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

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear Brother Phong & CACC,

1.  I am talking about leadership training, and I said the most important
training in leadership is the training of the heart.  The two masters I
know are Jesus and the Buddha.  That has nothing to do with the church or
temple or religion.  We are not talking about law and governance.  We are
talking about our own individual heart.  I don't see why this has anything
to do with church/state separation.  Are we saying that all the good
training for the human heart, which has thrived for more than 2000 years and
has proven its strength through time, should not be taught and learned (in a
public forum), just because they involve the names Jesus and Buddha and
these two names happen to be associated with a bunch of churches and
temples?

Come on, be real!  When the Vatican does stupid thing, we don't mind telling
that it is stupid; when Jesus or the Buddha teach the right things, we don't
mind learning, do we?  If you don't want to learn from them or to talk about
them, that is perfectly OK.  But please don't tell me when we talk about
leadership training, we shouldn't mention them because of the church/state
separation.   When we are talking about the national law, say, this law
should be done like this and this because the Buddha says so and so, that
would be church/state separation.   But when we talk about our own heart, we
can follow anyone we want, be it Jesus, the Buddha, Ho Chi Minh or Karl Marx
or Darwin?  What does that have anything to do with church/state separation?

BTW, I said Jesus and the Buddha are the two effective traditions that I am
well versed in, maybe there are others but I don't know them.  I just happen
to agree with two (although I read about 100 philosophers of the world).  If
anyone wants to come up with another theory, fine with me.  But we shouldn't
encourage each other to stay away from someone's teaching just because he
happens to be associated with "religion."  I don't really care about
religion.  All I care is whether some teaching works.

2.  When I said about the "right heart" I have a very clear definition of
what "the right heart" in both the Jesus and the Buddha traditions.  It is
not simple the parent's claim of "loving the girl" like you said.
Obviously, the parents are so insensitive to the girl's wishes that it
cannot even be called love.  That is called ignorant.  That is not my "right
heart."  You can used the term "right heart" with any meaning you want,
but when the term "right heart" is used in conjunction with my writing, my
definition of "right heart" should be respected.

Have a great day!

Hoanh

On 6/12/07, Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov <Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov> wrote:

> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
>
> Let's move away from heart and mind and talk instead of feelings vs.
> reasoning to we can bring greater clarity to this discussion.  The native
> Vietnamese concept of "bu.ng" or stomach/guts may be a good integrated
> approach, substituting for heart/mind.  It may also be part of the problem
> because it is heavier on feelings and instinct than on reasoning.  This
> approach is more vulnerable to both internal and outside manipulation by
> those who are more strategic in their thinking.  And Vietnamese have always
> been susceptible to such manipulation.
> There are good reasons for separation of Church and State at this stage of
> human development.  Religious teachings are good moral/ethical guidelines
> for the political leadership, but are no direct substitutes.  Otherwise, we
> have theocracies and no religious freedom.  The best we could come up with
> so far to regulate human affairs is secular law and the rule of law, and
> until we progress to the next level of development, it's best that we keep
> religion and politics and the respective leadership as separated as
> possible.
> I do not follow that emotion produces knowledge.  Your common sense
> example of a mother and her child rearing does not follow through to your
> conclusion.  Love doesn't automatically tell her what to do, most young
> mothers learn child rearing from their own mothers or other female
> friend/relatives with experience, as well as from books.  Excessive love
> sometime makes the mother spoil the child.
> Certain kind of "love" can cause a man to "kidnap and rape" his wife.
> Your Bush example is also too simplistic and overarching when you say the
> entire administration, Congress .  There were plenty of contrary information
> and opinions, but they were overrulled, in the wake of 9-11.  If everybody
> agreed, you wouldn't be seeing dissenting views.  Now I bet you that
> President Bush believes that he has the right heart, and brave to boot.
>  This metric is just too subjective.




-- 
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> Washington DC
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