4 Points of Winning Essay Example for Free

4 Points of Winning Essay Let’s start with â€Å"First is prayer.†Nothing is as strong as correct prayer. This is faith of â€Å"no prayer will go unanswered.† This is the Mystic Law of â€Å"no strategy can match the strategy of the Lotus Sutra.† In any struggle, everything begins with prayer. And it is vital to always continue praying. We have to pray right through any difficulty we encounter. The Mystic Law is the fundamental principle of the universe. The prayers of a person who chants, practices and struggles for the Mystic Law, which is of such supreme importance, will be perfectly in synch with the fundamental rhythm of the universe. Accordingly, no prayer by such a person will go unanswered. The benevolent deities, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas will all extend their protection without fail. See more: Sleep Deprivation Problem Solution Speech Essay The important thing is prayer for kosen-rufu. In other words, it is prayer based on a vow for the protection and the powerful flourishing of the Soka Gakkai that is advancing kosen-rufu. It is prayer with the spirit â€Å"Buddhism is victory or defeat† to show actual proof of the greatness of the Mystic Law in our life. The prayers of a votary of the Lotus Sutra will be answered without fail. No matter what might happen, a person of powerful prayer will be able to change poison into medicine. Such a person has absolutely nothing to fear. Just how immense is the power of daimoku? It is the ultimate power to move the universe. The rhythm of daimoku resounds throughout the universe while activating the Buddha nature in our life. Those who sonorously chant daimoku change the life of one friend after another and cause their communities, society and the world to move toward peace and prosperity, while causing their own life force to abundantly well forth. What is the secret to causing an organization to develop? It is the determination of the central figure. It is to always live out one’s life together with the Soka Gakkai based on the spirit of mentor and disciple. Also, earnestness and action are very important. An organization in which the leaders pray and take action with all their might will thrive. By contrast, an organization whose central figure is arrogant toward those within and never ventures outside will not develop. We need to take the initiative in meeting with others. We need to build new friendships. We have to proudly tell people about the greatness of the Soka Gakkai and the wonder of mentor and disciple. It is this that will open a new age. When the central figure really fights hard and leads a fulfilling life each day, this vitality will be transmitted to others, and everyone will become happy. An organization ultimately depends on the central figure. I would like to reiterate this point. Of course, someone who understands being â€Å"earnest† to mean always wearing a fierce expression will only drive people away. While stoking a fighting spirit in our heart, when meeting friends we should put on a bright smile and offer warm encouragement. At any rate, faith is â€Å"action for becoming happy.† The life of Buddhism always exists within action. The second of the four principles for absolute victory is action. Without action, Buddhism could not exist. To what extent has one taken action for kosen-rufu? This is the true expression of one’s faith. It’s not a matter of organizational position or standing. It could be said that the strength or weakness of a person’s faith directly manifests in their actions. Those who take action for kosen-rufu are most noble. Leaders absolutely must never forget the importance of such individuals. I only believe in action. Rather, I cannot believe anything except action. Why is the world of Buddhism beautiful, profound and strong? It is because it contains the supreme unity of â€Å"many in body, one in mind.† Unity of â€Å"many in body, one in mind† is the third of the four principles for absolute victory. It could be said that such unity is truly the secret to achieving kosen-rufu. An organization possessing unity of â€Å"many in body, one in mind† is sure to develop. By contrast, an organization of â€Å"one in body, many in mind† or â€Å"many in body, many in mind† is sure to decline. The statement, â€Å"If the spirit of many in body but one in mind prevails among the people, they will achieve all their goals† (WND-1, 618), is a great principle that must never be forgotten. It is eternal guideline. It is certainly no exaggeration to say that our victory or defeat will depend entirely on whether we can construct an organization of with unity of â€Å"many in body, one in mind.† Kosen-rufu is a battle against devilish forces. Even a great castle will be taken by enemies if it has an area that is unguarded or that is weak. If there are people of â€Å"many in body, many in mind† within the castle, then devils will be able to cause disruptions in the castle that much more easily. In unity of â€Å"many in body, one in mind,† there is no such thing as one person being above or below another. It is not a matter of our being â€Å"one in body.† We’re â€Å"different in body.† While treasuring the individuality and unique characteristics of each person, we need to equally pool our energies with a spirit of â€Å"one in mind.† There is a vital point for strengthening unity of â€Å"many in body, one in mind.† Namely: activities whereby â€Å"persons inside the castle destroy the castle from within† cannot be allowed. We have to steadfastly battle people of â€Å"many in body, many in mind,† who are parasites in the lion’s bowels, and completely remove the roots of this devilish tendency. President Toda strictly decreed: â€Å"If a leader forgets kosen-rufu and tries to create a personal clique out of concern for personal fame and fortune, then the other leaders must unite in firmly driving away such a selfish and egoistic person.† This harmonious unity of the Soka Gakkai, which President Toda declared to be more important than his own life, must be protected for all eternity. I would like to assert that this is the pulse of kosen-rufu. What is the most essential thing for advancing in unity of â€Å"many in body, one in mind†? It is to live out one’s life in unity with the mentor. Oneness of mentor and disciple is the imperative that people who are â€Å"different in body† become â€Å"one in mind.† This is the fourth of the four principles for absolute victory. Unity of â€Å"many in body, one in mind† can only be solidified by each person forming a deep resolve to unite in spirit with the mentor and advance kosen-rufu. It is precisely in such unity that the beneficial power of the Mystic Law becomes clearly manifest. Oneness of mentor and disciple is foundation that determines our attainment of Buddhahood. The great path of perpetuating kosen-rufu lies precisely in advancing in unity with the mentor. That’s because without the pillar of mentor and disciple, we will be readily carried away by our emotions, and swept along by the conditions of the times. Without mentor and disciple, we would be easily defeated when confronted by devils. It is now 50 years since President Toda passed away. I am confident that as President Toda’s disciple I have been able to establish a model of the path of a disciple, the path of a successor, and the path of oneness that will shine free of any blemish for ten thousand years.

the story of an hour :: essays research papers

In Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," there is much irony. The first irony detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. Before Louise's reaction is revealed, Chopin alludes to how the widow feels by describing the world according to her perception of it after the "horrible" news. Louise is said to "not hear the story as many women have heard the same." Rather, she accepts it and goes to her room to be alone. Now the reader starts to see the world through Louise's eyes, a world full of new and pure life. In her room, Louise sinks into a comfortable chair and looks out her window. Immediately the image of comfort seems to strike a odd note. One reading this story should question the use of this word " comfortable" and why Louise is not beating the furniture instead. Next, the newly widowed women is looking out of the window and sees spring and all the new life it brings. The descriptions used now are as far away from death as possible. "The delicios breath of rain...the notes of a distant song...countless sparrows were twittering...patches of blue sky...." All these are beautiful images of life , the reader is quite confused by this most unusual foreshadowing until Louise's reaction is explained. The widow whispers "Free, free, free!" Louise realizes that her husband had loved her, but she goes on to explain that as men and women often inhibit eachother, even if it is done with the best of intentions, they exert their own wills upon eachother. She realized that although at times she had loved him, she has regained her freedom, a state of beeing that all of G-d's creatures strive for. Although this reaction is completely unexpected, the reader quickly accepts it because of Louise's adequate explanation. She grows excited and begins to fantasize about living her life for herself. With this realization, she wishes that "life might be long," and she feels like a "goddess of Victory" as she walks down the stairs. This is an eerie forshadowing for an even more unexpected ending. The reader has just accepted Louise's reaction to her husband's death, when the most unexpected happens; her husband is actually alive and he enters the room shocking everyone, and Louise especially, as she is shocked to death.

Personal experience in the war in Counter- Attack Essay

By considering one of the poems that you have read, explain how the poet presents their view of the conflict – ‘Counter-Attack’ Siegfried Sassoon presents his personal experience in the war in ‘Counter- Attack’ with raw brutal imagery of the battlefield, the numerous sensory feelings provoking terror and outrage at the war, coupled with the stark contrast of report-like statements to ultimately convey the futility of the conflict, and the massive waste of life. Sassoon immediately establishes the sense of emotional detachment in the conflict; the opening lines simply state that they had ‘gained (their) first objective hours before’, provoking horror at the fact that soldiers were forced to fight in inhumane conditions and ultimately were made to detach themselves from the terror of watching their friends being murdered. A semi-omniscient narration is maintained to establish the collective horror of the war, the fact that all soldiers would almost always face the same fate as the previous had and remains set throughout the poem as the contrast to the emotional detachment presented. The poet describes how at first even before the attack begins the soldiers are already ‘blind with smoke’, yet they are made to continue to work as soon as ‘dawn’ begins; all the soldiers are immediately forced to join in with the ‘clink of shovels’, a sign of the hard conditions of living in the trenches, while the militaristic onomatopoeia coincides with the perceived orderliness, such as the ‘bombers posted’ and ‘Lewis guns well placed’. The poet therefore establishes the horror of the almost methodical methods to which the war was fought, and that the death that would come later made to seem almost mechanical. Sassoon also emphasises that these soldiers are simply normal men, many whom are young and forced to fight when he describes how prior to the counter-attack, there was ‘a yawning soldier [kneeling] across the bank’; in order to keep their morale up, they are forced to become sardonic, sarcastically describing the weather as ‘the jolly old rain’, yet serving to reinforce the message that the conflict has forced people to become detached from their emotions and feelings. The horror of the battlefield is also clearly defined; Sassoon describes the average life in the trenches even before the counter-attack to be one ‘rotten with dead; green clumsy legs’. The use of ‘rotten’ inherently suggests that the battlefield is full of bodies, many of which are likely to be decomposing which only heightens the horror in which these soldiers must live their daily lives. They are in effect also forced to separate themselves from the sights; death is a normality in warfare, and the raw description of various soldiers ‘sprawled and grovelled’ along the trenches defines the sheer brutality they face. The men are reduced from strong, able men who were previously ‘high-booted’ to being helpless in the face of war, some even described as eventually dying ‘face downward’, a possible reference to the conflict only bringing doom to their lives. The battlefield is not only strewn with countless bodies, but also described as treacherous itself; the mud is personified as ‘sucking’ the fallen soldiers down into it with little remorse, creating a sense of the indignity of the soldiers’ deaths. The soldiers that are still alive are simply ‘[wallowing] like trodden sand-bags’, indication of the hopelessness and lack of control in the situation they face. They are also metaphorically ‘loosely-filled’, hinting possibly that these men are also physically as well as mentally exhausted, hence the soldier having ‘knelt’ against the bank. The sudden switch from the collection of soldiers to the single one in the second stanza points towards Sassoon’s idea of the wrongs of war; the stark reality that war costs numerous lives and each soldier is in effect a whole life, the one about to be lost in the war is as just as important. To describe the intensity of the conflict, the poet describes how this single soldier responds with such fear in that he becomes ‘mute in the clamour of shells’, simply reduced as he recoils from the initial shock of warfare. Yet rather than recovering from his initial shock, ultimately the soldier is described by Sassoon as helpless, as he ‘crouched and flinched, dizzy with galloping fear’, reduced almost to primal instinct when faced with such a large ‘strangled’ horror. The battlefield along with its weaponry ‘[spouts] dark earth and wire with gusts from hell’; the poet explains the terrible nature of the war, likened to hell wrecking its destruction onto the battlefield, and in the remnants of the carnage the soldier can only hear the ‘butchered, frantic gestures of the dead’ – an oxymoron to establish the fact that death on the battlefield is so sudden and brutal it is literally incomprehensible. Sassoon’s view of the conflict is described as being ultimately futile; the first stanza already indicates that there are numerous ‘bulged, clotted heads’ scattered throughout, grotesque imagery that also provides an ominous undertone to the counter-attack. These bodies are also described as ‘[sleeping]’ rather than the stark reality that they are dead, pointing to the normality of the situation. To add further to the futility, even the officer of the trench is ‘blundering’, somewhat dark comedy in the face of terrible times, and he continues only by ‘gasping and bawling’ in shock. In contrast to the ‘dead’ lifeless nature of the soldiers, it is the ammunition that is fully alive in this case; ‘bullets spat’ at them, ‘traversing sure as fate, and never a dud’, adding to the certainty of death in the conflict. The soldier Sassoon describes ultimately meets his fate in a spout of confusion indicated by the sudden ellipses in his thoughts: ‘and he remembered his rifle†¦rapid fire†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Notably the soldier himself cannot remember to hold onto his own rifle – shock is combined with futility in that the soldier cannot arm himself and is therefore helpless, akin to almost all the other soldiers in the trenches. His fate is one that ends with him having ‘[bled] to death’. Heavy consonants throughout the line along with repetition emphasise the futile nature in which he dies: ‘Down, and down, and down, he sank and drowned’. The poem establishes Sassoon’s opinion of the conflict being one filled with horror, forced emotional detachment and ultimately the underlying futility of the war in the soldiers’ confusion and the mechanical killing presented. The poem never aligns with any set line structure in order to add to this confusion, and the poem is closed with the simple factual statement ‘the counter-attack had failed’, in line with the opening line to create a contrast and show the real brutal nature of war: people become numbers rather than the real human beings presented in the second stanza.

Why Racism Is an Issue in Need of Solution - 2455 Words

Introduction: In modern day America, racism is a prevalent issue that is often brushed to the side as an issue of the past. As a citizen in America we are under the assumption that, in accordance with the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and by Biblical standards, everyone is equal- therefore prejudice based on race is wrong. In order to establish how wrong racism is people should be educated about the reasons why and how to prevent it. The best way to do this is to teach about it in school curriculums. The quandary in this paper is that racism is not taught in schools to the adults and the youth today- the only ones that have a hope of making a real difference. While Racism is by no means new to society it is a covered matter up where people are often left ignorant of an issue that impacts thousands of Americans on a daily basis. Despite historical significance, racism is often glossed over in history classes even though it has a high influential impact on society. More often than not school history classes speed through from slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement as a way to honor Black History Month; while important cases involving racism, like Brown vs. Board, Brown II, the case of Emmett Till, and the Clark experiment are often times left out because of the negative outlook it has on American society. In this paper I will utilize Scarry’s argument on the ‘right to exit’ and Curtis’s theory of human superfluous in order to betterShow MoreRelatedEssay On Problems Facing America973 Words   |  4 PagesFacts† in 2013 11.5 illegal immigrants came into the United States. 59% of those immigrants coming from Mexico alone! Three issues Americans face in 2017 are NFL Players kneeling for National Anthem , Racism, and Illegal Immigration. NFL players are kneeling for the anthem because they believe that they have a voice in the larger spectrum of racism and violence in America today. 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