The Roerich Pact is a treaty on Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments, signed by the representatives of 21 states in the Oval Office of the White House on 15 April 1935. As of January 1, 1990, the Roerich Pact had been ratified by ten nations: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States, and Venezuela. It went into effect on 26 August 1935. The government of India approved the treaty in 1948 but did not
take any further formal action. The Roerich Pact is also known as "Pax Cultura" ("Cultural Peace" or "Peace through Culture"). The most important part of the Roerich Pact is the legal recognition that the protection of culture is always more important than any military necessity.
The Russian painter and philosopher Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) started the modern movement for the defense of cultural objects, in order for a “Peace of Civilizations”.
Roerich was born on October 9, 1874, in St. Petersburg, Russia. He became a successful painter, and one of his paintings was purchased by Tsar Nicholas II.
After 1918, Roerich left Russia. In 1923, the Roerich Museum was founded in New York and is now in Manhattan at the corner of 107th Street and Riverside Drive. Finally, Roerich settled down in the Kulu Valley in Himachal Pradesh in the Himalayas. He died on December 13, 1947.
In 1929, Roerich, working with Paris University professor Giorge Chklaver, wrote a draft of an international treaty dedicated to protection of cultural values (Roerich Pact).
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a decisive influence on the process of signing of the treaty by all nations of the American continent. Incidentally, Roosevelt kept in his private rooms a bust of Roerich.
The Roerich Pact was the basis for the United Nations “International Convention for Protection of Cultural Values in the Event of Armed Conflict” signed in 1954. However, not all of the ideas of the Roerich Pact are fully implemented in international law, especially the preference of the preservation of cultural values over military necessity.
The Roerich Pact proposed a flag to identify protected objects, the Banner of Peace, which was a white cloth containing a red ring and three red circles inscribed in it. The sign symbolized a unity of the past, present, and future into the ring of eternity. Ideas from the Pact were reflected in Roerich's art. The Banner of Peace symbol is shown in many of his paintings.
The Roerich Pact is an international treaty, but it also contains legal ideas about a new type of state. The state budget should include money spent on culture, art and education that must be larger than military expenses. That is the legal recognition that the protection of cultural objects is more important than any military necessity. Roerich thought that caring for future generations was an important reason for constitutional states to exist.
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the speech upon the signature of the Roerich Pact, said, "In opening this Pact to the adherence of the Nations of the world, we are endeavoring to make of universal application one of the principles vital to the preservation of modern civilization. This Treaty possesses a spiritual significance far deeper than the text of the instrument itself."
The Roerich Pact was an important step towards the future development of a new legal culture. The provisions of Roerich’s concept are based on the idea that the primary duty of the state is to preserve the national culture. The ideas of the Roerich Pact are still not fully implemented in international law. Some people think that the 21st century is the time to implement his ideas.
M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan (; മനോജ്‌ നെല്ലിയാട്ടു ശ്യാമളന്‍, Mitur Ben Es-Derti ,Latin English: "Maṉōj Nelliyāṯṯu Ṣiyāmaḷaṉ", born 6 August 1970), known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an American filmmaker and screenwriter who resides and works primarily in the United States. He is known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that climax with a twist ending. Some of his notable movies are "The Sixth Sense" (1999), "Unbreakable" (2000), "Signs" (2002), "The Village" (2004), "Lady in the Water" (2006), "The Happening" (2008) and "The Last Airbender" (2010). He is also known for filming his movies (and staging his plots) in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was raised.
Shyamalan was born in a Hindu household in Mahé, Puducherry, India. His father, Nelliate C. Shyamalan is a Malayali traditional physician (Vaidyar) from Mahé. His mother, Jayalakshmi is Tamil and is an obstetrician and gynecologist by profession.
Neijia
, literally "internal family", is a term in Chinese martial arts, grouping those styles that practice
, literally "internal strength", usually translated as internal martial arts, occupied with spiritual, mental or qi-related aspects, as opposed to an "external" ) approach focused on physiological aspects. The distinction dates to the 17th century, but its modern application is due to publications by Sun Lutang, dating to the period of 1915 to 1928.
Nèi jìng is developed by using "nèigōng", or "internal exercises," as opposed to "wài gōng", "external exercises."
Nèijiā is a broad term used mistakenly in the West as a synonym for the more specific Wǔdāngquán styles, named for their association with the Taoist monasteries of Wudangshan range, Hubei Province in Chinese popular legend. These styles are enumerated by Sun Lutang as Tàijíquán, Xíngyìquán and Bāguàzhǎng, but must also include Bājíquán and the legendary Wudang Sword. Some other Chinese arts, not in the Wudangquan group, such as Liuhebafa, Bak Mei Pai, Bok Foo Pai and Yiquan are frequently classified (or classify themselves) as "internal".
Brahmajala Sutta (Theravada)
The Brahmajala Sutta is the first of 34 suttas in the Digha Nikaya (the Long Discourses of the Buddha). The name comes from 'brahma' (perfect wisdom) and 'jala' (net-which-embraced-all-views). The sutta is also called 'Atthajala' (Net of Essence), Dhammajala, (Net of the Dhamma), Ditthijala (Net of Views), Anuttarasangama Vijaya (Incomparable Victory in Battle).
The sutta discusses two main topics: the elaboration of the Ten Precepts (Cula-sila), the Middle Precepts (Majjhima-sila), and the Great Precepts (Maha-sila). Cula-sila deals with the Ten Precepts to be practised by devout buddhists, while Majjhima-sila gives a detailed description of the practice of the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth precepts, together with the practise of plant conservation and speech etiquette.
The second and third parts of the sutta discuss the 62 beliefs (ditthi) or "views" held by ascetics in the Ganges plains ( in what is now India) during the life of the Buddha. These are divided into: 18 beliefs related to the past (pubbantanuditthino), and 44 beliefs about the future (aparantakappika).
Many of these beliefs are still relevant in the modern world and thus the sutta provides Buddhist scholars with much information to ponder about the Buddha's teachings.
The elaboration of these beliefs is very detailed, focusing on how the beliefs (faiths) come to be and the way they are described and declared. The elaboration ends with the Buddha's statement about the danger of clinging to these beliefs, as they are still influenced by desire (lobha), hatred (dosa), and ignorance (moha) that its faithful followers will not end in the final liberation but still in the cycle of samsara. Believers of these faiths are compared to small fish in a pond which will be captured by a fine net no matter how much they want to escape, while those who see reality as it is are beyond the net of samsara.
Baguazhang