Teachings of Buddhism

Teachings of Buddhism Buddhism is the second largest religion in Asia after Hinduism. Being also a philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, Buddhism is based on numerous teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, or Buddha, who lived between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. Buddhists recognize his enlightenment (‘bodhi) achieved by entering a deep state of meditation and during which Buddha has achieved a total and direct realization of the truth. Exactly Buddhas Enlightenment is the source of the majority of Buddhist teachings and practices and the proof that any human being (not a god) can directly perceive the true nature of reality through ones own efforts. It is the source of endless inspirations for every Buddhist and a sacred dream and aim of all Buddhas followers. The early texts provide somewhat different accounts of Buddhas biography. The major evidence suggests that Gautama was born on the periphery, taught by famous religious teachers of the day, and not finding the answer on how to permanently end suffering attempted an extreme asceticism, underwent prolonged fasting, breath-holding, and exposure to pain. Not finding any solution again, he chose the so-called Middle Way approach between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification meditation. At the age of 35, he has finally completed his spiritual quest under a sacred fig tree (later to be known as the Bodhi tree, or ‘tree of Enlightenment): During his intensive forty-nine-day meditation, Gautama has achieved the complete and unshakeable state of full enlightenment and so had become the Buddha (â€Å"One who is fully awake†). Some important factors around Buddhas achievement of enlightenment state were finding a suitable place for meditation (the Bodhi Tree), conq uering all distractions (the same as Jesus Christ, Buddha was being tempted by demons and evil forces), and, factually, attaining enlightenment. After this, Buddha gathered followers, instituted a monastic order, and spent the rest of his life travelling and teaching the path of awakening he discovered. Before discussing the teaching of Buddhism, it is important to fully understand what a state enlightenment is. Difficult to determine or properly describe, enlightenment refers to the state of having a direct insight into the nature of reality and into truth. Achieved through Buddhist meditation, enlightenment is a dynamic state of an innate wisdom with its basic nature allowing the mind staying quieted and focused and concentration strengthened. This means, it is far not about an intellectual knowledge, visions, or supernatural experiences, but about wisdom of another kind. Enlightenment releases from negative feelings and experiences like ignorance, worries, sorrow and unhappiness, and allows one enjoying pure being and seeing things as they actually are. It is ‘the hearts release or nirvana and can be achieved both in ones life and after death. All Buddhas followers practice to and strive for achieving the state of enlightenment. At that, the faith is considered the primary condition to enter the sea of Buddhas teachings. Buddhas enlightenment had happened in three stages allowing him to realize the ultimate truth of reality unfolded like a lotus. The first one is calm thinking and a state of removal from everyday consciousness and reality. The second stage is detachment from the chatter of mind and entering the state of exalted rapture. Finally, the third stage is reaching ever purer joy and the final level of consciousness. This last stage makes the mind absolutely peaceful and clear enabling its direct perception into reality. The enlightenment had happened also on three different levels: of a Buddha, of a bodhisattva (a â€Å"wisdom-being†), and of an ordinary person. Shunryu Suzuki in his Zen Mind, Beginners Mind defines enlightenment as â€Å"nothing special. You may say ‘universal nature or ‘Buddha nature or ‘enlightenment. You may call it by many names, but for the person who has it, it is nothing, and it is something.† And this characteristic of an ‘ordi nary mystery is maybe the most valuable about Buddhas enlightenment. Today, the entire Buddhist tradition exists in order to try and share Buddhas insight with others. The following principles, or primary/basic teachings, which are fixed in Tipitaka (the preliminary body of Buddhist teachings, analogous to the Old Testament in Christianity) and are shared by all schools of Buddhism, were revealed to Buddha during his enlightenment: the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the Precepts. These teachings explicate the Buddhist doctrines of suffering, the five aggregates of being, refusing the self, ethics, karma, rebirth, enlightenment and Nirvana. The most basic Buddhist teachings, the Four Noble Truths give start to the spiritual path of this religion and encompass all Buddhas knowledge. They present the knowledge and understanding of the self, of karma and rebirth, and of enlightenment and Nirvana. These four are: (1) there is suffering in life; (2) the causes of suffering can be known; (3) suffering can be brought to an end by removing its cause; (4) the Eightfold path is the way to end suffering. The Eightfold Path, logically, includes eight points to cure the suffering of life. These are: (1) right understanding, (2) right intention, (3) right speech, (4) right action, (5) right livelihood, (6) right effort, (7) right mindfulness, and (8) right concentration. Right understanding refers to the Four Truths about suffering, the fact about changing nature of everything, and the fact about illusive nature of the self. Right intention is about giving up everything wrong and undertaking only good things/deeds as well as abandoning and cultivating the corresponding thoughts along with the deeds. Right speech refers to telling only the truth, avoiding negative statements, impolite and abusive language, babbles and gossiping, etc. as well as practicing kindly, meaningful, harmonious and necessary speech exclusively. Right action includes morally right, peaceful and honorable conduct and avoidance of causing suffering. Right livelihood means living in a right way, without doing any har m to humans, animals and whatsoever, including making of weapons, etc. Right effort refers to fostering good and preventing evil as well as constant self-improvement. Right mindfulness is about wakefulness. It refers to intentional awareness development and fostering right attention. Right concentration is mainly about practicing Buddhist meditation. These eight truth points aim at cultivating wisdom, ethical behavior, and mental discipline. They also are the key way of resolving all possible questions about life, death and oneself and the live guidelines for every Buddhist. The Precepts can be paralleled to Ten Commandments of Christianity. There are five of them: (1) do not kill but practice love; (2) do not steal but practice giving; (3) do not indulge in sexual misconduct but practice contentment; (4) do not tell lies but practice truthfulness and open-mindedness; and (5) practice awareness and mental clarity. In addition, Buddhas enlightenment is about understanding the fact that religious (and any) beliefs should not be taken as such. Buddhist doctrine asserts that one should not believe in something because he/she has heard of it, because there are long-lasting traditions, because it is spoken or written somewhere (e.g. in Bible) or popular, because it is taught so, etc. On contrary, one should believe because he/she has found the reasons to believe and has decided to choose and fully accept this particular way of living. Mysterious and wonderful, philosophic and deep, Buddhas enlightenment can and should be compared to the perfect way of meditation popular at the East. No other religion suggest similar way of perceiving the truth and the reality as well as says it is available for every ordinary person who has faith and who is willing to strive for this perfect state of consciousness. Buddhas revelation and teachings which he has received during his enlightenment makes him special, but he is a more close person (not really God factually) to his followers than any other god in any other worlds religion. In contrast to all other religions, Buddhism enlightenment experience is to figure out, to realize, to understand, to attain wisdom, and not to get the ready doctrines from the Bible, Koran, etc. Buddhism calls to strive for at least partial enlightenment to meditate in order to have at least some enlightenment experience. This is the core of this religion; this makes it democratic and very close to e ach of its followers. Because it is not after enlightenment that the true meaning is attained it is during the enlightenment An ordinary example of a raining weather can help explain Buddhas teachings in simple words. Today it is raining this is Buddhas teaching because he is everywhere. Religion is absolute and independent of somebodys perspective or interpretation; religion is everywhere. Buddhism says there should not be any particular teaching. Instead, people should see teaching in every moment of life, in their very existence this is Buddhas major teaching; this is what he was enlightened about. His enlightenment is not only the source of Buddhist teachings it illustrates the absence of a personal God present in Christianity, Judaism and Islam and the philosophic nature of faith which asserts that God is present everywhere in the world and in the human soul and at the same time transcends the world and the nature.

God’s Existence Can Be Proven a Priori Essay

Trying to prove that God exists is a difficult argument and many people have tried many different ways. The Ontological argument is one argument; at the centre of the argument is the concept of existence. The Ontological argument has been argued from a group of philosophers for the existence of God. â€Å"Ontological† means talking about being and so that being is the existence of God. The ontological argument differs from other arguments in favour of God because of the fact that it is an a priori deductive argument. There are two main arguments for the ontological argument which seeks to prove the existence of God a priori. The first argument is from Anselm; he was the Archbishop of Canterbury and therefore started his argument from a theistic point of view. Anselm believed that no belief in God was absurd and he used a reducio ad absurdum argument, which tries to show that God not existing could not be believed because in not believing you are adopting a nonsensical argument. His starting point was his definition of God, ‘God is the thought than which nothing greater can be conceived’. Firstly Anselm attacks the idea that there is no God, even the thought that there is no God requires the concept of God. The greatest possible being has to exist in reality as well as in the mind to be the greatest possible being therefore we can conceive of the greatest possible being because it also has to exist in reality. A criticism that was raised about the greatest possible being is that we as humans all have different ideas of what it could be but Anselm responded by saying that when we reach the idea of such a high level being such as God then the idea of what it is becomes very similar. Therefore God exists according to Anselm. Also God is considered to be a necessary being, which will always exist, does not rely on other beings and cannot not exist, therefore God must exist if he is to be called a necessary being. The second philosopher to argue the existence of God using the ontological argument was Rene Descartes; he set out his argument firstly by defining God as ‘a supremely perfect being’. From this he tried to prove the existence of God, because God is defined as a supremely perfect being he possess all perfections. According to Descartes the perfect state includes existence as well as the classical attributes of God, he believed that existence was perfection in itself and therefore God must exist. Therefore this is why we as humans cannot have a necessary existence because we do not have complete perfection. Descartes used mathematics and an example of a mountain with a valley to explain that God must exist, the mountain being separate from the valley and according to him it is the same with God, you cannot separate existence from God. This argument however cannot apply to objects affected by space and time, contingent things and can only apply to necessary beings which are perfect. He continues by saying that only God can have absolute perfection and there can only be one absolute. Descartes goes on to point out that Mackie or Russell are trying to establish necessary existence of contingent objects such as unicorns but necessary existence only applies to absolutely perfect beings. A criticism of the argument was put forward by Thomas Aquinas, who had already questioned the important aspect of the ontological argument, the idea that we cannot assign existence a priori to our definition of the idea of a perfect being. Aquinas claimed Anselm was guilty of making a ‘transitional error’, moving from his definition of God to the claim that he exists. Anselm also made the assumption that his definition was shared by all believers of God. The meaning of the term God means he exists in peoples understanding but not in reality. According to Aquinas the existence of God must be shown a posteriori which is what he tried to attempt to show in his cosmological argument. Also David Hume disagrees with the ontological argument. Hume was an empiricist so disapproves the use of a priori to prove existence and believes it should only be used for a definition. A description of a thing can contain every detail possible but we have to go beyond a description to be able to determine its existence, just because we can describe it does not mean it therefore pops into existence. He believed the only way in which you could prove something a priori was if the opposite implies a contradiction, such as x=not x. Therefore if it implies a contraction then it is inconceivable and then everything can be conceived not to exist. Therefore Hume’s believed that nothing can be proven to exist a priori, including God. He came to the conclusion that existence could only ever be contingent. Kant also disagrees with Descartes ontological argument. He used the example of a triangle, if you have a triangle it must have three angles but if you do not have a triangle it will not have three angles. It all depends on whether you agree there is a God or not, if there is a God then his existence is necessary but we do not have to accept the idea there is a God. Descartes according to Kant just gives God existence, however existence isn’t a property. God could have all the classic attributes but still he might not exist. For example a chair, it has many properties which are established a posteriori but whether it exists or not have to be discovered a priori. Using Descartes idea but changing it slightly, â€Å"existence is not predicate†. By adding reality to something does not mean it makes it better, Kant’s example, â€Å"a hundred real thalers does not contain the least coin more than a hundred possible thalers†. We must establish whether something exists or not before we can describe it, not the other way around and therefore if there is a perfect being then he must exist. Kant distinguishes between a priori and a posteriori, a priori are necessary, they have to be so whereas a posteriori can be challenged, such as how many people you think you saw. If something exists and the existence of that tells us about its property then by saying it does not exist you deny it of that property and almost say that it lacks it, however how can you say that something that does not exist lack something? This is a strong argument against the ontological argument which cannot be explained easily. A criticism of Anselm’s ontological argument directly was from Gaunilo, he had the same idea as Kant, that something cannot be defined into existence. Just because we define what we believe God to be does not mean that he actually exists. In Gaunilo’s book ‘On behalf of the Fool’, he describes the Lost Island as the greatest possible island and that no greater island can be conceived. It is logical to say that it is greater to exist in reality than as just an idea. If this island therefore did not exist there could be a even greater island which did exist and so therefore the Lost Island must exist somewhere. The perfect island exists but it may not be what you think of as the perfect island because by imaging it does not mean it exists. Therefore Anselm saying that God the perfect being had to exist cannot work. However, there is a problem with Gaunilo’s criticism, Anselm said he was not arguing about contingent things such as the island which have no intrinsic maximum, he was arguing for the ‘greatest thing that can be conceived’ which has a intrinsic maximum and so can be perfect. Therefore the ontological argument can be used to talk about such things as God which is necessary but cannot be used when talking about contingent things such as an island. The island is limited whereas the notion of God is not. To conclude, to prove the existence of God a priori we need to have knowledge of what God is, before sense experience can be gathered. This is where the ontological argument falls down. How can we understand a being when we cannot see, hear or touch them first if we want to prove the existence using a priori. A priori uses facts which are either true or false to determine things but without ever experiencing God ourselves through a posteriori first we have no facts in which to use a priori. The only way in which we can argue that God exists is if we treat him as if he were an object. God existence is reality in the believer’s world but for someone who is atheistic then he does not. I agree with Norman Malcolm who argued that necessary existence cannot be affected by anything external to itself. It cannot be created or destroyed, therefore God either exists or his existence is impossible. Therefore I believe that he cannot exist because something would have had to bring him into existence at the beginning which therefore means he cannot be a necessary being because he would have always had to exist but there must have been a point when he didn’t. Also if he is a necessary being with all the classical attributes why is the evil and suffering and if he was omnipotent then why does he want to hide himself from us? If he has power in which to be able to show himself then why has he not and then we would be able to prove his existence using a posteriori instead of a priori.

An Enduring Challenge For The World Class Education System

Qatar is a small country with a steadily increase in the population rate, from 676,000 thousand in 2000 to 1.5 million in 2010, which shows an escalation by more than one million over a period of ten years (QSA , 2011). The cause of change in the population percentage lies on the elevated standard of living, which includes average wages Hukoomi (2014), health care and world class education system. Their wealth led to driving infrastructure investments and nation-building projects, which require workers support from around the globe (Harkness Khaled, 2014). However, despite this rapid socioeconomic development within a short period of time, Qatar is trying to preserve and maintain their cultural essence and inherited position. Nevertheless, an enduring challenge for the Qatari society is to balance the undergoing modernity through globalization and the country’s values and traditions, which is under the Sharia legal code. This law is standard and used for every moral or criminal matters (Harkness Khaled, 2014). Public affection of relationships is of married couples are considered as offensive in Qatar, since they adhere to the Islamic and traditional behaviors. Consanguineous and early marriages are slightly diluting, allowing men and women to have prior contact between them. This assembled with Qatar’s development, cultural heterogeneity, and balanced traditionalism, make it an ideal topic for researching the change in marriage traditions and how it has evolved over aShow MoreRelatedThe Bronfenbrenner Theory Essay1228 Words   |  5 Pagesinteractions between the individual and the environment, which is defined as persons, objects, and symbols in the person’s immediate world. Thes e relations are two-way, that is the consumer acts upon the environment, and the environment acts on the individual. These events are most effective over long, consistent periods of time. 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Sexual Identity Discrimination - 1297 Words

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Same-sex Parents in Custody Cases - 1853 Words

When considering the word â€Å"family†, many people think of â€Å"Mom+Dad+2.5 children†--the nuclear family of television sitcom. However, this definition of family is a new interpretation that fit the rapid housing expansion of the Cold War years in the Western world. Conservatives have often decried the breakdown of this definition of family as a primary reason for their opposition to same sex marriage. As this was the predominant family structure for a lengthy period of time, most family law decisions have been written with this paradigm in mind, defining a husband/wife relationship as the norm. However, as gay marriage is legalized nationally, family law must adapt to newer definitions of the word â€Å"family†, in order to†¦show more content†¦Interestingly, a recent case has further infringed upon the ability of gay partners to adopt a child in their marriage, thus highlighting the precarious legal status of a gay parent. 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Natural Calamity in Uttrakhand Free Essays

As a child I was amused at the premonition of the Soothsayer when he predicted the Death of Julius Caesar, who out of sheer vanity not only discarded his advice, but also admonished him for the same. A similar analogy can be drawn to the travesty that now surrounds Uttarakhand, the sole exception being, the vanity and obliviousness of the Government has gravely pulverized the State Exchequer and costed the lives of its own denizens, as against the death of one ruler. The blame game, which is a necessary by product of every mishappening in our country, has already begun, where both the Central Government as well as the State Government are rebuking each other and their predecessors in chair for faulty policy making, ineffective implementation, absence of rescue and relief strategy, steaming constitutional debates on whether the present system should be governed under Entry 56 of the Union List or under Entry 17 of the Sate List, and the classic press release phrase â€Å"mis-governance†. We will write a custom essay sample on Natural Calamity in Uttrakhand or any similar topic only for you Order Now What lies on the other hand of this scale is innumerable unreported deaths, devastation of public property, and over sixty thousand stranded people, who are yet to be afforded anything as remotely close to the term â€Å"relief†. Genesis of the Problem and Observations made by the CAG Report India boasts of being ranked sixth in terms of largest hydel power generation capacity countries. Domestically, hydel power accounts for 1/4th of India’s dependence on energy. The Hydel Power Report of Uttarakhand published in the year 2008, categorically acclaims that the State has the potential to harness almost 20,000 MW of electricity through hydel power. Blinded with such ambitious target, the State Government failed to notice, either deliberately or otherwise, the very first objective on the same page, which has been reproduced as: â€Å"To harness the environment friendly Renewable Energy resources and enhance their contribution to the socioeconomic development of the State. Another important objective which the State while implementing the said project, was oblivious to, is â€Å"To enhance the use of energy sources that assist in mitigating environmental pollution. † The current policies, as the CAG Report categorically points out, are aimed at aggravating and not mitigating environmental pollution, and have been a cause of the floods in and around the region. Periphrastically speaking, the ngoing havoc that was witnessed in Uttarakhand was preordained in the report published by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India as late as in 2009, reproaching the Central Government and the Government of Uttarakhand for its dual role of faulty hydro power policy making as well as ineffective policy implementation. Some of the main concerns highlighted in the CAG Report are: 1. Due to the over ambitious policy of the State Government to create multiple river channels, and multiple power projects on the same tributary, a serious endangerment of environment is certainty. With over 42 Projects currently functioning, and 203 projects in construction and clearance stage, at every 6 – 7 kms stretch, there will be a dam to obstruct the flow of the river. 2. All the projects are based on high seismic areas in and around districts chamoli, rudra prayag, pithoragarh, Almora and despite severe earth quakes in 1720, 1803, 1991, and 1999 the multiplicity of hydro power projects, without adequate counter seismic measures continue to run rogue thereby causing serious risk to the lives of the people. 3. There is a clear enumeration of Flash Floods which would result in severe destruction to life and property in and around the low lying areas of the hills. Table Appended to the Report has further highlighted various instances wherein such flash floods have occurred previously in the same areas. 4. No evidence to suggest that for failure to comply with the conditions of Environmental Impact Assessment, a penalty was imposed on the builders. 5. Failure of the nodal agency to ensure submission of quarterly and half yearly compliance reports by the management. . Flagrant Negligence towards Environmental and Security Concerns. 7. The adverse impact on the ecology was further underscored by the fact that almost 4 out of 5 Power Projects have shown the complete drying up of river beds to a trickle resulting into severe impairment and devastation of the ecology, and imbalance in the water table resulting into drying up of natural aquifers in the nearby areas. 8. According to International Standards, the minimum discharge of river downstream should be maintained at 75 % so that the aquatic life remains intact. However, the present projects are discharging downstream river by 90 % and above which results into complete devastation of the aquatic life. 9. Faulty Pre-Feasibility Survey Reports, which gives inaccurate data for evaluation of the hydro power station, which means serious short comings in ascertaining whether the location to construct is feasible or not, questions on plant efficiency and what would be the impact of soil erosion, etc. remain in a state of serious jeopardy. 10. As much as 38 % of the total projects which have been granted an Environmental Clearance have failed to carry out mandatory plantation. By – Passing The Law As per the Gazette notification issued by the Central Government under Sections 2 and 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, the area surrounding the river Bhagirathi from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi, which is 135 kms stretch, was declared to be â€Å"eco sensitive area†. A total area of about 4179. 59 sq km came under the eco-sensitive zone. This will impose restrictions on quarrying, commissioning hydropower projects on Bhagirathi, and construction of roads in the prohibited area. Besides, it will impose a ban on felling of trees and setting up of factories to manufacture furniture and other wooden items. For the purposes of effective implementation, the State Government, with the help of the local NGO’s and people was mandated to formulate a Zonal Master Plan surrounding the area, whereby every hydel power which is below 20 MW of Power Generation Capacity had to take a clearance from the State Ministry. However, the State Government opposed the said notification in May as they were not â€Å"consulted† before this policy was formulated; among concerns voiced by the citizens that an embargo on development would send them back to the Stone Age, which in reality was not what the notification envisaged. This mutual blame game and inter-ministerial trifles have led to such travesty. Today the very area surrounding Bhagirathi and parts of Uttarkashi are the worst hit areas of the State. Travesty of Environmental Clearance. Another notification issued by the Central Government warrants deliberation. It was mandated that before sanctioning the projects, or before expanding or modernizing hitherto existing projects, it was obligatory to procure an Environmental Impact Assessment Clearance from the Central Government and the State Government. Every Hydel Power project was subjected to the same strictures as have been mandated under Section 3(1) and Section 3(2) (v) of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Such an EIA has to be in conformity with the Standards laid down by the National Environment Policy, and the guidelines that have been made under Rule 5 of the Environment Protection Rules. There are four stages before procuring an Environmental Clearance: 1. Screening wherein the projects are divided into two categories, those to be assessed by the Central Government (Category A Projects which are over and above 25 MW capacity power projects), and those to be assessed by the State Government (Under 25 MW Capacity Power Projects). 2. Scoping by which the Expert Committee determines on detailed concerns (current and probable) regarding Environmental Depletion or damage, at which stage the Committee is empowered to allow or reject the application seeking commencement of the project. 3. Public Consultation which provides for a public consultation held in the auspices of the site, obtain responses of all stake holders, villagers, etc. in writing and to be supervised by the State Pollution Control Board, but which specifically excludes â€Å"modernization of irrigation projects† out of its domain. . Appraisal which means the detailed scrutiny by the Expert Appraisal Committee or State Level Expert Appraisal Committee of the application and other documents like the Final EIA report, outcome of the public consultations including public hearing proceedings, submitted by the applicant to the regulatory authority concerned for grant of environmental clearance. In addition to the aforementioned checks and balances, there is a periodic Post Environment Clearance monitoring which are to be submitted on a half yearly basis by the management. This provides a very rosy picture of the law that governs such clearances; however the reality is far from such notion. For instance, according to the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, as much as 38 % of the total industries and projects functioning in the area, and which have received a green signal to operate, have not complied with the mandatory plantation of trees in and around the site. This has resulted into serious deforestation in the hilly areas, which results into soil erosion. Himalayas being young fold mountains, have a very unstable soil compaction, as compared to other mountain ranges, because of which soil erosion can assume cataclysmic proportions, it is also the reason why rivers are changing their natural course and cutting deep crevices in the hills, wreaking havoc amongst those who stand in its way. Are we to blame? This is one perpetual question, which warrants a sordid introspection. Reports have also suggested that illegal construction of motels, rest houses, guest houses, hotels and restaurants have been made in the river bed, whereas a notification issued by the State Government clearly prohibits any illegal construction in or around 100 metres from the river bed. This is supplementary to the damage that has already been carried out by the Government. Media reports further stipulate that there was no effective functioning authority in the name of â€Å"State Disaster Management Authority†. The moot question that now faces us is whether this calamity was â€Å"natural† at all, or was it brought about by our own fallacies, inactions, deliberate obliviousness, and negligence. History is replete with instances of civilizations crashing under the might of Natural Forces, and with the present rate of depletion, the future of the Upper Gangetic Basin and the Himalayas hangs in a very delicate balance. How to cite Natural Calamity in Uttrakhand, Papers

Government Intervention and Internet Regulation free essay sample

Government Intervention and Internet Regulation Internet is a global network that connects millions of computers together and allows people to communicate and share information with each other in an effective and easy way. It has become the most widely used means of communications of recent times. â€Å"The number of U. S. homes with one or more personal computers increased by 16% (in 1995) to about 38 million households, up from 33 million in 1994 and 25 million in 1993† (Fox 9). Along with that staggering stat, the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science has reported that 95% of the public has access to the Internet† (â€Å"Free Essay†). Internet is filled with a lot of information on almost every topic in the world and anyone can access that information anytime he or she wants and most often that information is available for free. The very fact that everything is so easily available over the internet has become a cause of great concern because people can access information that they are not supposed to view. This has given the rise to a great debate over the use internet regulation versus the concept of net neutrality. â€Å"Internet regulation is basically restricting or controlling access to certain aspects or information† (â€Å"Internet Regulation†). The proponents of regulation argue that some form of government intervention is necessary to keep a check on the information people access over the internet because that information might be a source of harm for the society in general. Whereas on the other hand, the proponents of concept of net neutrality state that if a person pays for his internet access, then there should be no restrictions on the content that he can view. Because internet is filled with all sorts of information and anyone can access unsuitable information at anytime, some sort of government intervention is necessary in the form of internet regulation to uphold the morals of the society. There are several ways through which internet can be regulated. Government can make use of the â€Å"state control approach† to â€Å"intervene directly and place technical controls on the content that can be accessed by their citizens† (Darlington). â€Å"A classic case is Saudi Arabia where all of the countrys Internet service providers have to go through a central node where the Saudi authorities block access to sites hosting pornography, those believed to cause religious offence, and web sites containing information on bomb-making† (Darlington). Another form of regulation, â€Å"the self regulation approach† is based on â€Å"voluntary initiatives by the Internet Service Providers (ISP) industry† (Darlington). As per this approach, the ISPs try to control the type of content available to the customers and they keep a check on information being accessed over the internet. â€Å"Classically this is the approach in Britain where there is no written constitution and government has shown no wish to legislate† (Darlington). And perhaps the most commonly used and widely accepted form of regulation is the use of filtering techniques through which access to some parts of the information can be controlled for some particular users. For example, parents can use filters to restrict their children from viewing inappropriate explicit content. One of the arguments for having regulation is that internet can be accessed by anyone. Initially, it was supposed to cater to the needs of the American military establishments. Then its uses spread over to the academic communities and today it can be accessed by any individuals from any country and belonging to any age group. For example, a child can easily view inappropriate content from his bedroom at any time he wants. This should not happen because that material can corrupt the mind of that child and can have some serious negative effects. â€Å"As the speed of the Internet increased dramatically with the development of broadband access in the late 1990s and early 2000s, not only has more of this type of information become more available, but also users have been able to access this information in greater quantity† (â€Å"Internet Legal Definition†). So in such circumstances, â€Å"we must have some procedures for tackling illegal content on the Internet and some mechanisms for allowing end user control of what is accessed on the Internet† (Darlington). â€Å"It is argued that the genesis of the Internet was such that it embraced and fostered a new spirit of freedom, openness and experimentation and that these values must remain an integral feature of the Internet† and if any form of regulation is introduced then the whole essence of the internet will be lost and people would not be able to access the vast resources of information that it has to offer (Darlington). The opponents of regulation also argue that any form of internet regulation is against the individual’s rights to freedom of expression and the concept of net neutrality because in such a scenario a person may not be able to choose the content he wants to view. However, it should be clearly understood that society is greater than a single person and if such rights of freedom cause harm to the values of the society as a whole, then it is perhaps the responsibility of the government to intervene and restrict the rights given to every individual in order to maintain those values. There is offensive content on the internet†, so this justifies the use of internet restrictions (Darlington). Internet is filled with explicit content. There are thousands of websites that contain pornographic materials which is considered inappropriate for minors and mostly this content is available for free, so there is no additional cost of viewing it besides the charges paid to the ISP. â€Å" Also there are some sites which propagate extremist views, often of a racist nature† (Darlington). Though such explicit material is legal to be viewed by an individual of a certain age which in most countries is set at 18, there is no one particular way of making sure that it is not viewed by anyone under this age because individuals can mislead the system and hide correct personal information. So in such a scenario, the most effective way for individuals who have responsibility of the children, like parents and teachers, is to limit the access to such material through the use of filters. These filters allow censorship of inappropriate material using the ratings provided by the websites. However, it should be kept in mind that this censorship technique â€Å"enable adults to control their own access to material so they do not stumble across things (advertising, violence, erotica/pornography, religious or political material etc. ), which offend them† (â€Å"Internet Regulation†). So in a way it is a matter of personal choice and responsibility which gives an individual the power to choose what he views because one can easily change filter settings to control the type of content available to him. Despite all the great uses provided by the internet, it is used by some people for illegal purposes; therefore, the use of regulation is justified because â€Å"a stringent internet regulation can help to curb the innumerable illegal activities over the net† (Manohar). Examples of such criminal activities include â€Å"copyright theft, credit card fraud, financial scams, money laundering, hacking, industrial espionage, cyber terrorism, actual terrorism, bomb making instructions, prostitution, certain forms of gambling, drug use, drug smuggling, suicide assistance, defamatory allegations, cyber stalking† (Darlington). In recent times, people have started to complain about the ever increasing number of spam emails that are sent over the internet. â€Å"The number of spam messages sent increased nearly 300 percent from 2001 to 2002 from 14,078,511 to 55,683,103, according to e-mail filtering company Brightmail† ( Kornblum). â€Å"Spam refers to submitting the same message to a large group of individuals in an effort to force the message onto people who would otherwise choose not to receive this message† (â€Å"Spam†). In order to ensure that people do not indulge in such criminal activities and the society remains unharmed, the government must intervene to stop any of these activities from taking place by imposing restrictions. Some people argue that the internet is an enormous network which is growing rapidly as time progresses, so it is not possible to regulate the internet. The argument provided here is flawed because the fact that the internet is so large makes regulating it more difficult, but because it is difficult it does not mean that it should not be regulated. Some also argue that because â€Å"internet is different in operation from other communication networks†, so it should not be regulated (Darlington). â€Å"Whereas radio and television is pumped into millions of homes simultaneously (push technology), the Internet is an interactive medium and requires a particular user actively to seek a particular site or application (pull technology)† (Darlington). The very nature of the way in which the end user consumes the internet makes a good argument for having some sort of formal restrictions. In the case of radio and television, there are certain restrictions on the amount of violence and sex that goes through. So even if an individual wants to see something â€Å"special†, there is absolutely no way in which he can do that if nothing such is broadcast at that time, but the case of internet is quite different. A person can view anything, anytime and anywhere he wants. Therefore, regulation acts as a great measure to ensure that a check is maintained over the usage of the internet. Some people even argue that it is not the responsibility of the government to protect the children against the inappropriate content that is available over the internet because it has got other tasks to take care of and instead â€Å"those responsible for them at the time – parents, teachers, guardians, supervisors – should control what they access on the Internet† (Darlington). â€Å"While children and teenagers need a certain amount of privacy, they also need parental involvement and supervision in their daily lives† (â€Å"Free Essay†). One way suggested by these people requires the parents to spend time with their children when they are online so that they can keep a check on what their children are accessing. But this kind of total control can not be exercised by those responsible for children because they can not be present at all times. Furthermore, internet can now easily be accessed on mobile devices so it can be easily misused and in the case of a school where a teacher has to look after a lot of students, it is practically impossible for her to monitor the activities of each student at the same time. So â€Å"while parents and teachers must exercise responsibility, they should be assisted by other approaches including the taking down of sites with criminal content and the filtering of sites with offensive or inappropriate content† (Darlington). The debate over the topic of internet regulation versus the concept of net neutrality has become a great issue these days because of the ever growing increase in the usage of the internet and its implications on the society in general.