Principles for Leadership

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Etre harcelee par la presse is a French expression that means “to be hounded by the press.” That’s what has been happening with me the past several weeks. The news media won’t leave me alone. They all want to know who I am endorsing in the 2016 Presidential election. To get them off my back, I have decided to reveal the candidate I will support:

No one.

I don’t think I have been so underwhelmed by a crowd of contenders before.

I would love to see a woman president, but to be honest, I have had enough of the Clintons to last a couple of lifetimes. And if you think Obama was one of modern history’s most polarizing presidents, just wait until Hilary wins . . . man, oh, man.

I agree with most of what Bernie Sanders has to say, but I can’t help but feel that anyone who identifies himself as a socialist has little hope of winning a general election in 2016. Besides, Bernie comes off as kind of grouchy and we have enough of that with the GOP (Grouchy Obstructionist Party).

Speaking of which, with the bag of mixed nuts the GOP is serving up this year, the grip on reality has never been looser.

In Chapter 66 of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu says, “If a sound person wishes to become the leader of the people, that person first displays humility before them.”

Lao Tzu’s work contains many other timeless principles for leadership. There are countless seminars and courses, and a multitude of books devoted to distilling lessons from the Tao Te Ching on this subject, as well as daily life. Fortune 500 corporations, including IBM, Mitsubishi, and Prudential, have long used the book as a management/leadership training text.  Our politicians should take a look at it.

I don’t recall where I ran across this but it’s a nice compilation Lao Tzu’s essential leadership teachings:

Lao Tzu’s Principles for Leadership

lao-tzu-2016bThe best leaders are those whose presence is barely known by others.

Leaders value their words highly and use them sparingly.

Because a leader has faith in others, then others have faith in his or her leadership.

When a leader’s work is done, others will say: we did it ourselves.

Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.

To lead people, walk beside them.

Love people and lead without cunning or manipulation.

The ancient leaders who followed the Tao did not give people elaborate strategies, but held to a simple practice. It is hard to lead while trying to be clever. Too much cleverness undermines the people’s harmony. Those who lead without such strategies bring benefit to all.

By being lower, rivers and seas are able to receive the homage and tribute of all the valley streams, thus they rule over them all.  Therefore, it is a wise leader, wishing to be above the people, who by his words puts himself below them, and, wishing to be before them, follows them.

Leaders go first by putting themselves last. It is from their selflessness that they are able to fulfill themselves.

It is good to empower people, so that no one is wasted.

The best leaders are effective because they do not try to seize power. They are effective because they are not conceited, proud or arrogant.

The wise keep their word and do not pressure others.

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As Space-Time Goes By

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There’s this movie where a character named Sam sings a song that become rather well known, but not all of the original lyrics by Hubert Hupfeld found their way on the soundtrack:

sam
Arthur “Dooley” Wilson as Sam in Casablanca

Yet we get a trifle weary
With Mr. Einstein’s theory
So we must get down to earth at times

This is true, but fortunately there are some folks here on earth who have their eyes glued to the stars . . .

Some of them work with The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a joint project of MIT and Caltech, and they have been looking for gravitational waves.

In his Theory of General Relativity, Einstein predicted that violent cosmic events would set off gravitational waves, which are vibrations or ripples in the fabric of space-time.

No one thought it was possible to see these ripples, let alone confirm their reality. But it was announced Thursday that scientists have detected gravitational waves, confirming Einstein’s prediction and also answering the question, how smart was Einstein? Really smart.

According to a paper just published in Physical Review Letters, “On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal.”

Evidently, in general relativity, when two black holes “merge”, they produce a Kerr black hole that spins as “quasicircular inspirals” (I think that means to spin inwardly) and these were “predicted uniquely by Einstein’s equations.”

00C26211-1929-48CB-86D89EC8243D933E
This computer-generated image from Caltech shows the ripples in space-time created by colliding black holes.

The gravitational-wave signal detected by the LIGOs were ripples of a super-massive collision of two black holes from 1.3 billion years ago. It is astounding to think about.

I suppose it’s rather obvious to say that without thought and other sensory qualities, we could not apprehend space. But what we think of as being space is often mistaken, as is the case with the Buddhist concept of sunyata or emptiness. Space is not empty in the literal sense; rather it is completely filled with an intangible, seemingly infinite continuum that we call time. Buddhism teaches that space and time are inseparable, and in this way, they are both empty because neither has its own independent reality.

Space is not nothingness and neither is emptiness. As far as time goes, I’m not sure because in quantum physics time does not exist, so it might be nothing.  Einstein, the Nagarjuna of modern science, destroyed the idea of time as a universal constant.  That’s the ultimate truth.

On the relative truth level, time is the extent along which change progresses and without change then time could not be experienced or observed.

Anyway, we can find significant intersections between Theory of Relativity and the Buddhist concepts of Interdependency (pratitya-samutpada) and emptiness, and if we dig deeper, we can also discover that Einstein’s thinking was similar to the Buddhist philosophy in some other ways:

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

– Albert Einstein

Now, according to the song, when two lovers have a merger (technical term: woo)

They still say, “I love you”
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by

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Cry, Cry, Cry

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cryingA while back Gloria Steinem created a minor stir, when during an interview, she suggested that it should be all right to cry at the office. There is an unfortunate stigma associated with displaying tears in public. For men, crying has never been acceptable. Men who cry are babies. We expect women to cry but have no respect for them when they do. They’re “emotional.”

To my mind, Buddhism is focused on denying or suppressing the emotions only to the extent that we want to control disturbing, negative and dangerous emotions that are rooted in craving and egoism. But the idea is not to deny all emotion. Even though the stereotypical image of a Buddhist, particularly a monk, is that of a person always calm and collected, who does not show emotion in public, I have cried privately and publicly during the past two weeks. During my words at my father’s memorial service, I had to pause a few times as my emotions ran over. I have seen one of the most famous monks in the world cry (see The Dalai Lama is Crying).

In a book titled Destructive Emotions, author Daniel Goleman quotes the Dalai Lama,

Distinguishing between constructive and destructive emotions is right there to be observed in the moment when a destructive emotion arises-the calmness, the tranquility, the balance of the mind is immediately disrupted. Other emotions do not destroy equilibrium or the sense of well-being as soon as they arise, but in fact enhance it, therefore would be called constructive.”

This is what is called emotional intelligence, a term popularized by Goleman, a Buddhist psychologist, in the late 90s. According to Wikipedia, “Emotional intelligence (EI) or emotional quotient (EQ) is the ability of individuals to recognize their own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.”

Is crying a constructive emotion? The Buddha made the point that the intention behind an act determines whether or not it is constructive or destructive. Crying does have some positive benefits. I’ve read that crying can be helpful as an emotional release and that crying lowers stress and releases toxins from the body.

In her interview, Gloria Steinem doesn’t actually say it’s all right to cry at the office, but it is implied. She does say, “We try to stay in control too long . . .”

A writer for the NY Post, Naomi Schaefer Riley, called Steinem’s remarks “lunatic advice.” I hope this woman is not related to me, because I’ve always been in favor of a certain amount of lunacy. And Steinem is right, for control can be an attachment every bit as destructive as craving.

The Buddhist Way is the Middle Way. So, like Matthew Mcconaughey says in the car commercial with where he’s driving down a road in Griffith Park , “You’ve just gotta find that balance.”

In this video, Neil Young gets all rockabilly on the subject:

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My Father and the Beauty of Birth and Death

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My father died last Thursday. He was 93. He lived a good, full life and although mentally he was as sharp as he ever was, his body was failing and it was time for him to go. I sensed this a few days beforehand. I had an opportunity to talk to him Wednesday on the phone and tell him that I loved him. I think we both knew we were saying goodbye.

For most of us, the word ‘death’ is ugly. We fear death and when death comes to those we love, it causes us to suffer. But the person who has passed away is not suffering. When death is peaceful, like my father’s, then death has mercy. Death can have beauty. To fear death and to experience great sadness when a loved one dies is natural, but it is also a bit irrational.

Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, “When you use the word ‘death’, dying, it means that you have also lived. The two cannot be separated.”

To understand the inseparability of life and death is one way to conquer our fear of it. It is also a way in which we can see the beauty of death.

Some people focus on what happens after death, a thing no one knows. They believe in an afterlife because they think they will find immortality. They believe they will go to a heaven or a pure Buddha land, or they will achieve nirvana – their reward for the sufferings they experienced in this life.

I don’t know if the theory of rebirth was originally a part of the Buddha’s teachings or whether it was something added later. But I do know that Mahayana Buddhism teaches that suffering is nirvana. This saha (mundane) world is itself heaven. Or, as Dogen said, our life right now is the life of the Buddha.

My father was a Christian man. An honest, moral, upright man, respected by all who knew him. I feel that his integrity transcended religion. It was a quality he possessed naturally. It was just the way he was.

While my grief is immense, I can see the beauty of my father’s death. More importantly, I can see the beauty of his life.

This present birth and death itself is the life of the Buddha. If you attempt to reject it with distaste, you are losing thereby the life of the Buddha.”

– Dogen

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Throwback Thursday: Bamboo Mind

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This is an edited version of a post published in 2013.

In “Discourses on Vegetable Roots” Hung Tzu-Ch’eng, wrote,

Human nature is frail; the path of life is far from being smooth. Where a journey is hard, therefore, wayfarers should know how to take a step backward; on the other hand, where it is not so difficult and it is possible to go on, one should have the grace of yielding a little.”

chinese-bamboo1cWe humans can learn how to yield by observing nature. For instance, bamboo stalks are brittle and can easily snap off from the force of a strong wind. But, they are also flexible and they bend to the wind. By yielding in this way, the bamboo finds success. It survives. For human beings, advancement is not always progress. Sometimes withdrawal, taking a step back, is progress. By knowing when not to advance, and when to bend, we can get through life successfully. We can learn from the way of bamboo.

The way of bamboo is similar to the way of water. The ancient philosophers of the Tao and of Ch’an Buddhism often advised emulating the adaptability of water. For instance, the Tao Te Ching tells us that nothing is more soft and yielding than water, and yet it overcomes things that are hard and rigid. Water benefits all things, and yet it does not strive.

In terms of Buddhist practice, yielding means we should not be too rigid in our approach and cling to any one point of view. It is difficult to perceive the true nature of reality, the nature of others, or even our own nature, when we stubbornly cling to positions and opinions. Attachment to a view is drsti-paramarsa, which itself is a sort of perverted or false view. Nagarjuna said, “One who does not accept the view of another and clings to his or her own construction is devoid of wisdom.”

What applies to Buddhist practice, also applies to daily life, for ultimately there is no separation between the two.

The species of bamboo known as Giant Bamboo can grow over 100 feet in height. Giant Bamboo are one of the fastest growing plants in the world, and their stalks are hollow. By being empty inside, bamboo is able to absorb more energy and yet use less energy. If the stalks were solid, they would not be able to grow as fast, or as tall.

Those who resist the urge to coerce satisfaction from life only through relentless advancement and by trying to force things, will find truer satisfaction and greater success at the end of the journey. This is one way to understand what it means to “become empty,” and it is what Hung Tzu-Ch’eng meant when he wrote,

Let us make the mind as empty as the interior of a bamboo . . . When the mind is empty, one’s nature reveals itself in its true state. A person trying to look into his or her own nature without without putting their mind at rest is like trying to see the reflected moon by disturbing the water.”

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