Potency by Name? ‘Medicine Buddha Plant’ and Other Herbs in the Japanese \u3ci\u3eScroll of Equine Medicine\u3c/i\u3e (\u3ci\u3eBa’i sōshi emaki\u3c/i\u3e, 1267)

Buddhist ritual healing and medical therapies included care for domestic animals, such as the horse. In pre-modern Japan, equine medicine (ba’i 馬医) was not restricted to the treatment of military horses; it was also practiced in a religious context. The Scroll of Equine Medicine (Ba’i sōshi emaki 馬医草紙絵 巻, 1267) is an enigmatic picture scroll held by the Tokyo National Museum. It extends to more than six meters and contains images of ten divine figures related to the healing of horses, followed by seventeen pictures of plants, and a postscript emphasizing that the content of the scroll should be kept secret. Many of the plants listed in the scroll are either associated with the world of Buddhism, e.g. Yakushi-sō 薬 師草, ‘Medicine Buddha plant,’ or with horses, e.g. metsu-sō 馬頭草, ‘horsehead plant.’ Previous analyses of the scroll largely focused on the botanical identification of the sketches of the plants. This article reviews current interpretations of the scroll and explores the question of whether the plant names were thought to empower the plants to be used as potent materia medica for veterinary purposes. Based on earlier analyses, I suggest a new interpretation of the scroll from a study of religions perspective taking into consideration that some of the plant names in the scroll indicate both health-related and salvific potency. I also address the possible use of the scroll. The scarcity of textual information and the choice of textual detail and imagery in this ‘secret’ scroll suggests that it was used in the context of an oral transmission and empowerment ritual. The scroll itself seems to have been an object of ritual empowerment, rather than a compendium of materia medica for practical daily use when caring for horses

What ACL Means to Me

What can one say about an organization that has played such a vital role in promoting the professional development of Christian academic librarians? Ever since my first conference in 1984 at Houghton College in Houghton, New York, I have experienced a growing love and appreciation for this wonderful organization called the Association of Christian Librarians and for its many fine members

Extending device performance in photonic devices using piezoelectric properties

This study focuses on the influence of epi-layer strain and piezoelectric effects in asymmetric GaInAs/GaAlAs action regions that potentially lead to intra-cavity frequency mixing. The theoretical limits for conduction and valence band offsets in lattice-matched semiconductor structures have resulted in the deployment of non-traditional approaches such as strain compensation to extend wavelength in intersubband devices, where strain limits are related to misfit dislocation generation. Strain and piezoelectric effects have been studied and verified using select photonic device designs. Metrics under this effort also included dipole strength, oscillator strength, and offset of energy transitions, which are strongly correlated with induced piezoelectric effects. Unique photonic designs were simulated, modeled, and then fabricated using solid-source molecular beam epitaxy into photonic devices. The initial designs produce lambda wavelength, and the introduction of the piezoelectric effect resulted in lambda/2 wavelength. More importantly, this work demonstrates that the theoretical cutoff wavelength in intersubband lasers can be overcome

Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Seeking the Appropriate Balance Between Due Process and Victim Protection

Peer sexual assault is a significant problem on American college and university campuses. On April 4, 2011, the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education sought to address this problem by issuing a new Dear Colleague Letter that provided enhanced guidance on how educational institutions should adjudicate such incidents. The letter has the perverse effect of complicating matters further by blurring the already fine line between victim protection and due process for the accused, and it exposes a potential liability trap for educational institutions. This Note explains why the law surrounding victim protection and due process is difficult for institutions to apply and argues that the Department of Education should produce a model judicial policy so that institutions, victims, and accused students will have more certainty in this complicated arena. In furtherance of such a policy, this Note offers specific due-process protections f or accused students that should be embraced by educational institutions and the Department of Education alike