Daemonic Figures

The Six Realms. Three Thousand Worlds. The gates of hell were opened, and the Underworld suffered an endless calamity. The eighteen levels of hell were all destroyed, and countless ghosts and deities perished. In the Underworld, a mysterious red light and an ordinary person without a trace clashed. During this life-and-death calamity, they were accidentally drawn into the Pool of Samsara. As soon as he woke up, Wu Hen reincarnated into the Martial Spirit World of the Divine Continent. From then on, the trash martial spirit came to attack, working with the Eternal Demon Sovereign! In the Six Realms' Reincarnation and the Three Thousand Worlds, there was a scene that could make one cry — the legend of the Demon Sovereign ... Close]

Time asymmetric phenomena are successfully predicted by statistical mechanics. Yet the foundations of this theory are surprisingly shaky. Its explanation for the ease of mixing milk with coffee is incomplete, and even implies that un-mixing them should be just as easy. In this book the authors develop a new conceptual foundation for statistical mechanics that addresses this difficulty. Explaining the notions of macrostates, probability, measurement, memory, and the arrow of time in statistical mechanics, they reach the startling conclusion that Maxwell's Demon, the famous perpetuum mobile, is consistent with the fundamental physical laws. Mathematical treatments are avoided where possible, and instead the authors use novel diagrams to illustrate the text. This is a fascinating book for graduate students and researchers interested in the foundations and philosophy of physics.

In addition to this mountain is a mysterious place with a fierce name in the "real world", it seems that there are many incomprehensible mysteries around this mountain. On this mountain, birds and animals are extinct, but the traces of birds and animals in the mountains are not seen here at all.

Chinese Buddhist monks of the Song dynasty (960–1279) called the irresistible urge to compose poetry “the poetry demon.” In this ambitious study, Jason Protass seeks to bridge the fields of Buddhist studies and Chinese literature to examine the place of poetry in the lives of Song monks. Although much has been written about verses in the gong’an (Jpn. kōan) tradition, very little is known about the large corpora—roughly 30,000 extant poems—composed by these monastics. Protass addresses the oversight by using strategies associated with religious studies, literary studies, and sociology. He weaves together poetry with a wide range of monastic sources and in doing so argues against positing a “literary Chan” movement that wrote poetry as a path to awakening; he instead presents an understanding of monks’ poetry grounded in the Song discourse of monks themselves. The work begins by examining how monks fashioned new genres, created their own books, and fueled a monastic audience for monks’ poetry. It traces the evolution of gāthā from hymns found in Buddhist scripture to an independent genre for poems associated with Chan masters as living buddhas. While Song monastic culture produced a prodigious amount of verse, at the same time it promoted prohibitions against monks’ participation in poetry as a worldly or Confucian art: This constructive tension was an animating force. The Poetry Demon highlights this and other intersections of Buddhist doctrine with literary sociality and charts productive pathways through numerous materials, including collections of Chan “recorded sayings,” monastic rulebooks, “eminent monk” and “flame record” hagiographies, manuscripts of poetry, Buddhist encyclopedia, primers, and sūtra commentary. Two chapter-length case studies illustrate how Song monks participated in two of the most prominent and conservative modes of poetry of the time, those of parting and mourning. Protass reveals how monks used Chan humor with reference to emptiness to transform acts of separation into Buddhist teachings. In another chapter, monks in mourning expressed their grief and dharma through poetry. The Poetry Demon impressively uncovers new and creative ways to study Chinese Buddhist monks’ poetry while contributing to the broader study of Chinese religion and literature.

Volume 5 - Demon King’s Domination "This is a shortcut for cultivation, filled with slaughter and blood. But… I like it. I want chaos, the more chaos, the better!" A story of a villain, Fang Yuan who was reborn 500 years into the past with the Spring Autumn Cicada he painstakingly refined. With his profound wisdom, battle and life experiences, he seeks to overcome his foes with skill and wit! Ruthless and amoral, he has no need to hold back as he pursues his ultimate goals. In a world of cruelty where one cultivates using Gu - magical creatures of the world - Fang Yuan must rise up above all with his own power. Humans are clever in tens of thousands of ways, Gu are the true refined essences of Heaven and Earth. The Three Temples are unrighteous, the demon is reborn. Former days are but an old dream, an identical name is made anew. A story of a time traveler who keeps on being reborn. A unique world that grows, cultivates, and uses Gu. The Spring and Autumn Cicada, the Venomous Moonlight Gu, the Wine Insect, All-Encompassing Golden Light Insect, Slender Black Hair Gu, Gu of Hope… And a great demon of the world that does exactly as his heart pleases!

With uncommon humanity, candor, wit, and erudition, award-winning author Solomon conducts a definitive narrative of incomparable range and resonance on his family secret of mental illness. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, the author reveals as never before the complexities of the disease.

They say the truth sets you free, but they have no idea how far off base that is. Free? I don’t think so. After being tricked into opening the doorway to the Demon Realm by Aliette, the Wood Queen, Donna Underwood is faced with a terrible ultimatum from the newly released demon hordes: the alchemists must deliver the Philosopher’s Stone, or the world will be plunged into a devastating modern-day Dark Age. Donna is sent to London, where she can learn how to recreate the Stone and complete her alchemist’s training. But time is running out. As she faces Demian, the vengeful demon king, Donna realizes the awful truth about collecting the Stone’s elements. And this time, even braving death may not be enough to save the world. Praise for the Iron Witch series: “An exciting installment in this fantasy series.”—Kirkus Reviews “Dark and beautiful, sensual and dangerous, utterly enthralling.”—Richelle Mead, New York Times bestselling author of the Georgina Kincaid series

One of the oldest myths in business is that every customer is a valuable customer. Even in the age of high-tech data collection, many businesses don't realize that some of their customers are deeply unprofitable, and that simply doing business with them is costing them money. In many places, it's typical that the top 20 percent of customers are generating almost all the profit while the bottom 20 percent are actually destroying value. Managers are missing tremendous opportunities if they are not aware which of their customers are truly profitable and which are not. According to Larry Selden and Geoff Colvin, there is a way to fix this problem: manage your business not as a collection of products and services but as a customer portfolio. Selden and Colvin show readers how to analyze customer data to understand how you can get the most out of your most critical customer segments. The authors reveal how some companies (such as Best Buy and Fidelity Investments) have already moved in this direction, and what customer-centric strategies are likely to become widespread in the coming years. For corporate leaders, middle managers, or small business owners, this book offers a breakthrough plan to delight their best customers and drive shareowner value.