Since its introduction to China from India, Chan has become a Buddhist school with Chinese characteristics. In the process of its development, because of its tenet of “special transmission outside of the doctrine that does not establish words and letters”, Chan school encountered difficulties in realizing the practice of living. In recent years, Buddhist masters have made many contributions to the development of Chan School. Master Xuyun’s advocacy of Chan philosophy and practice made it possible to popularize Chan in people’s lives. Master Xuyun’s initiatives to promote the development of Chan School have filled out a complete picture of the history of Chan Buddhism.

Increasing number of smart cities, the rise of technology and urban population engagement in urban management, and the scarcity of open data for evaluating sustainable urban development determines the necessity of developing new sustainability assessment approaches. This study uses passive crowdsourcing together with the adapted SULPiTER (Sustainable Urban Logistics Planning to Enhance Regional freight transport) methodology to assess the sustainable development of smart cities. The proposed methodology considers economic, environmental, social, transport, communication factors and residents’ satisfaction with the urban environment. The SULPiTER relies on experts in selection of relevant factors and determining their contribution to the value of a sustainability indicator. We propose an alternative approach based on automated data gathering and processing. To implement it, we build an information service around a formal knowledge base that accumulates alternative workflows for estimation of indicators and allows for automatic comparison of alternatives and aggregation of their results. A system architecture was proposed and implemented with the Astana Opinion Mining service as its part that can be adjusted to collect opinions in various impact areas. The findings hold value for early identification of problems, and increasing planning and policies efficiency in sustainable urban development.

This study offers a focused examination on Xinfang system, China’s unique mechanism particularly on its ability and efficacy in mediating land disputes between farmers and governmental bodies for social governance purposes. Based on interviews with 10 farmers, the study elucidates the system has low entry barriers and user-friendly, thus fast becoming the preferred system option when dealing with land conflicts. Xinfang facilitates direct communication between farmers and government officials, thereby in line with the sociocultural conventions of the rural populace. The study also highlights several constraints. While the Xinfang system employs a multifaceted approach to conflict resolution, including negotiation and grassroots governmental intervention, it lacks legislative power and institutional authority that are required for effective management of more complex or multi-stakeholder land disputes. The study advocates for a comprehensive reassessment and subsequent reform of the Xinfang system, focusing particularly on its mechanisms and procedures for dispute resolution. Such reforms are not merely instrumental for the more robust safeguarding of farmers’ land rights, but also for enhancing the overall integrity and public trust in China’s legal and administrative frameworks.

Knowledge transfer, assimilation, transformation and exploitation significantly impact performing business activities, developing innovations and moving forward to new business models such as transferring to a circular economy. However, organizations’ decisions or willingness to transition to a circular economy are very often also influenced by the external environment. The study aims to determine the influence of the external environment on the transfer from a linear to a circular economy while mediating knowledge assimilation. The quantitative research involved 159 Nordic capital companies operating in Estonia and Lithuania. The survey has been performed by means of the CATI method. The analysis has been done also by applying structural equation modelling (SEM). In order to perform mediation analysis, IBM SPSS and a special PROCESS macro have been used. The study showed that knowledge assimilation partially mediates the relationship between the external environment and the transfer to the circular economy. Hence, the external environment’s direct effect is much more significant than the indirect. The added value of the study also consists in extending the concept of circular economy by including some aspects of absorptive capacity and the external environment.

Public administration reform is a very critical reform activity of the government, the government changing the function, structure, behavior, and process of public administration. The change of public administration involves many aspects, this reform has many complex and multifaceted issues. The central idea of bureaucracy is entirely contrary to the concept of public administration reform, and bureaucracy has a deep-rooted impact on the administration of most countries. Hence bureaucracy is the main obstacle to the public administration reform. Besides, incomplete decentralization and imperfect supervision are also challenges of public administration reform. Devolution is an essential measure to promote the public administration reform, which can solve many problems of the old system effectively.  Therefore, to carry out the public administrative reform effectively, it is necessary to simplify managerial procedures, delegate powers to lower levels and strengthen supervision, and management.

The development of entrepreneurship in fisheries operations is an important component of eliminating poverty. Fisherman obviously produce fishery goods, despite the broad recognition of the positive role that entrepreneurship can play in the reduction of poverty. Integration into one’s society and economy are increasingly beginning to be seen as an essential component of entrepreneurial success. This study aims to investigate the cultural and entrepreneurial attitudes of fishermen involved in the production of fishery products in the Province of West Sumatra, Indonesia, accordingly with a particular focus on marine resource conservation areas in village development. In this development, the descriptive design of capitals was utilized. This design included interviews, a questionnaire survey, and a review of the relevant body of literature. As a result, the purpose of the study was to propose an alternative model for the development of villages that would be considered novel in Indonesia. The findings demonstrated that the model makes a contribution to enhancing the socio-economic, cultural, and social capabilities of a group of fishermen. In conclusion, tourism that is focused on social entrepreneurship has the potential to boost entrepreneurial attitudes as well as the atmosphere surrounding community understanding of creative village development. We came to the conclusion that implementing tourism with a focus on social entrepreneurship could increase entrepreneurial attitudes and create an atmosphere that is more conscious of the needs of the community in village development.