Survival beyond life and death : the Buddhist transcendence of dichotomy in The Waste Land

It can be argued that at the heart of The Waste Land is the supreme spiritual moment in the hyacinth garden when the speaker experiences a peculiar mode of existence in which he is neither living nor dead. The rest of the poem, to some extent, can be regarded as the interpretation of and the response to such a glimpse of survival, witness to the unification of sensibility which reconciles subjective intuition with reality. The experience is similar to Buddhist nirvana, which indicates the arrival at the other shore where the true self survives the ego and attains eternity. This essay argues that such a manner of survival is primarily Buddhist. Besides Eliot’s serious study of Buddhism at Harvard, the persistent scepticism against salvation from suffering also makes the poem more congenial to Buddhism. In the first section of the poem, the burial of the dead only leads to another circle of being and death, and renewal does not eliminate suffering. Similarly, in ‘A Game of Chess’ and ‘The Fire Sermon’ the subjective struggle to escape from various facets of life’s suffering is of no avail. The correct direction towards spiritual survival in the waste land is to let go of subjective endeavour as is explicated in the last two sections.peer-reviewe

A Buddhist Reading of T. S. Eliot's Poetry

This thesis, while revealing connections and affinities between T. S. Eliot’s poetry and Buddhism, reads Eliot’s major poems from the perspective of Buddhism. It provides an up-to-date Buddhist reading of Eliot’s poetry, by drawing on unpublished poems, essays, letters, and lecture notes by Eliot. The introduction discusses the place of Buddhism in Eliot’s poetry, especially in relation to Christianity. It also reviews existing scholarship on the relationship between Eliot and Buddhism and clarifies the methodology of this thesis accordingly. The introduction then offers a brief history of Eliot’s Buddhist learning as well as a summary of each chapter. Chapter 1 tackles the first major poem by Eliot, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’, comparing it with Edwin Arnold’s The Light of Asia. By doing so, Chapter 1 presents Prufrock’s struggle as a preparation for a spiritual journey towards salvation. Chapter 2 explores four major poems in Eliot’s first collection Prufrock and Other Observations, namely ‘Portrait of a Lady’, ‘Preludes’, ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’, and ‘La Figlia Che Piange’. It explores how these poems respond to the dichotomy of the body and the soul, by referring to Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and modern Buddhist theory of reincarnation. Chapter 3 analyses The Waste Land by focusing on the reincarnation of the inner waste land in humanity. Chapter 4 focuses on the relationship between worldly phenomena and the timeless reality in Eliot’s religious poetry. It also clarifies the place of Buddhism in Eliot’s religious scheme of salvation. From Chapter 5 to Chapter 8, each poem in Eliot’s Four Quartets is examined, in order to present in detail the significance of Buddhism to Eliot’s spiritual quest and how a Buddhist perspective may assist in understanding Eliot’s poetic sensibility in his later poetry. The conclusion offers suggestions for further research which this thesis may lead to, especially on potential connections between Eliot’s dramatic works and Buddhism, and on the reincarnation of Eliot’s poetic spirit in later poets

The Stillness in Movement: A Buddhist Reading of Ash-Wednesday

Commonly seen as a religious poem that reflects T. S. Eliot’s conversion to Catholicism, Ash-Wednesday demonstrates intensively the poet’s religious experience, especially the union of the spiritual stillness and the movements in time which verges on mysticism. However, such extraordinary experience can be comprehended from the perspective of Buddhism. It corresponds with the Buddhist concept of suchness, which is further connected to religious meditation and the attitude of non-attachment in face of worldly life. It does not violate the speaker’s pursuit for a kind of Christian salvation, for it concerns more the process and the way to achieve the destination than the destination itself

Characterization of Reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO)-Loaded SnO2 Nanocomposite and Applications in C2H2 Gas Detection

Acetylene (C2H2) gas sensors were developed by synthesizing a reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-loaded SnO2 hybrid nanocomposite via a facile two-step hydrothermal method. Morphological characterizations showed the formation of well-dispersed SnO2 nanoparticles loaded on the rGO sheets with excellent transparency and obvious fold boundary. Structural analysis revealed good agreement with the standard crystalline phases of SnO2 and rGO. Gas sensing characteristics of the synthesized materials were carried out in a temperature range of 100–300 °C with various concentrations of C2H2 gas. At 180 °C, the SnO2–rGO hybrid showed preferable detection of C2H2 with high sensor response (12.4 toward 50 ppm), fast response-recovery time (54 s and 23 s), limit of detection (LOD) of 1.3 ppm and good linearity, with good selectivity and long-term stability. Furthermore, the possible gas sensing mechanism of the SnO2–rGO nanocomposites for C2H2 gas were summarized and discussed in detail. Our work indicates that the addition of rGO would be effective in enhancing the sensing properties of metal oxide-based gas sensors for C2H2 and may make a contribution to the development of an excellent ppm-level gas sensor for on-line monitoring of dissolved C2H2 gas in transformer oil

HJURP promotes proliferation in prostate cancer cells through increasing CDKN1A degradation via the GSK3β/JNK signaling pathway

Abstract Genes with cross-cancer aberrations are most likely to be functional genes or potential therapeutic targets. Here, we found a total of 137 genes were ectopically expressed in eight cancer types, of which Holliday junction recognition protein (HJURP) was significantly upregulated in prostate cancer (PCa). Moreover, patients with higher HJURP mRNA and protein levels had poorer outcomes, and the protein levels served as an independent prognosis factor for the overall survival of PCa patients. Functionally, ectopic HJURP expression promoted PCa cells proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, HJURP increased the ubiquitination of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1 (CDKN1A) via the GSK3β/JNK signaling pathway and decreased its stability. This study investigated the role of HJURP in PCa proliferation and may provide a novel prognostic and therapeutic target for PCa