title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: The RMN's Fleet HQ is called KD "Malaya", in Lumut, Perak. Other bases are located at Tanjung Gelang, Kuantan, Pahang, which also serves as HQ Naval Region I and KD "Sultan Ismail" at Tanjung Pengelih, Johor, where the Recruit Training Centre is located. Bases are also located in Sandakan, Sabah. The principal submarine base is located at Sepanggar, Sabah, which also serves as HQ Naval Region II.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: Another base is also being constructed on Pulau Langkawi, Kedah to provide the RMN with readier access into the Indian Ocean. Ready access into the Pacific Ocean is available via the existing base at Labuan and Semporna, Sabah.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: The Royal Malaysian Navy's five naval stations were originally built on outlying atolls, with the most developed Station Lima now expanded to a comfortably habitable naval station and also a popular diving spot in the region, in contrast with its harsh original conditions in 1983. On 21 June 1980 a claim plaque was erected on the island and three years later eighteen PASKAL men went ashore in May 1983 to build the first encampment while braving the elements. At the time, the only infrastructure available was a helipad for personnel transfer and the sailors had to camp under the open skies on the bare reef. When the naval station proper was constructed six years later with the construction of a small living-cum-operations quarters, it was also decided that the enlarged island the atoll had become would also be developed as a tourist attraction so that the tourism potential of the island could be exploited.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: Thus by 1995, more buildings were added, including two air-conditioned accommodation blocks, an aircraft landing strip, two hangars, a radar station, an air traffic control tower, watchtowers and a jetty. The aviation facilities on the island allow the operation of C-130 Hercules transport planes and CN-235 maritime patrol aircraft operated by the Royal Malaysian Air Force. These facilities made the island a proper island station code-named Station Lima. Patrols by navy soldiers in CB90 attack vessels and larger patrol boats such as the Kedah-class offshore patrol vessels are carried out around the island. The Royal Malaysian Air Force also operate frequently on the airstrip. Several anti-ship and anti-aircraft guns are placed on several areas on the island and the RMAF personnel operate a Starburst air defence system to prevent low-level air attacks. The rest of the stations were originally floating barge type habitat modules constructed on mainland Malaysia. Location selection and module positioning was done during high tide so that they could be more easily anchored during low tide and after found satisfactory, the modules were landed and filled in with cement and rocks to strengthen their anchorages. They are all also equipped with radar and ship docking facilities as well as water and power generation facilities. Soldiers are stationed on all stations.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: The special forces of the RMN is known as PASKAL (Pasukan Khas Laut or Naval Special Warfare Forces). In peacetime, the unit is tasked with responding to maritime hijacking incidents as well as protecting Malaysia's numerous offshore oil and gas platforms. Its wartime roles include seaborne infiltration, sabotaging of enemy naval assets and installations, and the defence of RMN vessels and bases. This unit is analogous to the United States Navy SEALs. On 15 April 2009, PASKAL was renamed KD Panglima Hitam (KD being the equivalent of HMS in the Royal Navy). The ceremony was held at the RMN Lumut Naval Base to honour PASKAL's courage and loyalty to the nation. Panglima Hitam was the name given to brave and loyal Malay warriors who served during the golden age of the Malay Rulers (Sultans and Rajas) of Perak, Selangor, Johor and Negeri Sembilan.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: Following the completion of the New Generation Patrol Vessel (NGPV) program, RMN now moved to the next program called Second Generation Patrol Vessel (SGPV). RMN also planned to purchase a batch of Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) and Multi Role Support Ship (MRSS). As part of the modernisation plan, RMN launches the upgrade program and Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) for the old navy's ship.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: In 1996, the RMN planned to acquire a total of 27 New Generation Patrol Vessels (NGPV) to full fill its future requirement. The German Blohm + Voss MEKO 100 based design was selected and a contract of six NGPVs was signed in 2003. However, due to management failure of the main contractor, PSC-Naval Dockyard Sdn Bhd (PSC-ND), progression was seriously delayed and led the programme into crisis. This may also affect the initial planned total number of NGPVs to be decreased. However, under the intervention of the Malaysian Government, Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation took over the PSC-ND, thus regaining momentum for the programme. After a long wait of 18 months, the first two hulls, KD "Kedah" commissioned in June 2006 and KD "Pahang" commissioned in August 2006. As of July 2009, all six ships had been launched. Subsequently, good progression of the programme has regained interest in the Malaysian decision makers to order the second batch of six NGPVs. Navy Chief Admiral Datuk Abdul Aziz bin Jaafar had recently unveiled that the navy is interested to have the second batch of NGPV ASW configured. The ASW configured NGPV is expected to be able to co-ordinate operations with the Scorpène submarines. The ships will also be upgrade with missiles.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: Two s were ordered by the RMN on 5 June 2002 under a €1.04 billion (about RM4.78 billion) contract. The two Scorpène submarines were built jointly by the French shipbuilder, Naval Group, and its Spanish partner, Navantia. They are armed with Blackshark wire-guided torpedoes and Exocet SM-39 sub-launched anti-ship missiles. The submarine programme also included the redeployment of an "Agosta"-class submarine retired from the French Navy, for the training of submarine crews. The training of 150 Malaysian sailors, mainly in Brest, France, represented an important aspect of the programme. In 2006, the RMN had launched a nationwide competition to select the names for the first two Malaysian submarines. On 26 July, RMN announced these vessels will be named after historic Malaysians. The first hull will be named KD "Tunku Abdul Rahman" and the second hull KD "Tun Abdul Razak". These vessels are classified as "Perdana Menteri" class in service with RMN. The first vessel, KD "Tunku Abdul Rahman" was launched on 24 October 2007 at the Naval Group dockyard, Cherbourg, France.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: On 3 September 2009, the first Scorpène submarine of Malaysia KD "Tunku Abdul Rahman", arrived at a Port Klang naval base on peninsular Malaysia's west coast after a 54-day voyage from France. Another base is also being constructed on Pulau Langkawi, Kedah to provide the RMN with readier access into the Indian Ocean. Ready access into the Pacific Ocean is available via the existing base at Semporna, Sabah. Defects and problems were found in the submarines such as the inability to submerge and faults in the coolant system of the first submarine, causing delays in the delivery of the second submarine. In October 2012, the Malaysian Navy chief Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar said that the submarines were in good condition and operational after all the defects repaired by manufacturer.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: The Malaysian government is also considering to increase the total of helicopters for the RMN. This includes both utility and anti-submarine helicopter. In September 2020, it is confirmed that Malaysia has sign the contract to purchase three maritime operations helicopter for utility role. The model selected was AgustaWestland AW139. For anti-submarine helicopter, RMN planned to add with either AW-159, Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk or the Airbus Helicopters H225M. In 2016, an Italian-aerospace defence company, the Finmeccanica has signed a teaming agreement with Malaysian defence vehicle company, the Global Komited to jointly distribute AgustaWestland AW159 helicopters if it was selected by the Malaysian government.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: Navy chief Admiral Datuk Abdul Aziz Jaafar unveiled an intention of the navy to acquire at least six ASW helicopters as a complement to the soon to be commissioned Maharaja Lela-class frigate.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: RMN has an outstanding requirement for a Multi Role Support Ship (MRSS) to replace . The MRSS was to be included in the Ninth Malaysian Plan but was postponed due to the financial crisis of 2008.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: Malaysia has launched its program to procure new class of modern frigate. The program is called Second Generation Patrol Vessel. In 2014, Malaysia signed a contract agreement worth MYR9 billion (US$2.8 billion) which awarded to Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation to built six frigates under the program. The ships will be built based on the Gowind 2500 corvette designed by French shipbuilder Naval Group.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: In 2016, Malaysia and China agreed to jointly develop a littoral mission ship where two ships will be built in China by China Shipbuilding & Offshore International, the rest will be built in Malaysia by local company Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation. A total of 18 ships of this class are planned. The first ship will be delivered by 2019, the second and third by 2020 and the fourth by 2021 for the first batch.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: RMN has set a requirements for the maritime surveillance using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Under Maritime Security Initiatives (MSI) program initiated by United States, Malaysia will receive a total of 12 Boeing Insitu ScanEagle. First six unit delivered to RMN in 2020 and another six unit in 2021.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: THALES Naval Division was selected as the contractor of the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) involving the "Kasturi"-class corvettes – KD "Kasturi", KD "Lekir" and two "Mahamiru" ("Lerici")-class minehunters – KD "Mahamiru", KD "Ledang". The corvettes will receive radar and fire control upgrade while the minehunters will receive the new wide band sonar, CAPTAS-2. The program aim to extend the service life of these surface combatants by another 10 years. In the future, RMN also planned to give SLEP for other ships in the fleet to lengthening service period of older ships.


title: Royal Malaysian Navy

text: The RMN took a drastic approach by launching the '15 to 5' Fleet Transformation Program to ensure that the organisation continues as one of the powers in the region. The RMN Future Fleet 15 to 5 programme is aimed at equipping the RMN with Scorpène-class submarines, "Maharaja Lela"-class frigates, "Kedah"-class offshore patrol vessels, "Keris"-class littoral mission ships and Multi Role Support Ship (MRSS).


title: Baby corn

text: Baby corn (also known as young corn, cornlets or baby sweetcorn) is a cereal grain taken from corn (maize) harvested early while the stalks are still small and immature. It typically is eaten whole—including the cob, which is otherwise too tough for human consumption in mature corn—in raw, pickled, and cooked forms. Baby corn is common in stir fry dishes.


title: Baby corn

text: There are two methods for producing baby corn: either as a primary crop, or as a secondary crop in a planting of sweet corn or field corn. In the first method, a seed variety is chosen and planted to produce only baby corn. Many varieties are suitable, but those developed specifically for baby corn tend to produce more ears per plant. In the second production method, the variety is selected to produce sweet or field corn. The second ear from the top of the plant is harvested for baby corn, while the top ear is allowed to mature.


title: Baby corn

text: Baby corn ears are hand-picked as soon as the corn silks emerge from the ear tips, or a few days after. Corn generally matures very quickly, so the harvest of baby corn must be timed carefully to avoid ending up with more mature corn ears. Baby corn ears are typically in length and in diameter.


title: Valentin Ceaușescu

text: Valentin Ceaușescu (born 17 February 1948) is a Romanian physicist. He is the eldest and only surviving child of former communist President Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena.


title: Valentin Ceaușescu

text: Valentin Ceaușescu was born in Bucharest on 17 February 1948, less than two months after the establishment of the Romanian People's Republic. His father, future President Nicolae Ceaușescu, was an active member of the Romanian Workers' Party, earning himself various political and military positions; he was the country's Minister of Agriculture at the time Valentin was born. His mother was Elena Ceaușescu ("née" Petrescu). He had two siblings: Zoia, born in 1949, and Nicu, born in 1951.


title: Valentin Ceaușescu

text: Unlike many other members of his family, including his younger brother, Nicu, Valentin was not involved in politics. After graduating in 1965 from the Dr. Petru Groza High School, he enrolled in the Faculty of Physics of the University of Bucharest. In 1967, he decided to pursue further education by enrolling at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom. He played football as a goalkeeper on a college team during his time at Imperial College. After graduating in 1970 with a degree in physics, he returned to Romania.


title: Valentin Ceaușescu

text: On 3 July 1970, Valentin Ceaușescu married Iordana (Dana) Borilă (1946–2017), the daughter of communist party leader Petre Borilă. Both fathers, then political rivals, strongly opposed their children's marriage. The resulting fight, which lasted for years, eventually resulted in Dana and Valentin divorcing in 1989. After the Romanian Revolution, Dana and their child, Daniel, emigrated to Israel, and from there, to the United States; Daniel Ceaușescu, like his father, studied to be a physicist.


title: Valentin Ceaușescu

text: Valentin Ceaușescu married for a second time in 1995, and, with his new wife, Roxana Dună, he has a daughter, Alexandra, who studied architecture.


title: Valentin Ceaușescu

text: In December 1989, during the Romanian Revolution, Valentin was arrested, along with the other members of his family. Known worldwide for their extravagant lifestyle, they were accused of undermining the economy of Romania. Valentin is said to have had a position managing the Steaua București football club. He reported that he had watched the trial of his parents on television while he was under arrest.


title: Valentin Ceaușescu

text: Valentin was freed from prison nine months later, after no charges were brought against him. During that time, his collection of 50 paintings by Romanian masters, engravings by Francisco Goya, and hundreds of rare books were confiscated. When he asked for restitution, the Romanian authorities argued that there are no documents which prove that he is the owner, and that the art collection belonged to the Romanian state, which promptly donated them to the National Museum of Art. In 2001, Ceaușescu sued the government for restitution. The courts found in favour of Valentin in 2009, and ordered the museum to return forty pictures. Most of the works were collected by him and his former wife; he planned to give most of them to Dana.


title: Valentin Ceaușescu

text: After completing his graduate work in 1970, Valentin Ceaușescu became a faculty member at the Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering. Working at the (IFA) lab in Măgurele, he performed nuclear physics research. He retired in 2016. It was reported that he lives modestly on his pension of about RON 2,000 (about €450). He lives in a house owned by his current father-in-law, Constantin Dună.


title: Calder Memorial Trophy

text: The Calder Memorial Trophy is an annual award given "to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League (NHL)." It is named after Frank Calder, the first president of the NHL. Serving as the NHL's Rookie of the Year award, this version of the trophy has been awarded since its creation for the 1936–37 NHL season. The voting is conducted by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the conclusion of each regular season to determine the winner.


title: Calder Memorial Trophy

text: The Calder Memorial Trophy is named in honour of Frank Calder, the former President of the National Hockey League (NHL) from its inception in 1917 to his death in 1943. Although "Rookie of the Year" honors were handed out beginning in 1932–33, the Calder Trophy was first presented at the conclusion of the 1936–37 NHL season. After Calder's death in 1943 the trophy was renamed the Calder Memorial Trophy.


title: Calder Memorial Trophy

text: In 1991, goaltender Ed Belfour won the Calder having previously appeared in 32 games with the Chicago Blackhawks over the 1988–89 and 1989–90 seasons. Belfour was eligible for the award because nine of those appearances came during the 1990 Stanley Cup playoffs, and the other 23 appearances were made during the 1988–89 season. The nine playoff games did not count towards the regular season eligibility requirements.


title: Calder Memorial Trophy

text: The trophy has been won the most times by rookies from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have won it on ten occasions, with the most recent being Auston Matthews in 2017.


title: Calder Memorial Trophy

text: The voting is conducted at the end of the regular season by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, and each individual voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10–7–5–3–1 points system. Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the playoffs.


title: Codename Villanelle

text: Codename Villanelle is a 2017 thriller novel by British author Luke Jennings. A compilation of four serial e-book novellas published from 2014 to 2016, the novel was published in the United Kingdom by John Murray as an e-book on 29 June 2017, followed by hardcover and paperback versions on 24 August 2017. "Codename Villanelle" is the basis of the BBC America television series "Killing Eve" (2018–2022).


title: Codename Villanelle

text: Villanelle is a Russian orphan who, after murdering the killers of her gangster father, is rescued from prison and trained as a hitwoman by a shadowy group called The Twelve. "Codename Villanelle" has been summarized as pitting "heartless female assassin" Villanelle against "dowdy but dogged MI5 agent" Eve Polastri, the two women "battling it out at a distance" as Polastri seeks clues at a series of killing sites.


title: Codename Villanelle

text: Jennings stated that he based Villanelle's character on Idoia López Riaño, a hitwoman for Basque nationalist paramilitary group ETA who was convicted of murdering 23 people in the 1990s. Jennings described Riaño—nicknamed "La Tigresa" (The Tigress) for her "legendary sexual prowess"—as a "psychopath" and "completely without empathy."


title: Codename Villanelle

text: In "The Times", John Dugdale likened Villanelle's character to the title character from Luc Besson's 1990 film "La Femme Nikita"—a former teenage killer transformed into a trained assassin. Dugdale further likened author Luke Jennings to James Bond author Ian Fleming: "at once tongue-in-cheek and serious, paying obsessive attention to the details of both Villanelle's chichi lifestyle and her lethal assignments." Though calling "Jennings' version of 007"—Villanelle—"great fun", Dugdale wrote that the "imperfectly integrated" novella series was repetitious and lacked a "proper denouement".


title: Codename Villanelle

text: Jeff Noon wrote in "The Spectator" that the book "reads a little like Terry Hayes’s "I Am Pilgrim" in miniature". Noon added that Jennings focused more on "hunting and killing" than on character building and that the book, though having final pages that are thrilling, ends without final resolution. Similarly, trade magazine "Publishers Weekly" praised the book as an "exceptional spy thriller" with "superior prose" and "cracker jack plot", noting its "wide-open ending points to more to come in the struggle between these two resourceful antagonists".


title: Codename Villanelle

text: "Killing Eve" was created by British actor and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge and produced by Sid Gentle Films Ltd for BBC America. In addition to writing for the television series, Waller-Bridge was chosen as executive producer with Sally Woodward Gentle and Lee Morris. The television series stars Sandra Oh as Polastri and Jodie Comer as Villanelle. The show was renewed for a second series before its series 1 debut on 8 April 2018, then renewed for a third series the day after the premiere of series 2. The fourth and final season of the show premiered in 2022.


title: Codename Villanelle

text: A sequel, "", was published on 25 October 2018. The third and final volume, "", was released on 9 April 2020. As both were published after the premiere of the TV series, the new books carry the "Killing Eve" branding.


title: Codename Villanelle

text: Publishing industry magazine "The Bookseller" reported in April 2017 that John Murray bought the novel just before the London Book Fair, subsequently selling North American rights to Josh Kendall at Mulholland Books, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, during the fair. World English rights were acquired from Patrick Walsh at PEW Literary Agency.


title: Sergio Gómez (footballer, born 2000)

text: Sergio Gómez Martín (born 4 September 2000) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder and left-back for Premier League club Manchester City.


title: Sergio Gómez (footballer, born 2000)

text: Born in Badalona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Gómez joined FC Barcelona's youth setup in 2010, after stints at CF Trajana-PB Sant Just, CF Badalona and RCD Espanyol. After progressing through the youth setup, he made his senior debut with the reserves on 6 January 2018, coming on as a late substitute for Abel Ruiz in a 1–1 away draw against Real Zaragoza in the Segunda División.


title: Sergio Gómez (footballer, born 2000)

text: On 30 January 2018, Gómez signed with Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund. He initially played with the team's U19 side before joining the senior squad, with a scheduled start date of 1 July 2019. He made his debut for the senior squad on 8 April 2018 in 3–0 Bundesliga win against VfB Stuttgart.


title: Sergio Gómez (footballer, born 2000)

text: Gómez joined Spanish second division club SD Huesca on loan for the 2019–20 season on 12 August 2019. On 1 September of the following year, after helping in the club's promotion to La Liga, his loan was extended for a further campaign.


title: Sergio Gómez (footballer, born 2000)

text: On 30 June 2021, Gómez signed for Belgian First Division A club Anderlecht on a permanent transfer, signing a contract until 2025. at the end of his first season in Belgium, Gómez made 49 appearances for Anderlecht across all competitions and was named the club's player of the season.


title: Sergio Gómez (footballer, born 2000)

text: Gómez moved to Manchester City on a permanent transfer on 16 August 2022, signing a contract until 2026. On 27 August, Gómez made his City debut as a substitute for Erling Haaland in a 4–2 home league victory over Crystal Palace. He made his Champions League debut against Sevilla on 6 September 2022.


title: Seminar

text: A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is requested to participate. This is often accomplished through an ongoing Socratic dialogue with a seminar leader or instructor, or through a more formal presentation of research. It is essentially a place where assigned readings are discussed, questions can be raised and debates can be conducted.


title: Seminar

text: The word "seminar" was borrowed from German (always capitalized, as a common noun, as "Seminar"), and is ultimately derived from the Latin word "seminarium", meaning "seed plot" (an old-fashioned term for “seedbed”). Its root word is "semen" (Latin for "seed").


title: Seminar

text: The term "seminar" is also used to describe a research talk, often given by a visiting researcher and primarily attended by academics, research staff, and postgraduate students. Seminars often occur in regular series, but each seminar is typically given by a different speaker, on a topic of that speaker's choosing. Such seminars are not usually a part of a course of study and are therefore not usually associated with any assessment or credit.


title: Seminar

text: In some European universities, a "seminar" may be a large lecture course, especially when conducted by a renowned thinker (regardless of the size of the audience or the scope of student participation in discussion). Some non-English speaking countries in Europe use the word "seminar" (e.g. German "Seminar", Slovenian "seminar", Polish "seminarium") to refer to a university class that includes a term paper or project, as opposed to a lecture class (e.g. German "Vorlesung", Slovenian "predavanje", Polish "wykład"). This does not correspond to the English use of the term. In some academic institutions, typically in scientific fields, the term "preceptorial" is used interchangeably with "seminar".


title: Seminar

text: In North Indian universities, the term "seminar" refers to a course of intense study relating to the student's major. Seminars typically have significantly fewer students per professor than normal courses, and are generally more specific in topic of study. Seminars can revolve around term papers, exams, presentations, and several other assignments. Seminars are almost always required for university graduation. Normally, participants must not be beginners in the field under discussion at US and Canadian universities. Seminar classes are generally reserved for upper-class students, although at UK and Australian universities seminars are often used for all years. The idea behind the seminar system is to familiarize students more extensively with the methodology of their chosen subject and also to allow them to interact with examples of the practical problems that always occur during research work.


title: Seminar

text: "Seminar room" is often used as a name for a generic group study or work space at a library. Some seminar rooms are more tailored to a specific topic or field, literally a space designed for a seminar course or individualized self-study to occur. One such seminar room is the Goodrich Seminar Room at Wabash College which is designed for "exploring the meaning of liberty and the nature of a free society."


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: On November 27, 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot and killed in San Francisco City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White. On the morning of that day, Moscone intended to announce that the Supervisor position White resigned from would be given to someone else. White, angered, entered City Hall before the scheduled announcement time and first shot Moscone in the Mayor's office, then Harvey Milk in White's former office space, before escaping the building. Board of Supervisors President Dianne Feinstein first announced Moscone and Milk's deaths to the media, and because of Moscone's death, succeeded him as Acting Mayor of San Francisco.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: Dan White was charged with first-degree murder with circumstances that made him eligible for the death penalty. However, in a trial verdict reached on May 21, 1979, White was convicted of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter. The verdict sparked the "White Night riots" in San Francisco that evening, and led to the state of California abolishing the diminished capacity criminal defense. It also led to the urban legend of the "Twinkie defense", as many media reports had incorrectly described the defense as having attributed White's diminished capacity to the effects of sugar-laden junk food. White committed suicide in 1985, a year and a half after his release from prison.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: Feinstein was elected by the Board of Supervisors to become the first female Mayor of San Francisco on December 4, 1978, a title she would hold for the next ten years. She eventually became a United States Senator for California.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: In the mid-1970s, the San Francisco Bay Area and the City of San Francisco in particular was facing a series of bomb threats and actual bombings directed against government targets, largely attributed to the leftist militant New World Liberation Front. These bombings had begun in the Fall of 1975 and continued into 1977. The Mayor of San Francisco and several City Supervisors had had bombs mailed to them and/or had bomb threats made against them, and City Hall itself received threats. On February 9, 1977, new tighter security began at City Hall to protect the Mayor and City Supervisors, including locking most entrances, and providing guards and metal detectors at public entrances, measures which had remained through 1978.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: Dan White had been a San Francisco police officer, and then later became a firefighter. He and Milk were each elected to the Board of Supervisors in the November 1977 elections, which introduced district-based seats. The election ushered in "a range of legislators perhaps unmatched in San Francisco history in their diversity", including its first Chinese-American, first unwed mother, first black woman, first homosexual (Milk) and first former fireman (White). All supervisors were sworn in on January 9, 1978, with Dianne Feinstein as the president of the board. The city charter prohibited anyone from retaining two city jobs simultaneously, so White resigned from his higher paying job with the fire department. During 1978, White would try to supplement his $9,600 a year Supervisor salary with a food concession stand on Pier 39.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: With regard to business development issues, the 11-member board was split roughly 6–5 in favor of pro-growth advocates including White, over those who advocated the more neighborhood-oriented approach favored by Mayor Moscone. Debate among the board members was sometimes acrimonious and saw White verbally sparring with other supervisors, including Milk and Carol Ruth Silver. Much of Moscone's agenda of neighborhood revitalization and increased city support programs was thwarted or modified in favor of the business-oriented agenda supported by the pro-growth majority on the Board.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: Further tension between White and Milk arose with Milk's vote in favor of placing a group home within White's district. Subsequently, White would cast the only vote in opposition to San Francisco's landmark gay rights ordinance, passed by the Board on April 3, 1978 and signed by Moscone soon after.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: A city charter amendment to raise the salaries of City Supervisors was proposed in the Summer of 1978, and a committee White was on stopped the amendment from going forward, in the context of the then-recent passage of California Proposition 13 in June 1978. The low salary of the Supervisor position took its toll on White, and he finally tendered his resignation to Mayor Moscone on November 10. White stated that he couldn't support his family on only the $9,600 Supervisor salary, and that being forced to work two jobs was preventing him from adequately serving his constituents. His resignation quickly renewed a call to amend the city charter to raise Supervisor salaries, this time proposed in White's name by Carol Ruth Silver. White's resignation would leave an open seat on the Board of Supervisors, a vacancy which would be filled by appointment by Mayor Moscone. This alarmed some of the city's business interests and White's constituents, as it indicated Moscone could tip the balance of power on the Board and appoint a liberal representative for the more conservative district.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: On the morning of November 15, five days after resigning, White asked Mayor Moscone to return his letter of resignation (a letter that had already been accepted and filed by the Board of Supervisors) and expressed his intent to continue serving as a Supervisor after receiving loans from family and receiving encouragement from his district's constituents to stay on. Moscone returned the letter, but on November 16, City Attorney George Agnost ruled that White had in fact resigned and was no longer on the Board, pending legal review, and whether White could be appointed back to the position he had just resigned was also an open question. Moscone stated that if "legal problems" in the finality of White's resignation arose, he would appoint White back to the seat, but in any case, some of the more liberal city Supervisors and leaders, most notably Milk and Silver, lobbied Moscone not to reappoint him. On November 17, Moscone stated that White's resignation was final, and gave no indication that White was guaranteed to be re-appointed.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: On November 18, news broke of the mass deaths of members of Peoples Temple in Jonestown. Prior to the group's move to Guyana, Peoples Temple had been based in San Francisco, so most of the dead were recent Bay Area residents, including Leo Ryan, the United States Congressman who was murdered in the incident. The city was plunged into mourning, and the issue of White's vacant Board of Supervisors seat was pushed aside for several days.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: On the 21st, Moscone confirmed that the city's legal position on White was that he had resigned, and further, that filling White's vacancy was a week away. He again made no guarantee of re-appointing White unless he was legally obligated to. White appeared to interpret Moscone's statements to mean that he would be re-appointed to his former position.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: San Francisco Mayor Moscone decided to appoint Don Horanzy, a more liberal federal housing official, to the position of District 8 Supervisor, rather than re-appoint Dan White. He scheduled a press conference to make this announcement on November 27, 1978, at 11:30 a.m.; advance copy had been sent to newspapers with late editions so they could begin preparing their stories. White had a former aide drive him to San Francisco City Hall that morning. He was carrying a five-round .38-caliber Smith & Wesson Model 36 Chief's Special loaded with hollow-point bullets, his service revolver from his work as a police officer, with ten extra rounds of ammunition in his coat pocket. White rapped on a basement lab window, and told a building engineer inside that he had misplaced his keys and needed access to City Hall. White climbed into the window at about 10:25 a.m., thereby avoiding metal detectors and guards at public entrances.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: White proceeded to the mayor's office, where Moscone was conferring with California State Assemblyman Willie Brown. White requested a meeting with the mayor and was permitted to meet with him after Moscone's meeting with Brown ended.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: As White entered Moscone's outer office, Brown exited through another door. Moscone met White in the outer office, where White requested again to be reappointed to his former seat on the Board of Supervisors. Moscone refused, and their conversation turned into a heated argument over Horanzy's pending appointment.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: Wishing to avoid a public scene, Moscone suggested they retreat to a private lounge adjacent to the mayor's office, so they would not be overheard by those waiting outside. At approximately 10:45 a.m., as Moscone lit a cigarette and proceeded to pour two drinks, White pulled out his revolver. He then fired shots at the mayor's shoulder and chest, tearing his lung. Moscone fell to the floor and White approached Moscone, pointed his gun from the mayor's head, and fired two additional bullets into Moscone's ear lobes, killing him instantly. While standing over the slain mayor, White reloaded his revolver. Witnesses later reported that they heard Moscone and White arguing, later followed by the gunshots that sounded like a car backfiring.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: White left the Mayor's office and hurried across City Hall, toward the shared office space of the Board of Supervisors, inside which Supervisors each had an enclosed cubicle and desk. Dianne Feinstein, who was then President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, saw White run past her office door and called after him. White responded with "I have something to do first."


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: He intercepted Harvey Milk at his office, who was speaking to a radio reporter and friend of his. White interrupted the conversation with a knock, and asked Milk to step inside his former office for a moment. Milk agreed to join him. Once the door to White's office was closed, he positioned himself between the doorway and Milk, and after a brief conversation, opened fire on Milk at 10:55 a.m.. The first bullet hit Milk's right wrist as he tried to protect himself. White continued firing rapidly, hitting Milk twice more in the chest, then fired a fourth bullet at Milk's head, killing him, followed by a fifth shot into his skull at close range.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: White fled the scene before Feinstein entered the office where Milk lay dead. She felt Milk's neck for a pulse, her finger entering a bullet wound. Rumors about what had happened circulated, but were not confirmed until about 11:20 a.m. At that time, Feinstein addressed assembled media which had expected the announcement of Don Horanzy as the new District 8 Supervisor. Feinstein was shaking so badly she required support from the police chief while speaking. "As President of the Board of Supervisors, it's my duty to make this announcement. Both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed." Gasps, cries, and curses from those assembled interrupted Feinstein briefly, before she continued. "The suspect is Supervisor Dan White."


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: White left City Hall unchallenged. He took the keys of his former aide's car from her desk, and drove that car to a diner, where he called his wife from a pay phone, and they met at a nearby church. Approximately 30 minutes after leaving City Hall, White turned himself in at the Northern Station SFPD precinct, at which he had previously served as a police officer, to Frank Falzon and another detective, both former co-workers. In a police interrogation room that afternoon, White confessed to shooting Moscone and Milk, but denied premeditation. Part of the taped confession became public in 2014.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: An impromptu candlelight march started in the Castro leading to the City Hall steps. Tens of thousands attended. Joan Baez led "Amazing Grace", and the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus sang a solemn hymn by Felix Mendelssohn. Upon learning of the assassinations, singer/songwriter Holly Near composed "Singing for Our Lives", also known as "Song for Harvey Milk".


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: Moscone and Milk both lay in state at San Francisco City Hall. Moscone's funeral at St Mary's Cathedral was attended by 4,500 people. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. Milk was cremated and his ashes were spread across the Pacific Ocean. Dianne Feinstein, as president of the Board of Supervisors, acceded to the Mayor's office, becoming the first woman to serve in that office.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: The coroner who worked on Moscone and Milk's bodies later concluded that the wrist and chest bullet wounds were not fatal, and that both victims probably would have survived with proper medical attention. However, the head wounds brought instant death without question, particularly because White fired at very close range.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: White's resignation, and all subsequent events including the shootings caused positional changes inside San Francisco city government. At the top two levels, these were:


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: White was charged with first-degree murder with two special circumstances, both of which had been passed into law through 1978 California Proposition 7 only three weeks before White carried out the killings of Moscone and Milk. Specifically, the victim(s) were elected officials of a local government of California and the killing was intentionally carried out in retaliation for or to prevent the performance of the victim(s) official duties; and, more than one murder was committed. Murder with special circumstances meant if convicted, White could face the death penalty.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: White's defense team claimed that he was depressed at the time of the shootings, evidenced by many changes in his behavior, including changes in his diet. Inaccurate media reports said White's defense had presented junk food consumption as the cause of his mental state, rather than a symptom of it, leading to the derisive term "Twinkie defense"; this became a persistent myth, despite the fact that defense lawyers both had not argued junk food caused him to commit the shootings and had only mentioned Twinkies in passing. Rather, the defense argued that White's depression led to a state of mental diminished capacity, leaving him unable to have formed the premeditation necessary to commit first-degree murder. The jury accepted these arguments, and White was convicted of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: The verdict proved to be highly controversial, and many felt that the punishment so poorly matched the deed and circumstances that most San Franciscans believed White essentially got away with murder. In particular, many in the gay community were outraged by the verdict and the resulting reduced prison sentence. Since Milk had been homosexual, many felt that homophobia had been a motivating factor in the jury's decision. This groundswell of anger sparked the city's White Night riots.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: The unpopular verdict also ultimately led to changes by the legislature in 1981 and statewide voters in 1982 that ended California's diminished-capacity defense and substituted a somewhat different and slightly more limited "diminished actuality" defense.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: White never made a direct statement of remorse, and only one relayed as hearsay was given by a prison duty nurse who attended to White in 1983. He was paroled in 1984 and served this parole in the Los Angeles area, away from San Francisco. Frank Falzon, the homicide detective that took White's statement the day of the murders, said in 1998 that he met with White in 1984, and at that meeting, White confessed that not only was his killing of Moscone and Milk premeditated, but that he had actually planned to kill Silver and Brown as well. Falzon quoted White as having said, "I was on a mission. I wanted four of them. Carol Ruth Silver, she was the biggest snake ... and Willie Brown, he was masterminding the whole thing." After serving his parole, White moved back to the San Francisco area in early 1985, and committed suicide there that October.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: "San Francisco Weekly" has referred to White as "perhaps the most hated man in San Francisco's history".


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: In the late 1990s, Frank Falzon showed a KTVU reporter some of the evidence that still existed in police custody, including the clothing Dan White had worn, a tape of his police interrogation, Moscone's liquor bottles and glasses from the site of his shooting, and White's original resignation letter to Moscone. The revolver used in the murders, serial number 1J7901, was for a time assumed missing from police evidence storage. An SFPD clerk later confirmed that he had destroyed it "in 1983 or thereabouts" while witnessed by his supervisor, and under a 1982 court order to do so. Its parts were melted down in a foundry that produced manhole covers.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: Journalist Randy Shilts wrote a biography of Milk in 1982, "The Mayor of Castro Street", which discussed the assassinations, trial and riots in detail. The 1984 documentary film "The Times of Harvey Milk" won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: "Execution of Justice," a play by Emily Mann, chronicles the events leading to the assassinations. The play opened on Broadway in March 1986 and in 1999, it was adapted to film for cable network Showtime, with Tim Daly portraying White.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: The Moscone–Milk assassinations and the trial of Dan White were lampooned by the Dead Kennedys with their re-written version of "I Fought the Law" which appeared in their 1987 compilation album "Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death". The photo on the front cover of their 1980 album "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables", which shows several police cars on fire, was taken during the White Night riots of May 21, 1979.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: The assassinations were the basis for a scene in the 1987 science fiction movie "RoboCop" in which a deranged former municipal official holds the mayor and others hostage and demands his job back.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: In 2003, the story of Milk's assassination and of the White Night Riot was featured in an exhibition created by the GLBT Historical Society, a San Francisco museum, archives and research center to which the estate of Scott Smith donated Milk's personal belongings that were preserved after his death. "Saint Harvey: The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Gay Martyr" was shown in the main gallery in the Society's former Mission Street location. The centerpiece was a section displaying the suit Milk was wearing at the time of his death. The suit is currently on display in the Society's permanent museum space in the Castro.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: In 2008 the film "Milk" depicted the assassinations as part of a biographical story about the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk. The movie was a critical and commercial success, with Victor Garber portraying Moscone, Sean Penn playing Milk and Josh Brolin playing White. Penn won an Oscar for his performance and Brolin was nominated.


title: Moscone–Milk assassinations

text: In January 2012, the Berkeley Repertory Theater premiered "Ghost Light", a play exploring the effect of Moscone's assassination on his son Jonathan, who was 14 at the time of his father's death. The production was directed by Jonathan Moscone himself and written by Tony Taccone.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Rebirth in Buddhism refers to the teaching that the actions of a sentient being lead to a new existence after death, in an endless cycle called "saṃsāra". This cycle is considered to be "dukkha", unsatisfactory and painful. The cycle stops only if moksha (liberation) is achieved by insight and the extinguishing of craving. Rebirth is one of the foundational doctrines of Buddhism, along with karma, Nirvana and moksha. Rebirth was however less relevant among early Buddhist teachings, which also mentioned the beliefs in an afterlife, ancestor worship, and related rites. The concept varies among different Buddhist traditions.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The rebirth doctrine, sometimes referred to as reincarnation or transmigration, asserts that rebirth takes place in one of the six realms of samsara, the realms of gods, demi-gods, humans, the animal realm, the ghost realm and hell realms. Rebirth, as stated by various Buddhist traditions, is determined by karma, with good realms favored by "kushala karma" (good or skillful karma), while a rebirth in evil realms is a consequence of "akushala karma" (bad karma). While nirvana is the ultimate goal of Buddhist teaching, much of traditional Buddhist practice has been centered on gaining merit and merit transfer, whereby one gains rebirth in the good realms and avoids rebirth in the evil realms.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The rebirth doctrine has been a subject of scholarly studies within Buddhism since ancient times, particularly in reconciling the rebirth doctrine with its anti-essentialist "anatman" (not-self) doctrine. The various Buddhist traditions throughout history have disagreed on what it is in a person that is reborn, as well as how quickly the rebirth occurs after each death.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Some Buddhist traditions assert that "vijñana" (consciousness), though constantly changing, exists as a continuum or stream ("santana") and is what undergoes rebirth. Some traditions like Theravada assert that rebirth occurs immediately and that no "thing" (not even consciousness) moves across lives to be reborn (though there is a causal link, like when a seal is imprinted on wax). Other Buddhist traditions such as Tibetan Buddhism posit an interim existence ("bardo") between death and rebirth, which may last as many as 49 days. This belief drives Tibetan funerary rituals. A now defunct Buddhist tradition called Pudgalavada asserted there was an inexpressible personal entity ("pudgala") which migrates from one life to another.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: There is no word corresponding exactly to the English terms "rebirth", "metempsychosis", "transmigration" or "reincarnation" in the traditional Buddhist languages of Pāli and Sanskrit. Rebirth is referred to by various terms, representing an essential step in the endless cycle of "samsara", terms such as "re-becoming" or "becoming again" (Sanskrit: punarbhava, Pali: punabbhava), re-born ("punarjanman"), re-death ("punarmrityu"), or sometimes just "becoming" (Pali/Sanskrit: bhava), while the state one is born into, the individual process of being born or coming into the world in any way, is referred to simply as "birth" (Pali/Sanskrit: jāti). The entire universal process of beings being reborn again and again is called "wandering about" (Pali/Sanskrit: ).


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Some English-speaking Buddhists prefer the term "rebirth" or "re-becoming" (Sanskrit: "punarbhava"; Pali: "punabbhava") to "reincarnation" as they take the latter to imply an entity (soul) that is reborn. Buddhism denies there is any such soul or self in a living being, but does assert that there is a cycle of transmigration consisting of rebirth and redeath as the fundamental nature of existence.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Before the time of the Buddha, many ideas on the nature of existence, birth and death were in vogue. The early layers of the Vedas do not mention the doctrine of Karma and rebirth but mention the belief in an afterlife. According to Sayers, these earliest layers of the Vedic literature show ancestor worship and rites such as "sraddha" (offering food to the ancestors). The later Vedic texts such as the "Aranyakas" and the "Upanisads" show a different soteriology based on reincarnation, they show little concern with ancestor rites, and they begin to philosophically interpret the earlier rituals. The idea of reincarnation and karma have roots in the Upanishads of the late Vedic period, predating the Buddha and the Mahavira. The Sramana schools affirmed the idea of soul, karma and cycle of rebirth. The competing Indian materialist schools denied the idea of soul, karma and rebirth, asserting instead that there is just one life, there is no rebirth, and death marks complete annihilation. From these diverse views, Buddha accepted the premises and concepts related to rebirth, but introduced innovations. According to various Buddhist scriptures, Buddha believed in other worlds,


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Buddha also asserted that there is karma, which influences the future suffering through the cycle of rebirth, but added that there is a way to end the cycle of karmic rebirths through "nirvana". The Buddha introduced the concept that there is no soul (self) tying the cycle of rebirths, in contrast to themes asserted by various Hindu and Jaina traditions, and this central concept in Buddhism is called "anattā"; Buddha also affirmed the idea that all compounded things are subject to dissolution at death or "anicca". The Buddha's detailed conception of the connections between action (karma), rebirth and causality is set out in the twelve links of dependent origination.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: There are several references to rebirth in the Early Buddhist texts (henceforth EBTs), however also to ancestor worship and a spirit world associated with the afterlife. Some key suttas which discuss rebirth include "Mahakammavibhanga Sutta" (Majjhima Nikaya "MN" 136); "Upali Sutta" (MN 56); "Kukkuravatika Sutta" (MN 57); "Moliyasivaka Sutta" (Samyutta Nikaya "SN" 36.21); and "Sankha Sutta" (SN 42.8).


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: There are various terms which refer to the rebirth process, such as "Āgati-gati", "Punarbhava" and others. The term "Āgati" literally means 'coming back, return', while "Gati" means 'going away' and "Punarbhava" means 're-becoming'. Numerous other terms for rebirths are found in the Buddhist scriptures, such as "Punagamana", "Punavasa", "Punanivattati", "Abhinibbatti", and words with roots of "*jati" and "*rupa".


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to Damien Keown, the EBTs state that on the night of his awakening, the Buddha attained the ability to recall a vast number of past lives along with numerous details about them. These early scriptures also state that he could remember "as far as ninety one eons" ("Majjhima Nikaya" i.483). An interpretation of these memories is a link to deceased ancestors and their individual lives and memories, with later views interpreting these as personal memories of past lives.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to Bhikkhu Anālayo, the Buddhist teaching of Dependent Origination is closely connected with the doctrine of rebirth. One of the 12 elements of Dependent Origination is "birth" ("jati"), which according to Anālayo refers to the rebirth of living beings. He cites SN 12.2 and its parallel in Samyukta Agama "SA" 298 as evidence. SN 12.2 defines "birth" in the context of Dependent Origination as "the birth of the various beings into the various orders of beings, their being born, descent into the womb, production, the manifestation of the aggregates, the obtaining of the sense bases."


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The early Buddhist conception of rebirth is one in which consciousness is always dependent on other factors, mainly name and form ("nama-rupa") which refers to the physical body and various cognitive elements (such as feeling, perception and volition). Because of this, consciousness ("viññana") is seen as supported by the body and its cognitive apparatus and cannot exist without it (and vice versa). However, consciousness can jump from one body to another (this is compared to how a spark from a hot iron can travel through the air in AN 7.52). This process applies to the very moment of conception, which requires a consciousness to enter the womb. This is indicated by Dirgha Agama "DA" 13 and its parallels (DN 15, Madhyama Agama "MA" 97). DA 13 states: [The Buddha said]: Ananda, in dependence on consciousness there is name and form. What is the meaning of this? If consciousness did not enter the mother's womb, would there be name and form? [Ananda] replied: No.The same sutra states that if consciousness were to depart from the womb, the fetus could not continue to grow. Drawing on these sutras and others (such as SN 22.8 and SA 1265) Anālayo concludes that "consciousness appears to be what provides the transition from one body to another". However, according to Sujato, the EBTs indicate that it is not just consciousness which undergoes rebirth, but some form of all the five aggregates.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The EBTs also seem to indicate that there is an in-between state ("antarābhava") between death and rebirth. According to Bhikkhu Sujato, the most explicit passage supporting this can be found in the "Kutuhalasāla Sutta", which states that "when a being has laid down this body, but has not yet been reborn in another body, it is fuelled by craving."


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Another term which is used to describe what gets reborn in the EBTs is "gandhabba" ("spirit"). According to the "Assalayana Sutta" (and its parallel at MA 151), for conception to be successful, a "gandhabba" must be present (as well as other physiological factors).


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to the EBTs, this rebirth consciousness is not a tabula rasa (blank slate), but contains certain underlying tendencies ("anusaya") which in turn "form an object for the establishment of consciousness" (SA 359, SN 13.39). These subliminal inclinations are thus a condition for continued rebirth and also carry imprints from past lives.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to the EBTs, past life memories can be retrieved through the cultivation of deep meditative states ("samadhi"). The Buddha himself is depicted as having developed the ability to recollect his past lives as well as to access the past life memories of other conscious beings in texts like the "Bhayabherava Sutta" (MN 4, the parallel Agama text is at Ekottara Agama 31.1) and the "Mahapadana Sutta" (DN 14, parallel at DA 1). Another key point affirmed by the EBTs is that the series of past lives stretches so far back into the past that a beginning point cannot be found (see e.g. SN 15.3 and SA 938).


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: In traditional Buddhist cosmology the rebirth, also called reincarnation or metempsychosis, can be in any of six realms. These are called the "Gati" in cycles of re-becoming, "Bhavachakra". The six realms of rebirth include three good realms – Deva (heavenly, god), Asura (demigod), Manusya (human); and three evil realms – Tiryak (animals), Preta (ghosts), and Naraka (hellish). The realm of rebirth is conditioned by the karma (deeds, intent) of current and previous lives; good karma will yield a happier rebirth into good realms while bad karma is believed to produce rebirth which is more unhappy and evil.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The release from this endless cycle of rebirth is called "nirvana" (Pali: "nibbana")]] in Buddhism. The achievement of nirvana is the ultimate goal of Buddhist teaching. However, much of traditional Buddhist practice has been centered on gaining merit and merit transfer, whereby an individual gains rebirth for oneself or one's family members in the good realms, and avoids rebirth in the evil realms.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: An important part of the early Buddhist soteriology is the four stages of awakening. With each stage, it was believed that one abandons certain mental defilements or "fetters". Furthermore, each stage of awakening was believed to be associated with being closer to the ending of rebirth in the following manner:


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to the early Buddhist texts, accepting the truth of rebirth (glossed as the view that "there is this world & the next world" in suttas like MN 117) is part of right view, the first element of the noble eight-fold path. While some scholars like Tilmann Vetter and Akira Hirakawa have questioned whether the Buddha saw rebirth as important, Johannes Bronkhorst argues that these views are based on scant evidence from the EBTs. He further writes that "in so far as the texts allow us to reach an answer...the Buddha did believe in rebirth."


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: As noted by Anālayo, a standard definition of wrong view in the EBTs "explicitly covers the denial of rebirth and the fruition of karma". The denial of rebirth is rejected as an "annihilationist" view in the "Brahmajala Sutta" (DN 1, Chinese parallel at DA 21, a Tibetan parallel also exists). The "Samaññaphala Sutta" (parallel at DA 27) also critiques the view of a school of ancient Indian materialism called Carvaka (which rejected rebirth and held that "all are destroyed at death"). According to this Sutta, to hold this view while living in a time when the Buddha's teachings are available is equivalent to being born dumb and dull.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: However, Anālayo argues that since there are different definitions of right view in the early texts, this "leaves open the possibility that someone may engage in practices related to the Buddhist path to liberation without necessarily pledging faith in rebirth. It does not leave open the possibility of denying rebirth outright, however, since that would amount to holding wrong view". Because of this, Anālayo writes that the question of rebirth may simply be set aside without going as far as to deny rebirth and affirm annihilation.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: An advice given in various EBTs is not to waste time speculating about what one might have been in the past and what they will be in the future. Such advice can be found in the "Sabbasava Sutta" (MN 2, with a parallel at MA 10). In contrast to this, various early texts regularly recommend the direct recollection of one's own past lives as one of the three higher knowledges which correspond to the realizations attained by the Buddha on the night of his awakening. According to Anālayo, there is a major difference between direct access to our past lives through mental training (which is encouraged) and theoretical speculation (which is not).


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Some early discourses also depict various Buddhist monks who seriously misunderstood the nature of rebirth. In one discourse, the "Mahatanhasankhaya sutta" (MN 38, MA 201), a monk comes to the conclusion that it is this very same consciousness that will be reborn (as opposed to a dependently originated process). In another discourse, the "Mahapunnama sutta" (MN 109, SA 58), a monk misapplies the doctrine of not-self to argue that there is nobody who will be affected by the fruition of karma.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: While the vast majority of Buddhists accept some notion of rebirth, they differ in their theories about the rebirth mechanism and precisely how events unfold after the moment of death. Already at the time of the Buddha there was much speculation about how to explain how rebirth occurs and how it relates to the doctrines of not-self and impermanence.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: After the death of the Buddha, the various Buddhist schools which arose debated numerous aspects of rebirth, seeking to provide a more systematic explanation of the rebirth process. Important topics included the existence of the intermediate state, the exact nature of what undergoes rebirth, the relationship between rebirth and not-self, and how karma affects rebirth.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Both the Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika and the Theravāda tradition interpreted the teaching of the 12 factors ("nidana") of dependent origination by using a three life model (the previous life, the present life and the future life). However, their Abhidharma works also state that the 12 factors of dependent origination can be understood as active in the present moment.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: An important question which was debated by Indian Buddhist thinkers was the question of what exactly gets reborn, and how this is different from the Indian concept of an "attā" (ātman, unchanging self), which Buddhism rejects. The early Buddhist texts sometimes speak of an "evolving consciousness" (Pali: "samvattanika viññana," M.1.256) or a "stream of consciousness" (Pali: "viññana sotam", D.3.105) as that which transmigrates. However, according to Bruce Matthews, "there is no single major systematic exposition on this subject" in the Pali Canon.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Some Buddhist scholars such as Buddhaghosa, held that the lack of an unchanging self ("atman") does not mean that there is a lack of continuity in rebirth, since there is still a causal link between lives. The process of rebirth across different realms of existence was compared to how a flame is transferred from one candle to another.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Various Indian Buddhist schools like the Sautrantika, Mahasamghika and the Mahasisaka held that the karmic link between lives could be explained by how karmic effects arose out of "seeds" which were deposited in a mental substratum. The Sautrantika Elder Srilata defended the theory of a "subsidiary element" ("anudhatu" or *"purvanudhatu") which corresponds to the seed theory. The Sautrantika school held this was a "transmigrating substratum of consciousness". It argued that each personal action "perfumes" the individual stream of consciousness and leads to the planting of a seed that would later germinate as a good or bad karmic result. This allowed them to explain what underwent the process of rebirth.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika school on the other hand did not make use of the seed theory, since they held an eternalist theory of time, which held that phenomena (dharmas) in the past, present and future exist. Because of this, they argued that after an action was done by a person, it still continued to exist, and to be in a state of "possession" ("prāpti") vis a vis the mindstream ("santana") of the person who performed the action. According to Vaibhāṣikas, it was this which guaranteed the capacity of past karma to produce an effect long after it had been performed.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The seed theory was defended by the influential Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu in his "Abhidharmakosha". It is also present in the "Viniscayasamgrahani" of the "Yogacarabhumi". The Sarvastivada Abhidharma master Saṃghabhadra states that the seed theory was referred to by different names including: subsidiary elements ("anudhatu"), impressions ("vasana"); capability ("samarthya"), non-disappearance ("avipranasa"), or accumulation ("upacaya").


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The seed theory was adopted and further developed by the Yogacara school into their doctrine of the "container consciousness" ("alaya-vijñana"), which is a subliminal and constantly changing stream of consciousness that stores the seeds and undergoes rebirth. Asanga's "Mahāyānasaṃgraha" equated the alaya-vijñana with similar teachings found in other Buddhist schools which indicates that the idea of a rebirth consciousness was widespread. He states that this is the same idea which is called "root-consciousness" ("mula-vijñana") by the Mahasamghika schools and what the Sthavira schools call the "bhavaṅga".


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to Lobsang Dargyay, the Prāsaṇgika branch of the Madhyamaka school (which is exemplified by the philosopher Chandrakirti), attempted to refute every concept for a support or a storehouse of karmic information (including the alaya-vijñana). Instead, some Prāsaṇgika philosophers argue that a karmic action results in a potential which will ripen later. This potential is not a thing and does not need a support. However, other Madhyamaka thinkers (which are classified as "Svatantrikas" by Tibetans scholars), generally adopted the Sautrantika concept of tendencies stored in the stream of consciousness.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The Theravāda school's doctrine of the bhavaṅga (Pali, "ground of becoming", "condition for existence") is another theory that was used to explain rebirth. It is seen as a mental process which conditions the next mental process at the moment of death and rebirth (though it does not actually travel in between lives, see below).


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The Pudgalavada school of early Buddhism accepted the core premise of Buddhism that there is no ātman, but asserted that there is a "personal entity" ("pudgala", "puggala") that retains karmic merit and undergoes rebirth. This personal entity was held to be neither different nor identical to the five aggregates ("skandhas"). This concept was attacked by Theravada Buddhists in the early 1st millennium CE. The personal entity concept was rejected by the mid-1st millennium CE Pali scholar Buddhaghosa, who attempted to explain rebirth mechanism with "rebirth-linking consciousness" ("patisandhi"-"citta"). It was also criticized by northern Buddhist philosophers like Vasubandhu.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Another topic which gave rise to much debate in among Indian Buddhists was the idea of the intermediate existence ("antarabhāva"). According to Andre Bareau, the Indian Buddhists schools were split on this issue. While the Sarvāstivāda, Sautrantika, Pudgalavada, Pūrvaśaila and late Mahīśāsaka accepted this doctrine, the Mahāsāṃghika, early Mahīśāsaka, Theravāda, Vibhajyavāda and the "Śāriputrābhidharma" (possibly Dharmaguptaka) rejected it in favor of an immediate leap of the consciousness from one body to the next.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: In the "Abhidharmakosha", Vasubandhu defends the theory of the intermediate existence. He argues that each intermediate being is made up of the five aggregates, that it arises in the place of death and carries the "configuration of the future being." Furthermore, according to Vasubandhu, this conscious intermediate being becomes aroused on seeing their future parents joined in intercourse and it becomes envious of one of the parents. Because of this desire and hatred, it becomes attached to the womb where it conditions the first moment of "birth existence" ("pratisamdhi").


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: In Tibetan Buddhism, the intermediate existence (Tibetan: "bardo") concept developed elaborate descriptions of numerous visions experienced during the process of dying, including visions of peaceful and wrathful deities. These ideas led to various maps for navigating the intermediate existence which are discussed in texts like the "Bardo Thodol".


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: In contrast to this, the Theravāda scholar Buddhaghosa argued that rebirth occurs in one instant as part of a process called "rebirth-linking" ("patisandhi"). According to Buddhaghosa, at death, the sense faculties dissolve one by one until only consciousness is left. The very last moment of consciousness at death ("cuti viññana") conditions the very first instant of consciousness of the next life, the "patisandhi viññana", which occurs at the time of conception. The relationship is compared to that between a seal and wax. While they are not the same entity, the wax impression is conditioned by the seal. Therefore, in the classic Theravāda view, nothing actually transmigrates.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: In spite of the rejection of the intermediate state by such an influential figure, some modern Theravāda scholars (such as Balangoda Ananda Maitreya) have defended the idea of an intermediate state. It is also a very common belief among monks and laypersons in the Theravāda world (where it is commonly referred to as the "gandhabba" or "antarabhāva").


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Ancient Buddhists as well as some moderns cite the reports of the Buddha and his disciples of having gained direct knowledge into their own past lives as well as those of other beings through a kind of parapsychological ability or extrasensory perception (termed "abhiñña"). Traditional Buddhist philosophers like Dharmakīrti have defended the concept of special yogic perception ("yogi-pratyakṣa") which is able to empirically verify the truth of rebirth. Some modern Buddhists authors like K.N. Jayatilleke also argue that the Buddha's main argument in favor of rebirth was based on empirical grounds, and that this included the idea that extra-sensory perception (Pali: "atikkanta-manusaka") can provide a validation for rebirth.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Modern Buddhists such as Bhikkhu Anālayo and Jayatilleke have also argued that rebirth may be empirically verifiable and have pointed to certain parapsychological phenomena as possible evidence, mainly near-death experiences (NDEs), past-life regression, reincarnation research and xenoglossy. Both Anālayo and B. Alan Wallace point to the work of the American Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson as providing possible evidence of rebirth. This is not just a recent phenomenon. According to Anālayo, ancient Chinese Buddhists also pointed to anomalous phenomena such as NDEs to argue for the truth of rebirth. Furthermore, according to Roger R. Jackson, the Indian Buddhist philosopher Śāntarakṣita (725–788) argues in his "Tattvasaṅgraha" that newborn children exhibit a wide range of complex desires, emotions and mental states that could not exist without the force of past habit, and thus they must be based on the habits acquired in a past life.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Wallace also notes that several modern Buddhist figures, such as Pa Auk Sayadaw and Geshe Gedun Lodro have also written about how to train the mind to access past life memories. The Burmese monk Pa Auk Sayadaw is known for teaching such methods and some of his western students like Shaila Catherine have written about this and their experiences in practicing it.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: B. Alan Wallace argues that first person introspection is a valid means of knowledge about the mind (when that introspection is well trained by meditation) and has been used by numerous contemplatives throughout history. He writes that a well trained mind, "which may be likened to an inwardly focused telescope," should be able to access "a subtle, individual mind stream that carries on from one lifetime to another." Wallace proposes that a research project using well trained meditators could access information from past lives in an accurate manner and these could then be checked by independent third person observers.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Besides defending the status of the Buddha as an epistemically authoritative or reliable person ("pramāṇa puruṣa"), Indian Buddhist philosophers like Dignaga (c. 480–540 CE) and Dharmakīrti (fl. c. 6th or 7th century), as well as later commentators on their works, also put forth philosophical arguments in favor of rebirth and especially directed against the reductionist materialist philosophy of the Carvaka school.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: In his "Pramanavarttika", Dharmakīrti defends rebirth by initially focusing on refuting the materialist doctrine of the Carvaka school, which held that the support ("asraya") for cognition is the body and that when the body is destroyed, cognition is destroyed. Modern Buddhists who argue in favor of rebirth like B. Alan Wallace often begin by mounting similar arguments against materialism and physicalism, pointing to the current philosophical debate on the "hard problem of consciousness" and arguing that conscious properties cannot be reduced to physical properties. Indeed, according to Wallace "the metaphysical views of materialism are in fundamental conflict with the Buddhist worldview regarding the nature of the mind"


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to Richard P. Hayes, Dharmakīrti denied that mental events were a mere byproduct of the body, instead holding that "both mental events and physical events can be seen as effects of the same set of causal conditions." For Dharmakīrti, all events are dependent on multiple causes, and they must be preceded by an "antecendent causal condition" of the same class. This means that all mental events "must have" a previous mental event as part of its causal nexus (presumably stretching back before one's birth). According to Hayes, Dharmakīrti holds therefore that "both physical factors and nonphysical factors play a role in the formation of mental events", if not there would be no difference between sentient beings and inanimate matter.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Philosopher Evan Thompson outlines Dharmakīrti's main point as follows: "matter and consciousness have totally different natures; an effect must be of the same nature as its cause; hence consciousness cannot arise from or be produced by matter (though material things can condition or influence consciousness)." Thompson further notes that for Dharmakīrti, the nature of matter it is that it is obstructive, it resists other instances of matter, while the nature of consciousness is altogether different since it is capable of including diverse objects within itself at the same time without any of them obstructing the other. Furthermore, phenomenal consciousness is able to illuminate or cognize objects (as well as itself, i.e. it is self-reflexive) and has intentionality, while matter does not.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Eli Franco mentions that for Dharmakīrti, the position that cognition "can arise from the body alone, independent of their similar causes" at the moment of birth is irrational. That is, if the mind is not being conditioned by a previous cognitive event, then it cannot arise from inert matter. Dharmakīrti also argues that mental events can causally condition physical events, and thus there is no reason to privilege matter as being primary. According to Martin Willson, this kind of argument is the most commonly used in the Tibetan philosophical tradition to establish the truth of rebirth and in its most simple form can be put as follows:With respect to the knowing (consciousness or mind) of an ordinary being just born: it is preceded by earlier knowing; because it is knowing.Willson notes that this relies on two further assumptions, the first is that any mental continuum must have previous causes, the second is that materialism is false and that mind cannot emerge solely from matter (emergentism).


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to Jacob Andrew Lucas, the strength of Dharmakīrti's argument lies on its two key premises:


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: However, as Lucas notes, we should not take Dharmakīrti to be arguing in favor of a strict mind-body dualism, since in all systems of Buddhist thought, the mind and body are deeply interconnected and dependent on each other. Dharmakīrti 's point is merely that consciousness cannot arise from physical factors alone, which does not entail that consciousness is totally separate from physical factors.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Jacob Andrew Lucas provides a modern formulation of an argument for rebirth which draws on the work of Galen Strawson. Strawson argues against emergence as well as against proto-experiential qualities and argues for a form of constitutive panpsychism. Lucas rejects constitutive panpsychism as a live option for a Buddhist due to various issues including the "combination problem" and because it supports the idea that the conscious subject collapses into micro-experiences when the body dies. Lucas then proceeds to argue for an unbroken stream of consciousness or an indivisible cluster of conscious experience "that can neither arise from nor collapse into rudimentary factors that are devoid of the distinctive characteristics of consciousness."


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Theravada Abhidhamma makes a similar argument to Dharmakīrti's. According to the Abhidhamma teacher Nina van Gorkom, physical and mental events ("dhammas") both depend on each other and on previous events of the same category (i.e. mental events must also be conditioned by previous mental events, and so on). In Abhidhamma, the mental event ("citta") which arises at the first moment of life is called the rebirth consciousness or "patisandhi-citta." According to van Gorkom, "there isn't any citta which arises without conditions, the "patisandhi-citta" must also have conditions. The "patisandhi-citta" is the first "citta" of a new life and thus its cause can only be in the past."


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Various Buddhists and interpreters of the Buddhist texts such as David Kalupahana and Etienne Lamotte, have argued that the Buddha is a kind of pragmatist regarding truth, and that he saw truths as important only when they were soteriologically useful. Thus, the Buddhist position on rebirth could be defended on pragmatic grounds instead of empirical or logical grounds. Some modern Buddhists have taken this position.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The American monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu has argued for the acceptance of the Buddhist idea of rebirth as a type of pragmatic wager argument (Pali: "apaṇṇaka", "safe bet" or "guarantee"). Thanissaro argues that "the Buddha stated that it's a safe wager to assume that actions bear results that can affect not only this lifetime for also lifetimes after this than it is to assume the opposite." Thanissaro cites Majjhima Nikaya 60 ("Apaṇṇaka sutta") where the Buddha says that if there is an afterlife, those who perform bad actions have "made a bad throw twice" (because they are harmed in this world and in the next) while those who perform good actions will not, and thus he calls his teaching a "safe-bet teaching". This ancient wager argument is similar in structure to modern wager arguments like Pascal's Wager and the Atheist's Wager.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu:The Buddha's main pragmatic argument is that if one accepted his teachings, one would be likely to pay careful attention to one's actions, so as to do no harm. This in and of itself is a worthy activity regardless of whether the rest of the path was true. When applying this argument to the issue of rebirth and karmic results, the Buddha sometimes coupled it with a second pragmatic argument that resembles Pascal's wager: If one practices the Dhamma, one leads a blameless life in the here-and-now. Even if the afterlife and karmic results do not exist, one has not lost the wager, for the blamelessness of one's life is a reward in and of itself. If there is an afterlife with karmic results, then one has won a double reward: the blamelessness of one's life here and now, and the good rewards of one's actions in the afterlife. These two pragmatic arguments form the central message of this sutta.Sri Lankan Buddhist philosopher K.N. Jayatilleke writes that the Buddha's "wager argument" in MN 60 is that a rational person ("viññu puriso") would reason as follows:


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The "Kālāma Sutta" also contains a similar wager argument towards rebirth, called the "four assurances" or "four consolations". These four assurances are as follows:


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, part of the reason the Buddha recommended having conviction in the truth of rebirth was that his teaching on the nature of human action would be incomplete without reference to rebirth. Thanissaro argues that the distinction that the Buddha draws between skillful and unskillful actions is based on the consequences of these actions, and that this provides a strong motivation to do good as long as rebirth holds. This is because actions can sometimes take many lifetimes to yield their results (and thus bad persons do not always experience bad consequences in one lifetime as can be seen in SN 42.13 and MN 136) and therefore only a multi-life perspective can lead to "a complete and convincing case that unskillful actions should always be avoided, and skillful ones always developed."


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Thanissaro further writes that:If you assume that your actions have results, and those results will reverberate through many lifetimes, it's easier to stick to your principles not to lie, kill, or steal even under severe duress. And even though you may not "know" whether these assumptions are true, you cannot plan an action without implicitly wagering on the issue. This is why simply stating, "I don't know," is not an adequate response to the questions of rebirth and the efficacy of karma. The attitude behind it may be honest on one level, but it's dishonest in thinking that this is all that needs to be said, for it ignores the fact that you have to make assumptions about the possible results of your actions every time you act.B. Alan Wallace writes that nihilistic and materialistic views which reject rebirth "undermine any sense of moral responsibility, and this is bound to have a profoundly detrimental effect on societies that adopt such beliefs." He further argues:If we embrace a materialistic worldview, we will naturally seek satisfaction and fulfillment by turning our attention to the outside world, looking for novel sensory and intellectual experiences as well as new material acquisitions. Likewise, when we focus on decreasing our level of suffering and pain, once again our orientation will be outward, looking for scientific and technological breakthroughs to relieve our suffering. Human desire for ever-greater happiness seems to be insatiable, and a materialistic worldview strongly supports materialistic values and a way of life centered on the never-ending quest of consumerism... A materialistic outlook that focuses our attention on the bounties of the external physical world simultaneously blinds us to the inner resources of the human heart and mind. If all our efforts go toward the alleviation of suffering and realization of happiness by external means, the inner ways that we might pursue the good life will be unexplored. A materialistic worldview provides no rationale for making a commitment to ethics or spiritual practice of any kind. Material values and consumerism are naturally aligned with materialism, which reduces meditation to a means for making a materialistic way of life more bearable.According to Alexander Berzin, acceptance of rebirth also has positive moral consequences, particularly in our practice of the Buddhist path. Berzin writes that an understanding of rebirth allows one to better cultivate compassion and loving-kindness towards all beings, since it allows us to see how in past lives, we have been related to all beings and how they have been our mothers (and vice versa). Likewise, we have also been many different types of beings in the past (male, female, animals, numerous nationalities etc). According to Berzin, this reflection allows us to better relate to other sentient beings.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: In the 1940s, J. G. Jennings interpreted the teaching of rebirth in a less than literal sense. Believing that the doctrine of anatta (not-self) is incompatible with the view that the actions of one individual can have repercussions for the "same" individual in a future life, Jennings argued that the doctrine of actual transmigration was an "Indian dogma" that was not part of the original teachings of the Buddha. However, rebirth could instead be understood as the recurrence of our selfish desires which could repeat themselves "in endless succeeding generations". In this interpretation, our actions do have consequences beyond our present lives, but these are "collective not individual."


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The British Buddhist thinker Stephen Batchelor has recently posited a similar view on the topic:Regardless of what we believe, our actions will reverberate beyond our deaths. Irrespective of our personal survival, the legacy of our thoughts, words, and deeds will continue through the impressions we leave behind in the lives of those we have influenced or touched in any way.The Thai modernist Buddhist monk Buddhadāsa (1906–1993) also had a rationalistic or psychological interpretation of rebirth. He argued that since there is no substantial entity or soul ("atman"),  "there is no one born, there is no one who dies and is reborn. Therefore, the whole question of rebirth is quite foolish and has nothing to do with Buddhism…in the sphere of the Buddhist teachings there is no question of rebirth or reincarnation." However, Buddhadāsa did not completely reject the rebirth doctrine, he only saw the idea that there is something that gets reborn into a future womb as "trivial". Instead of this 'literal' view, he interpreted the true meaning of rebirth as the re-arising of the sense of self or "I" or "me", a kind of "self-centredness" which is "a mental event arising out of ignorance, craving, and clinging." According to Buddhadāsa, this is what "rebirth" truly means on the ultimate level ("paramattha") of discourse.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: The rebirth theories in different traditions within Hinduism rely on their foundational assumption that soul exists (Atman, attā), in contrast to Buddhist assumption that there is no soul. Hindu traditions consider soul to be the unchanging eternal essence of a living being, and in many of its theistic and non-theistic traditions the soul asserted to be identical with Brahman, the ultimate reality. Thus while both Buddhism and Hinduism accept the karma and rebirth doctrine, and both focus on ethics in this life as well as liberation from rebirth and suffering as the ultimate spiritual pursuit, they have a very different view on whether a self or soul exists, which impacts the details of their respective rebirth theories.


title: Rebirth (Buddhism)

text: Rebirth and karma doctrine in Jainism differ from those in Buddhism, even though both are non-theistic Sramana traditions. Jainism, in contrast to Buddhism, accepts the foundational assumption that soul exists ("Jiva") and is involved in the rebirth mechanism. Further, Jainism considers that the rebirth has a start, that rebirth and redeath cycle is a part of a progression of a soul, karmic dust particles emanate from ethical or unethical intent and actions, these karmic particles stick to the soul which determines the next birth. Jainism, further asserts that some souls can never achieve liberation, that ethical living such as Ahimsa (non-violence) and asceticism are means to liberation for those who can attain liberation, and that liberated souls reach the eternal "siddha" (enlightened state) that ends their rebirth cycles. Jainism, like Buddhism, also believes in realms of birth and is symbolized by its emblematic Swastika sign, with ethical and moral theories of its lay practices focussing on obtaining good rebirth.


title: Carina Nebula

text: The Carina Nebula or Eta Carinae Nebula (catalogued as NGC 3372; also known as the Great Carina Nebula) is a large, complex area of bright and dark nebulosity in the constellation Carina, located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The nebula is approximately from Earth.


title: Carina Nebula

text: The nebula has within its boundaries the large Carina OB1 association and several related open clusters, including numerous O-type stars and several Wolf–Rayet stars. encompasses the star clusters and . is one of the youngest known star clusters at half a million years old. is the home of , currently the most luminous star known in our Milky Way galaxy, together with the less luminous but more massive and famous Eta Carinae star system and the O2 supergiant . , , , , and are also considered members of the association. is the oldest and furthest from , indicating sequential and ongoing star formation.


title: Carina Nebula

text: The nebula is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in our skies. Although it is four times as large as and even brighter than the famous Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula is much less well known due to its location in the southern sky. It was discovered by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1752 from the Cape of Good Hope.


title: Carina Nebula

text: The Carina Nebula was selected as one of five cosmic objects observed by the James Webb Space Telescope, as part of the release of its first official science images. A detailed image was made of an early star-forming region of NGC 3324 known as the Cosmic Cliffs.


title: Carina Nebula

text: Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered the nebula on 25 January 1752. Its dimensions are 120×120 arcminutes centered on the coordinates of right ascension and declination . In modern times it is calculated to be around from Earth.


title: Carina Nebula

text: Eta Carinae is a highly luminous hypergiant star. Estimates of its mass range from 100 to 150 times the mass of the Sun, and its luminosity is about four million times that of the Sun.


title: Carina Nebula

text: This object is currently the most massive star that can be studied in great detail, because of its location and size. Several other known stars may be more luminous and more massive, but data on them is far less robust. (Caveat: Since examples such as the Pistol Star have been demoted by improved data, one should be skeptical of most available lists of "most massive stars". In 2006, Eta Carinae still had the highest "confirmed" luminosity, based on data across a broad range of wavelengths.) Stars with more than 80 times the mass of the Sun produce more than a million times as much light as the Sun. They are quite rare—only a few dozen in a galaxy as big as ours—and they flirt with disaster near the Eddington limit, i.e., the outward pressure of their radiation is almost strong enough to counteract gravity. Stars that are more than 120 solar masses exceed the theoretical Eddington limit, and their gravity is barely strong enough to hold in its radiation and gas, resulting in a possible supernova or hypernova in the near future.


title: Carina Nebula

text: Eta Carinae's effects on the nebula can be seen directly. Dark globules and some other less visible objects have tails pointing directly away from the massive star. The entire nebula would have looked very different before the Great Eruption in the 1840s surrounded Eta Carinae with dust, drastically reducing the amount of ultraviolet light it put into the nebula.


title: Carina Nebula

text: Within the large bright nebula is a much smaller feature, immediately surrounding Eta Carinae itself, known as the Homunculus Nebula (from Latin meaning "Little Man"). It is believed to have been ejected in an enormous outburst in 1841 which briefly made Eta Carinae the second-brightest star in the sky.


title: Carina Nebula

text: The Homunculus Nebula is a small H II region, with gas shocked into ionized and excited states. It also absorbs much of the light from the extremely luminous central stellar system and re-radiates it as infrared (IR). It is the brightest object in the sky at mid-IR wavelengths.


title: Carina Nebula

text: The distance to the Homunculus can be derived from its observed angular dimensions and calculated linear size, assuming it is axially symmetric. The most accurate distance obtained using this method is . The largest radius of the bipolar lobes in this model is about 22,000 AU, and the axis is oriented 41° from the line of sight, or 49° relative to the plane of the sky, which means it is seen from Earth slightly more "end on" than "side on".


title: Carina Nebula

text: The Keyhole, or Keyhole Nebula, is a small dark cloud of cold molecules and dust within the Carina Nebula, containing bright filaments of hot, fluorescing gas, silhouetted against the much brighter background nebula. John Herschel used the term "lemniscate-oval vacuity" when first describing it, and subsequently referred to it simply as the "oval vacuity". The term lemniscate continued to be used to describe this portion of the nebula until popular astronomy writer Emma Converse described the shape of the nebula as "resembling a keyhole" in an 1873 "Appleton's Journal" article. The name Keyhole Nebula then came into common use, sometimes for the Keyhole itself, sometimes to describe the whole of the Carina Nebula (signifying "the nebula that contains the Keyhole").


title: Carina Nebula

text: The diameter of the Keyhole structure is approximately . Its appearance has changed significantly since it was first observed, possibly due to changes in the ionizing radiation from Eta Carinae. The Keyhole does not have its own NGC designation. It is sometimes erroneously called NGC 3324, but that catalogue designation refers to a reflection and emission nebula just northwest of the Carina Nebula (or to its embedded star cluster).


title: Carina Nebula

text: A small Bok globule in the Keyhole Nebula (at RA 10h44m30s, Dec −59°40') has been photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope and is nicknamed the "Carina Defiant Finger" due to its shape. In Hubble images, light can be seen radiating off the edges of the globule; this is especially visible in the southern tip, where the "finger" is. It is thought that the Defiant Finger is being ionized by the bright Wolf–Rayet star WR 25, and/or Trumpler 16-244, a bright blue supergiant. It has a mass of at least , and stars may be forming within it. Like other interstellar clouds under intense radiation, the Defiant Finger will eventually be completely evaporated; for this cloud the time frame is predicted to be 200,000 to 1,000,000 years.


title: Carina Nebula

text: Trumpler 14 is an open cluster with a diameter of , located within the inner regions of the Carina Nebula, approximately from Earth. It is one of the main clusters of the stellar association, which is the largest association in the Carina Nebula. About 2,000 stars have been identified in . and the total mass of the cluster is estimated to be .


title: Carina Nebula

text: Trumpler 15 is a star cluster on the north-east edge of the Carina Nebula. Early studies disagreed about the distance, but astrometric measurements by the "Gaia" mission have confirmed that it is the same distance as the rest of Carina OB1.


title: Carina Nebula

text: Trumpler 16 is one of the main clusters of the Carina OB1 stellar association, which is the largest association in the Carina Nebula, and it is bigger and more massive than . The star Eta Carinae is part of this cluster.


title: Carina Nebula

text: Mystic Mountain is the term for a dust–gas pillar in the Carina Nebula, a photo of which was taken by Hubble Space Telescope on its 20th anniversary. The area was observed by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on 1–2 February 2010. The pillar measures in height; nascent stars inside the pillar fire off gas jets that stream from towering “peaks”.


title: Carina Nebula

text: WR 22 is an eclipsing binary. The dynamical masses derived from orbital fitting vary from over to less than for the primary and about for the secondary. The spectroscopic mass of the primary has been calculated at or .


title: Carina Nebula

text: WR 25 is a binary system in the central portion of the Carina Nebula, a member of the cluster. The primary is a Wolf–Rayet star, possibly the most luminous star in the galaxy. The secondary is hard to detect but thought to be a luminous OB star.