.Change is accelerating, and as the of the systems in which we live grows, so do the unanticipated side effects of human actions, further increasing complexity (Sterman, 1994). Our nation and the global community face serious problems such as global warming, soaring national debt, unsustainable consumption of natural resources, daunting health costs for families, rising numbers of children in poverty, environmental impacts on health, and more. How will our children be able to successfully address these problems if teachers do not have strategies that are designed to help students build understanding of dynamic systemic problems?Using technology, specifically Stella, it is possible to have students represent and analyze problems that would typically have been out of their mathematical reach using traditional closed form equation approaches (Blume & Heid 2008; Fisher, 2011a; Pea, 1987). In what follows, I first describe Stella's visual interface and present a series of models using that software. Based on this presentation, I argue how the use of the software extends the range of possibilities for modeling, and in so doing reorganizes algebraic thinking. Finally, I consider some extensions beyond the scope of this paper, reflecting on the unchanging nature of the mathematics curriculum in the light of the need to understand dynamic systems, and the new possibilities offered by technology.A Graduated Series of Stella ModelsStella IconsThe Stella SD software uses four main icons. One icon operates as an accumulator of stuff' over time. This stuff' can be physical, like the number of cars in a city, or abstract, like concern about child homelessness. The accumulator is identified as a shown as a rectangular icon. The stock depicts an important variable of interest and represents an aspect of the state of the system. See Figure 1.As will become clear in the examples that follow, Stella models situations dynamically through updating repeatedly how the state of the system repeats over time (similar to recursive equations). The time step is changeable, with precision increasing as it is made smaller; calculus represents the limiting case as the time step approaches zero).A icon represents a rate of change in a stock. If the flow arrowhead is pointing toward/away from the stock, a positive value (within the icon) represents the rate of increase/decrease of the stock value.Another icon called a converter could represent either a parameter value or a non-stock variable whose value is computed using a formula.Finally, there are icons called connectors that link converters to flows, converters to other converters, stocks to flows, or stocks to converters. They act like telephone lines, communicating numeric information between components so formulas can be updated each time step (calculation interval).A series of simple finance scenarios will be used to show how it is possible to think about a problem using different symbolic representations, and will show some of the advantages of each representation. …

Improving solar wind persistence forecasts: Removing transient space weather events, and using observations away from the Sun-Earth line

This study demonstrates two significant ways of improving persistence forecasts of the solar wind, which exploit the relatively unchanging nature of the ambient solar wind to provide 27 day forecasts, when using data from the Lagrangian L1 point. Such forecasts are useful both as a prediction tool for the ambient wind, but also for benchmarking of solar wind models. We show solar wind persistence forecasts can be improved by removing transient solar wind features such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Using CME indicators to automatically identify CME-contaminated periods in ACE data from 1998-2011, and replacing these with solar wind from a previous synodic rotation, persistence forecasts improve (relative to a baseline): skill scores for the southward IMF component Bz, a crucial parameter for determining solar wind geoeffectiveness, improve by 7.7 percentage points when using a commonly-available indicator, based on the proton temperature. We also show persistence forecasts can be improved by using measurements away from L1, to reduce the requirement on coronal stability for an entire synodic period, at the cost of reduced lead time. Using STEREO-B data from 2007-2013 to create such a reduced lead time persistence forecast, we show Bz skill scores improve by 17.1 percentage points relative to ACE. Finally, we report on implications for persistence forecasts from any future missions to the L5 Lagrangian point, and on the successful operational implementation of the normal (ACE-based) and reduced lead time (STEREO-based) persistence forecasts in the Met Office’s Space Weather Operations Centre (MOSWOC), where they have been routinely used by forecasters since spring 2015, as well as plans for future improvements.

(mis)uses of essentialism in a language policy-making context

In recent years, it has been much more common to ground sociolinguistic studies in concepts of language practices, language crossings and communicative repertoires, owing to the field’s growing recognition of the complexity and dynamism of language use. However, in language policy-making in many parts of the world, where language and education specialists are directly involved in language and education policy-making, linguistic essentialism is prevalent but sometimes a necessary component of struggles for the official recognition of marginalized languages and communities. Linguistic essentialism mainly refers to the belief that languages are separate, idealized entities, and that they represent identities and cultures which do not intersect and remain unchanging. Yet, many deployments of linguistic essentialism have led to reconfigured systems of education which have, in many contexts, resulted in more democratic and more equitable learning spaces. How can/should we respond to such kind of essentialism? These could be strategic uses of essentialism because of their deployment as provisional necessary conceptual tools for specific political projects (Spivak, 1988). However, an examination of these essentialisms shows their unchanging nature or their lack of critical self-reflection, thus failing to account for changing sociolinguistic and socio-political realities. In the Philippines, linguistic essentialisms helped institutionalize the national language, Filipino, as a medium of instruction by discursively promoting it as the language of nationalism, cultural expression and identity, and anti-colonial struggle. In the process, these discourses undermined the hegemony of English as the sole language of instruction in the country, thus resulting in the promulgation of the bilingual education policy in 1974. At the same time, however, the same discourses marginalized the role of the country’s more than a hundred mother tongues as languages of instruction, nationalism, cultural expression and identity and political struggle. Linguistic essentialisms are part and parcel of language policy-making and should be viewed and appraised in the light of historically contingent political projects that deployed them. However, they must continuously change to remain relevant, self-critically nuancing their own positions and always open to reconfigurations of languages in society.

Presenting a Controversial Doctrine in a Conciliatory Way: Mkhan chen Gang shar dbang po’s (1925–1958/59?) Inclusion of Gzhan stong (“Emptiness of Other”) within Prāsaṅgika

Presenting a Controversial Doctrine in a Conciliatory WayMkhan chen Gang shar dbang po’s (1925–1958/59?) Inclusion of Gzhan stong (“Emptiness of Other”) within Prāsaṅgika Klaus-Dieter Mathes Positive descriptions of the ultimate, which are based on direct access to the luminous nature of one’s mind, as taught in the various traditions of Mahāmudrā or Great Perfection, look back upon a long history. Such systems found doctrinal support in the teachings of the third turning of the wheel of the dharma (dharmacakra), which is not only based on the doctrine of emptiness, but also distinguishes between the imputed and the real (i.e., phenomena and their true nature, or adventitious stains and buddha-nature).1 Some took this third dharmacakra as a teaching of definitive meaning and went so far as to stress the need to define its distinction between the imputed and the real in terms of two modes of emptiness: being “empty of an own-being” (rang stong) and being “empty of other” (gzhan stong). The most prominent proponent of gzhan stong, Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan (1292–1361), takes relative truth as being empty of a true own-being, but the ultimate as not being empty of such an own-being.2 In terms of the theory of three natures, Dol po pa equates this ultimate with [End Page 114] the perfect nature. It alone is gzhan stong, that is, empty of the imagined and dependent natures.3 Such an interpretation mainly follows the Extensive Commentary (Bṛhaṭṭīkā)4 on the Discourses of the Perfection of Wisdom (while also drawing support from the teaching of a buddha-nature, if one equates the latter with the perfect nature and the adventitious stains with the imagined and dependent natures) and requires one to reinterpret the traditional Yogācāra formula according to which the perfect is the dependent empty of the imagined. In the final analysis, the Jo nang pas go so far as to restrict the perfect to its unchangeable nature, with the perfect in terms of its unmistaken aspect (i.e., as nonconceptual wisdom) being taken as the “pure dependent.”5 The basis of emptiness thus is the ultimate or the unchangeable aspect of the perfect nature, everything dependent being part of the negandum which includes the entire relative truth. It should be noted that the Jo nang pa variety of gzhan stong is based on a particular understanding of the relation between the two truths, which requires a clear-cut distinction between an existing transcendent ultimate and a relative that does not exist in this fundamental state.6 In his Treasury of Knowledge (Shes bya mdzod), Kong sprul Blo gros mtha’ yas (1813–1899) remarks that Shākya mchog ldan (1428–1507) has a different view, and illustrates this by quoting from the author’s Explanation of Profound Peace and Freedom from Mental Fabrication (Zab zhi spros bral gyi bzhad pa): As to the basis of emptiness, it is the dependent, the entire mind, which takes on the form of the duality of a perceived and a perceiver. The negandum is the imagined. Given its division into perceived and perceiver, it is twofold.7 When the dependent is taken as the basis of emptiness, the resulting gzhan stong formula does not necessarily posit the absence of the relative in the ultimate.8 The way such a Yogācāra-based gzhan stong allows for a dependent nature in the basis of emptiness, can be compared to the Third Karmapa Rang byung rdo rje’s (1284–1339) inclusion of “mere appearances,”9 which correspond to the relative truth, within buddha-nature.10 Based on these two models of emptiness, I earlier proposed distinguishing a Yogācāra-based gzhan stong from a tathāgatagarbha-based gzhan stong.11 Douglas Duckworth recently drew my attention to the Rnying ma master Lo chen Dharma Śrī (1654–1717), who describes two traditions of gzhan stong in a similar way: in the Yogācāra texts the basis of emptiness is delineated as the dependent that is empty of the imagined, whereas in the Ratnagotravibhāga it is suchness (i.e...