[Vnbiz] Leadership -- Knowledge in Human Affairs (used to be "Nha Trang Bay")

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear sis Thu Huong & CACC,

That is a very good question, Thu Huong.  You are correct that people talk
about mu quang (blind) when we "follow our heart" only.  That is similar to
the term "ignorant" (si)  in Buddhism.

But we are "ignorant" or "blind" because our heart is NOT right.  We human
are controlled by our heart.  Period.   Right or wrong, we are controlled by
our heart.  So the key in leadership training is to "train our heart to be
right."

How?

There are two traditions of effective training that I know (There may be
others, but I am not well verse in them).

1.  In the Jesus tradition, the right heart is the heart that
"unconditionally loves others," be they your parents, your friends, your
employees, or your enemies.  If you have to fight because of your duty (say,
for your country), then fight seriously.  But love your enemy nonetheless.
We Vietnamese are warriors by nature (of history), and we know the art of
fighting while still loving and respecting our enemy.  (And I personally I
do that all the time. I can fight in court or in the boxing ring seriously,
punching some guy's nose bloody, while still seriously respecting and loving
the guy I fight again).

It is not easy.  Many people don't like to follow this tradition (even when
they claim to be Christian), because it is too hard to practice.  We all
want to knock someone's head off at times.  But precisely because it is
hard, it is the main part (if not the only essential part) of leadership
training.  We need to constantly practice, practice, and practice, and
constantly remind ourselves of it.  (And a lot of praying, if you are
willing to pray.  Praying gives us the spiritual strength to do the humanly
impossible).

2.  In the Buddhist tradition, the "right heart" is the heart that is
absolutely calm, not stirred easily by "base emotions," like "greed, anger,
and ignorance" (tham, sân, si).  When the heart is absolutely calm like
clear calm water, we can see everything clearly and correctly through our
heart.  An absolutely calm heart is a heart that automatically has a lot of
"compassion" (từ bi hỉ xã), just like "unconditional love" in Jesus
teaching. An absolutely calm heart is so wise that it will not be ruled by
prejudice (vô chấp), so that it won't be mù quáng or ignorant.  An
absolutely calm heart automatically brings "true wisdom" (trĩ huệ bát nhã).

There are many many methods to calm the heart, depending on our personal
disposition.  The Buddha said there are 84 thousands pháp môn  (methods of
training).  Zen (Thiền) is a very well-known tradition of calming the heart
(and there are many Zen schools with slightly different methods of
training).  Tịnh Độ Tông relying on focusing the mind on positive Buddha
images of oneself (each of us is a Buddha in the making) and chanting is
another very popular method in the Vietnamese culture.

As the Buddhist says, there are 84 thousand methods, so each one of us may
come up with our own method.  The key is important: "Keep the mind
absolutely calm at all times, not stirred by greed, base desires, anger,
prejudice."  That is the right heart.  (Please note:  In the Buddhist
vocabulary, the mind and the heart are the same things, as I use them in
this paragraph).

In sum, the heart rules, whether we like it or not.  That is the human
nature.  The only thing we can do is to train our heart for it to be right.

So, the key in leadership training is to train our heart to be right.
"Right" means:  Love other unconditionally, including our enemy.  Right also
means, an absolutely calm heart, not ruled by greed, anger, base desires,
but calm and full of compassion.

If you think that these are only some native religious things that have
little to do with real life, you really don't know what you are talking
about because you have not practiced them yet.  Practice them and you will
understand what I am talking about.

The right heart will show wisdom.  With the right heart, we will see things
in our daily life, in business, in politics that others can't see.  We will
do much better personal, business and political strategies.  If you don't
have the right heart, you can read a million books and have 20 PhD degrees,
you still can't see many things right in the front of you, because you can't
see deep into the human heart, including your own heart; and you can't plan
anything correctly, be it your marriage relationship or business or
politics.

A right heart will lead to right knowledge and right action.

Have a great day!

Hoanh

On 6/12/07, huong dang thu <hdangthu at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
> Thax so much, bro
>
>
>
> I pretty like your message.
>
>
>
> Just something makes me wonder: people talk about 'mu quang' (as I
> understand, if we follow our heart only, we might be extreme then bring some
> bad result). In my life, I usually try to listen and follow my true heart
> telling. But when I think about this, I just feel confused about myself: am
> I doing sth so extremely that may hurt the others?
>
> I just don't do how to work well with heart and mind both?!
>
>
>
> Anyway, bro. thax so much for your message about "what comes out of the
> right heart will be right". With me, it makes me much stronger & wiser.
>
>
>
> HeO
>
>


-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
Washington DC
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