Author: John Hersey Publisher: Vintage ISBN: 0593081056 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 688
Book Description
Not too far from now, in a world very like our own, the oppressors have changed places with the oppressed. After their defeat in the Yellow War, the white people of America are thrust into a brutally altered reality. They are hunted like wild beasts and drive like cattle, transported in reeking ships and sold to their conquerors as field hands and house slaves. Robbed of their old names and their old language, treated with a mixture of cruelty and condescension by their Chinese masters, whites take on new identities and new strategies of survival. Some, like Nose, plunge into dissipation. Others, like Top Man, become imitation Yellows. And some, like White Lotus, rebel. In this mesmerizing book John Hersey creates an alternate history that casts a harsh radiance on our own. It has some of the stateliness of Exodus, along with the power of oral narratives of slavery. It has heroes and victims—and villains who turn out to be victims of another color. At once a masterpiece of storytelling and a complex novel of ideas, White Lotuscompels us to reexamine our notions of race and racism, freedom and oppression.
Author: Jamgon Mipham Publisher: Shambhala Publications ISBN: 1611802938 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 145
Book Description
The commentary translated in these pages is unusual and rare. But if the commentary is a rarity, its subject matter—the seven-line invocation of Padmasambhava—is one of the best-known prayers in the Tibetan Buddhist world. The overall significance of the Seven-Line Prayer is perhaps best appreciated in relation to a practice called guru-yoga, or "union with the nature of the guru." The purpose of guru-yoga is to purify and deepen the student's relationship with his or her teacher. It is introduced as one of the preliminary practices, and it remains crucial—in fact, its importance increases—as one progresses through the more advanced levels of the tantric path. The cultivation of devotion to the guru and the blending of one's mind with his or her enlightened mind is, in the words of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "the most vital and necessary of all practices and is in itself the surest and fastest way to reach the goal of enlightenment." Regarding the origin of this commentary, Mipham refers in the colophon to an event that triggered the abrupt appearance in his mind of the hidden meaning of the prayer. It is interesting to note that the language Mipham uses suggests that the commentary itself is not an ordinary composition but perhaps a treasure teaching, specifically a "mind-treasure" or gongter.
Author: Yingcong Dai Publisher: University of Washington Press ISBN: 0295745460 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 665
Book Description
A CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE The White Lotus War (1796–1804) in central China marked the end of the Qing dynasty’s golden age and the fatal weakening of the imperial system itself. What started as a local rebellion grew into a serious political crisis, as the central government was no longer able to operate its military machine. Yingcong Dai’s comprehensive investigation reveals that the White Lotus rebels would have remained a relatively minor threat, if not for the Qing’s ill-managed response. Dai shows that the officials in charge of the suppression campaign were half-hearted about the fight and took advantage of the campaign to pursue personal gains. She challenges assumptions that the Qing relied upon local militias to exterminate the rebels, showing instead that the hiring of civilians became a pretext for misappropriation of war funds, resulting in the devastatingly high cost of the war. The mishandled demilitarization of the militiamen prolonged the hostilities when many of the dismissed troops turned into rebels themselves. The war’s long-term impact presaged the beginning of the disintegration of the Qing in the mid-nineteenth century and eruptions of the Taiping Rebellion and other uprisings. The White Lotus War will interest students and scholars of late imperial and modern Chinese history, as well as history buffs interested in the warfare of the early modern world.
Author: Anthony Kingston Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub ISBN: 9781508686064 Category : Health & Fitness Languages : en Pages : 176
Book Description
In the last decade several hundred thousand microneedling treatments have been performed in the western world. Yet prior to 2000 it was an unheard of practice mulling around the back pages of dry scientific trials on drug absorption. So what changed? Interestingly in an industry often driven by hype and marketing, it is the results that microneedling can produce that are really setting it apart. 176 pages 2nd Edition 2015
Author: Wensheng Wang Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674727991 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 347
Book Description
The reign of Emperor Jiaqing (1796-1820 CE) has occupied an awkward position in studies of China's last dynasty, the Qing. Conveniently marking a watershed between the prosperous eighteenth century and the tragic post-Opium War era, this quarter century has nevertheless been glossed over as an unremarkable interlude separating two well-studied epochs of transformation. White Lotus Rebels and South China Pirates presents a major reassessment of this period by examining how the emperors, bureaucrats, and foreigners responded to the two crises that shaped the transition from the Qianlong to the Jiaqing reign. Wensheng Wang argues that the dramatic combination of internal uprising and transnational piracy, rather than being a hallmark of inexorable dynastic decline, propelled the Manchu court to reorganize itself through modifications in policymaking and bureaucratic structure. The resulting Jiaqing reforms initiated a process of state retreat that pulled the Qing Empire out of a cycle of aggressive overextension and resistance, and back onto a more sustainable track of development. Although this pragmatic striving for political sustainability was unable to save the dynasty from ultimate collapse, it represented a durable and constructive approach to the compounding problems facing the late Qing regime and helped sustain it for another century.
Author: Barend ter Haar Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004488065 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 359
Book Description
This book provides a new hypothesis for understanding the real nature of the term White Lotus Teachings. The author argues that there are actually two different phenomena covered by similar terms: from c. 1130 until 1400, a real lay Buddhist movement existed, which can be called the White Lotus movement. It enjoyed the respect of contemporary literati and religious elites. The movement used the autonym White Lotus Society, which came to be prohibited in the early Ming and was discarded as a result. After 1525, the name reappeared in the form White Lotus Teachings, but now only as a derogatory label, used by officials and literati rather than by believers themselves. As a result of this hypothesis, the history of the "White Lotus Teachings" changes from one of religious groups and magicians into one of elite ideology and religious persecution. The book is therefore important both for historians and anthropologists of Chinese religion and society, and for comparative historians interested in the ideological and social construction of "heterodoxy".
Author: Libbie Hawker Publisher: Running Rabbit Press ISBN: Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 324
Book Description
In the fifth century BCE, Egypt is the greatest civilization known to mankind. But with a foolish king on its throne, the Nile Valley is ripe for conquering. Amid this climate of danger and strife, in the alleys and brothels of Memphis, an extraordinary young woman comes of age. To spare her siblings from starvation, Doricha is sold into prostitution. But she has gifts beyond mere beauty. Through wit and determination, she works her way into the realm of the hetaerae—courtesans of exceptional refinement. As a hetaera, Doricha has access to the schemes and negotiations that shape the world. But the rich and powerful also have access to her, and Doricha soon finds herself in the Pharaoh’s harem, caught up in his reckless plans. When the Pharaoh sends her off to his fiercest enemy, thinly cloaked by a dangerous ruse, Doricha must become a double agent if she hopes to survive. Caught between the Pharaoh and the Persian king Cambyses, it is Doricha—once a slave, now a woman of great but secret power—who will determine Egypt’s fate. Blending ancient fable with true history, White Lotus brings Egypt’s downfall to life.
Author: Seb Cielens Publisher: ISBN: 9781948266130 Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The year is 1799. When a woodblock containing a mysterious message is unearthed near a Korean temple, the novice monk Kyetsu sets out on a journey north to deliver it to the King. He will find help from unexpected places, including a great warrior, and a gang of street urchins. Kyetsu will need all the help he can get, as there are powerful forces working against him.
Author: John Hersey
Author: Jamgon Mipham
Author: Yingcong Dai
Author: Anthony Kingston
Author: Wensheng Wang
Author: Barend ter Haar
Author: Libbie Hawker
Author: Mabel Collins
Author: Seb Cielens
Author: Bruce A. Elleman