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

Wed Jun 13 19:49:33 PDT 2007

Dear anh Hoanh and all,

I just want to mention here in this email the ways to train our heart to be
right. I agree on anh Hoanh's.

I used to last a hopeless period of time, living without enough penny for
my simple life. To put it in other ways, I had nothing for myself at that
time, no reputation, no fame, no money, no job and promotion. I thought much
about the life in general and my own life in particular.

During that time, I tried my best to get by in a good way that did not harm
anyone, It could be possible for me to go out and steal or rob others'
stuff. But I did not do that way. I remmembered the poem by Ho Chi Minh in
which it said: "Gao dem vao gia bao dau don, Gao gia xong roi trang tua
bong, Song o tren doi nguoi cung vay, Gian lao ren luyen moi thanh cong" and
his another poem in which it said (in brief) het dem roi tro lai sang ( I am
so sorry that at at present, I do not remember it correctly).

During that time, I always thought much about life and so on. At first, I
was so angry about myself that I could not do anything at least for myself.
I usually shouted at other people, making trouble all the times, did not
believe in anything, any advice by my friends, relatives and others.

However, after a long time making mess, shouting at others, I realized that
it was not good to do so. And I think again the life and love. I put
everything in other perspectives and it turned out to calm my heart and
mind. I was cool and my mind was so brilliant and it could see everything
clearly and understood things thoroughly.

When reading the sentence written by anh Hoanh as "Keep the heart and mind
absolutely calm at all times, not stirred by greed, base desires, anger,
prejudice", I knew I absolutely knocked out by him.

I think that when a person is fallen into a hard situation and he can
survive, then other kinds of hard situation and he can survive; it is
another way to train out heart and mind to be right (at least right in
his/her own way based on his/her disposition)

Great day,

Hai

On 6/12/07, Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
> 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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-- 
Hai M. Tran, LLB
Hanoi, Vietnam
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