Globalizing Tibetan Buddhism: modernism and neo-orthodoxy in contemporary Karma bKa’ brgyud organizations

This article addresses the wider issues of continuity and change in the context of the globalization of Tibetan Buddhism. Specifically, it looks at the emergence of lay oriented convert movements within the global Karma bKa’ brgyud school, which are led by ‘crazy wise’ teachers. Firstly, the activities of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939–1987) are interpreted on the background of the tension between tradition and modernity. In dialogue with modernity, Trungpa gradually pushed the borders of Tibetan Buddhist identity to the point of collapse and established a secular teaching lineage and discourse. Trungpa's case is then compared to the development of one of the fastest growing and largest global lay movements of contemporary Tibetan Buddhism, the Diamond Way of the Danish lay teacher Ole Nydahl. The Diamond Way has transitioned into a late-charismatic stage, in which the traditionalist and modernizing features of Nydahl's teachings are creating an increasing tension. Post-Buddhist secularization and modernist packaging of neo-orthodoxy emerge as contesting paradigms of the globalization of these Tibetan Buddhist movements, which produce surprising intertextualities and shed light on the negotiation of converted Buddhist identities in a global context.     

Kompositionsbildung bei Symbolfolgen und Bediensequenzen: Empirische Befunde und die Theorie des „Competitive Chunking”

In the paradigm of artificial grammar learning subjects have to reproduce regularly structured sequences of symbols. In a subsequent and unexpected test, they have to discriminate sequences that correspond to those of thememorization task from sequences that do not. Discriminability of grammatical and nongrammatical strings is judged as evidence for unconscious learning. This effect has been explained by the creation of chunks: Memorization of strings is facilitated by composing elements to chunks. The hierarchical organization of these units allows the representation of grammatical strings by a few high level chunks. The fewer chunks are necessary to represent a given string the higher is its familiarity and the probability to be judged grammatical. For the incidental acquisition of knowledge about operating a device the creation of chunks could also be shown. In contrast to letter series, two peculiarities were found: (a) discriminability was rather low, (b) irregularities at the end of input sequences were most effective. These peculiarities dissappeared, if — similar to letter strings — the information about a single operation of a sequence was permanently available. In the present simulations it was investigated whether these effects are consistent with the theory of competitive chunking. The temporal grain within sequences was varied to investigate the impact of the availability of sequential information on discriminability. Three different modes of chunk creation were simulated in the test phase to investigate whether the creation of chunks is obligatory for perceptual integration or requires a memorization task. The variation of temporal grain had only a marginal impact on discriminability. The simulation of the empirical data required that grammatical chunks are created within the test phase. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Practical Challenges to Renewal: An Answer to Stein and Singer

Years ago, as a young man in Jungian analysis, I suffered an identity crisis. Its catalyst was my discovery that–unlike my own analyst, the majority of my colleagues, and Jung himself I am not an introverted intuitive-thinking type. Rather, I was an introverted feeling-sensation type. Suddenly feeling excluded from the professional world that defined me, I experienced a strong pull to connect, through the natural world, to a deeper aspect of myself.     

The effect of directive tutor guidance on students' conceptual understanding of statistics in problem‐based learning

Background. Education is aimed at students reaching conceptual understanding of the subject matter, because this leads to better performance and application of knowledge. Conceptual understanding depends on coherent and error‐free knowledge structures. The construction of such knowledge structures can only be accomplished through active learning and when new knowledge can be integrated into prior knowledge. Aims. The intervention in this study was directed at both the activation of students as well as the integration of knowledge. Sample. Undergraduate university students from an introductory statistics course, in an authentic problem‐based learning (PBL) environment, were randomly assigned to conditions and measurement time points. Method. In the PBL tutorial meetings, half of the tutors guided the discussions of the students in a traditional way. The other half guided the discussions more actively by asking directive and activating questions. To gauge conceptual understanding, the students answered open‐ended questions asking them to explain and relate important statistical concepts. Results and conclusions. Results of the quantitative analysis show that providing directive tutor guidance improved understanding. Qualitative data of students' misconceptions seem to support this finding. Long‐term retention of the subject matter seemed to be inadequate.     

The brain generates its own sentence melody: a Gestalt phenomenon in speech perception

Brain processes underlying spoken language comprehension comprise auditory encoding, prosodic analysis and linguistic evaluation. Auditory encoding usually activates both hemispheres while language-specific stages are lateralized: analysis of prosodic cues are right-lateralized while linguistic evaluation is left-lateralized. Here, we investigated to what extent the absence of prosodic information influences lateralization. MEG brain-responses indicated that syntactic violations lead to early bi-lateral brain responses for syntax violations. When the pitch of sentences was flattened to diminish prosodic cues, the brain's syntax response was lateralized to the right hemisphere, indicating that the missing pitch was generated automatically by the brain when it was absent. This represents a Gestalt phenomenon, since we perceive more than is actually presented.     

The politics of a conversion – the case of Robert Isaac Wilberforce

Robert Isaac Wilberforce (1802–1857) was an Anglican archdeacon and a supporter of the Oxford Movement. This article claims that his conversion to the Roman Catholic Church in 1854 had theo-political dimensions. To Wilberforce the constitutional establishment of the Church of England was not only a question of political pragmatics. His sacramental vision of the Church and his diagnosis of the actual ecclesiastical situation in England as ‘Erastian’ meant that his conversion could be seen as an act of existential political theology. His conversion is a strong suggestion that the Oxford Movement needs to be considered both as a spiritual and a political force in nineteenth-century England.     

Character Development within Youth Development Programs: Exploring Multiple Dimensions of Activity Involvement

We examined links among three dimensions of youth involvement (intensity, duration, and engagement) in Boy Scouts of America (BSA), an international out‐of‐school time (OST) youth development program designed to promote moral and performance character in boys. Using data from 737 youth and their parents who participated in one of 40 BSA program sites (commonly referred to as “packs”), we first considered how individual‐ and pack‐level measures of program involvement were differentially linked with character development. Next, we examined whether pack‐level involvement characteristics moderate individual‐level involvement characteristics, hypothesizing that highly involved packs would serve to further enhance the positive effects of high levels of individual involvement. Results indicated engagement was the strongest, most frequent predictor of increases in both moral and performance character. Although there were no direct effects of pack‐level intensity, duration, or engagement, the effects of individual‐level engagement were moderated by pack‐level engagement, suggesting that the largest increases in moral and performance character occurred among highly engaged youth who were enrolled in highly engaged packs. These results highlight the need to examine multiple dimensions of OST program involvement simultaneously, and suggest that strengthening youth engagement in programming may provide a means for enhancing the positive effects of high‐quality youth programming.     

Faculty in Faith-Based Institutions: Participation in Decision-Making and Its Impact on Job Satisfaction

This study examined full-time faculty in Christian, faith-based colleges and universities and investigated the type of impact their participation in the decision-making process had on job satisfaction. Previous studies have examined relationships among faculty at state universities and community colleges, yet little research has been examined in the area of full-time faculty at faith-based universities. This study sampled 145 full-time faculties at faith-based universities and examined the demographic variables of gender, age, years of teaching experience, degree, rank and salary groups, and participation. Regression analysis indicated that there were no significant relationships, while t-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no significant differences. Discussion of the findings focused on possible reasons these findings differ from those in studies investigating public colleges and universities.