The 16th United Nations Day Of Vesak Conference 2019
Main Theme: Buddhist Approach to Global
Leadership
& Shared Responsibilities for
Sustainable Societies
at Tam Chuc Pagoda,
International Buddhist Convention Center
Ba Sao, Ha Nam, Vietnam
Sub-Theme:
“Mindful Leadership for Sustainable Peace”
Three Intertwined Paths to Leading for Sustainable Peace
Phe Bach, Ed.D.,
Founder and CEO of C. Mindfulness
LLC,
Mira Loma High School, ILC, SJTA, SJUSD,
California Teachers Association,
USA.
W. Edward Bureau, Ph.D.,
Associate
Clinical Professor (Retired),
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Residence in Cochranville, PA, USA
Introduction
Sustainable peace anchors itself in mindfulness of the
present, the people, and the microcosms in which we exist. Rather than existing
as a static state, the peace is organic and dynamic, flowing itself around the
vagaries of “unpeacefulness.” Thus, being a mindful leader begins with the
practice of the Five Mindfulness Trainings (Five Precepts) and the Noble Eightfold Path 1
as well as
finding the peace within oneself and continues by manifesting that peace every
day. Doing so is the seed from which systems and circumstances can, themselves,
perpetuate peace.
Thinking about how mindful leadership can sustain peace, we
must consider how mindfulness can be cultivated within the individual and how
he or she can sustain mindfulness everyday despite external challenges.
Integrating the practice of mindfulness with an understanding of “systems
thinking” opens paths for sustaining peace within and across organizations,
governments, and political structures. Yet, the leader and others must also
embrace “the continual flow” and know that a seeming “end” is only a new
“beginning.” Peace can sustain us in our circular journeys through systems and time.
Thus, there are “Three Intertwined Paths to Leading for
Sustainable Peace.”
Learning and Sustaining Peace Based
Mindfulness Practice
Leaders who would sustain external peace must find and
cultivate it within themselves. Not a matter of will or of a platitude, being
mindful begins and continues through daily practice. Mindfulness transforms
lives, rewires the brain, provides relief from physical and emotional pain, and
enhances learning. Mindful practices in an organization bring about a more respectful,
tolerant, and peaceful climate and culture. Teaching others how to live a
mindful life and how to practice meditation gives them a lifelong skill for
coping with the pressures of modern life in a turbulent world and for
harvesting sustainable peace.
Peace, universal harmony, and shared responsibilities start
from the within, and the inner peace starts with mindfulness and meditation.
Mindfulness and mediation-based practices prior to the start of group sessions
or daily work relaxes people, and studies show it helps them improve focus
while diminishing anxiety. Mindful
organizations can become joyful and stabilized as people learn to relax, to
feel appreciated, and to relinquish anxiety.
Systems Thinking as a Path for
Sustaining Peace
In times of rapid change and uncertainty, leaders are faced
with complexities that will and do challenge peace. Seeing and reacting only to
particular parts of a system leads to fragmented responses that solve immediate
problems. By seeing and being with the
system as an organic whole, the leader can co-create sustainable peace.
Understanding that a living system will re-create itself opens the possibility
for peace being central to the relationships, processes, and contexts of the
system.
Having this broader, richer systems view cannot be left to
chance or to a vague commitment. Like mindfulness, systems thinking must be
learned and practiced daily. Within the works of Peter Senge and Otto Scharmer
(Theory U) are concepts and methods for leaders to become practitioners of
systems thinking. Doing so enables them to deliberately cultivate organic
change and to create the ethos of peace across and among systems, including
Buddhism.
Embracing Continual Flow
Some leaders believe that, when something is sustained, it
has reached a static state and continues in that state over time. Leaders and
those in a system may try to embrace and hold peace, only to find it slipping
away. Peace, in this view, is not sustained. Peace, though, can be perpetuated,
if we accept that it has no beginning or end. Rather, it is a dynamic and
organic phenomenon, one that continually flows from past to present to future.
Embracing the continual flow brings the phenomenon of peace
into a leader’s mindful practice of it on a daily basis. “The O Theory” (Drs
Bach and Bureau) lights the way for leaders to mindfully live the flow of
peace. Recursive in nature, “The O” flows circularly through elements of:
recognizing, accepting, embracing, learning, practicing, transforming, sharing,
completing. Were a leader to be aware of and live these, he or she would live
peace, would be peace. “Being peace” sustains peace. It is another proposal to
a Buddhist Approach to Global Leadership and Shared
Responsibilities for Sustainable Societies.
Learning and
Sustaining Peace Based Mindfulness Practice
"We
can choose how to live our lives now. We can seize any moment and begin
anew." and "You need to wake up from your autopilot mode. You have to
live deeply and with more awareness so that you can be attentive to each
moment." - Thich Nhat Hanh
As a Buddhist practitioner and
educator, Dr. Bach has been practicing and teaching Mindful Leadership as a
model of peace-based mindfulness practice in his way of life and livelihood. Among
the workshops he provides are “Leading From Compassion” and “Embracing
Continual Flow” (For more information
about his workshops, contact Dr. Bach). As Malala Yousafzai (the Nobel Prize Winner in 2014)
put it, “Let us bring
equality, justice, and peace for all. Not just the politicians and the world
leaders, we all need to contribute. Me. You. It is our duty.” It is our
responsibility for us to bring this kind of spiritual leadership, peace, and
mindfulness to ourselves and to others.
Being mindful, is being aware of something that may be important.
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) or as the Oxford
Dictionary defines it, Conscious or aware of something; Inclined or willing to
do something. That willingness
to do something is the practice of mindfulness in everyday life. Mindfulness hones focus, concentration, and
awareness; it is the foundation of success and is a skill that requires
practice to allow us to feel emotions without reacting, to respond rather than
be reactive when it comes to stimulations. In education alone, according to
Parker, et al. (2014), mindfulness enhances children's self-regulatory
abilities, showing significant improvements in executive functioning skills,
and substantial reductions were found in aggression and social problems. Black,
D. S., & Fernando, R. (2014) also informed that teachers reported improved
classroom behavior of their students (i.e., paying attention, self-control,
participation in activities, and caring/respect for others). Researchers have
reported empirically-supported benefits of mindfulness including: reduced
rumination; stress reduction; increase in working memory; more focus; less
emotional reactivity; more cognitive flexibility; an increase in relationship
satisfaction; increase in emotional intelligence and social connectedness;
increased morality; increased fear modulation; increased immune function; improvement
in overall well-being; increased information-processing speed; decreased mind
wandering; decreased blood pressure; increase in empathy/compassion; decreased
anxiety; enhanced self-insight; improved relationships; regulated attention; enhanced
academic and other intellectual outcomes.
Mindfulness, as in the Right
Mindfulness, in the Noble Eightfold Path, is the art of living, a notion of a
peaceful, harmonious, and righteous way of life that enhances the safety and
happiness of family, community, and society. Thus, the daily practices of
mindfulness and meditation are the way of life. As Bach (2014) pointed out,
mindfulness is the energy of ‘paying attention’, self-observation, and
awareness of the present moment, without judgment, and with an attitude of
kindness and compassion, of what is going on around you and within you.
Mindfulness brings you back to the present moment. The present moment is the
only thing we truly have because of as an old saying goes, “Yesterday is history and tomorrow is
mystery. Today is the gift--the here and now. (That’s why it’s called the
PRESENT)”. Thus, the authors use the Four Noble Truths, the Five
Mindfulness Trainings (Five Precepts) and the Noble Eightfold Path as a way of to live, teach,
and lead.
More importantly, the work of
Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is an example. He is a peace activist, a writer, a poet, a
scholar, and a Buddhist monk, and is the champion of mindfulness. His work has carried mindfulness practices
into mainstream culture. His wisdom and
practice of mindfulness have provided guidance and a practical approach, which
benefits individuals, families and organizations. Thich Nhat Hanh (1993, 2007)
emphasizes: “With mindfulness, we are aware of what is going on in our bodies,
our feelings, our minds, and the world, and we avoid doing harm to ourselves
and others.” He continues: “Mindfulness protects us, our families, and our
society, and ensures a safe and happy present and a safe and happy future. Precepts are the most concrete expression of
the practice of mindfulness” (p. 2).
Precepts
or Sila (in Sankrit and Pali – the ancient language of India) is a “code of
conduct that embraces a commitment to harmony and self-restraint with the
principle motivation being non-violence, or freedom from causing harm” Bodhi
(2005). It can be described in various
ways as virtue (Gethin, 1998, p. 170; Harvey, 2007, p. 199), right conduct (Gethin (1998), p. 170), morality (Gombrich, 2002, p. 89;
Nyanatiloka, 1988, and Saddhatissa, 1987, pp. 54, 56), moral
discipline (Bodhi, 2005, p. 153) and precept.
In his book, For a future to be possible: Buddhists ethics for everyday life, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh encouraged us to practice the
precepts that we have abided to. The
five most basic precepts of ancient times (i.e. do not kill, steal, perform
sexual misconduct, lie or use alcohol/intoxicant) still apply for all Buddhists
today (Bodhi, 2005; Thich,
1993, 2011). Thich Nhat Hanh (Thich 1993, 2007, 2011) skillfully and
compassionately translated these precepts for our modern time and called them “The
Five Mindfulness Trainings.” According to him, they “represent the Buddhist
vision for a global spirituality and ethics. They are a concrete expression of
the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path,
the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing,
transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world.”
In addition, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thich
1993, 2007, 2011) points out that “to practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings
is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all
discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair.” The five ancient precepts were adapted to our
modern time under Thich Nhat Hanh’s vision as the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
They are as follows:
The First Mindfulness Training -
Reverence For Life
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I
am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and
learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I
am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act
of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that
harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn
come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness,
non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence,
fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.
The Second Mindfulness Training - True Happiness
(Generosity)
Aware of the suffering caused by
exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to
practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not
to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will
share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I
will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others
are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is
not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after
wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair.
I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external
conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by
remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am
committed to practicing Right Livelihood so that I can help reduce the
suffering of living beings on Earth and reverse the process of global warming.
The Third Mindfulness Training -
True Love (Sexual Responsibility)
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am
committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety
and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that
sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always
harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual
relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my
family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from
sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual
misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning
appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving
kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness – which are the four basic elements
of true love – for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others.
Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the
future.
The Fourth Mindfulness Training -
Loving Speech and Deep Listening
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the
inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and
compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote
reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious
groups, and nations. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am
committed to speaking truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and
hope. When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I will
practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply
into my anger. I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong
perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the
other person. I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the
other person to transform suffering and see the way out of difficult
situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain
and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I will practice
Right Diligence to nourish my capacity for understanding, love, joy, and
inclusiveness, and gradually transform anger, violence, and fear that lie deep
in my consciousness.
The Fifth Mindfulness Training -
Nourishment and Healing (Diet for a mindful society)
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am
committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my
family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I
will practice looking deeply into how I consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments,
namely edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. I am
determined not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs, or any other products which
contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films,
magazines, books, and conversations. I will practice coming back to the present
moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing and nourishing elements in
me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor
letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. I am
determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by
losing myself in consumption. I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a
way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and
in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the
Earth.
Another
seed of mindful leadership is leading by example. Venerable Thích Minh Đạt (2011) believes
leadership influences by: 1) Example: teach through your actions or behavior.
One must live a moral and ethical life. Benefit yourself and benefit others,
and then influence and contribute positively to our community and society. 2)
Teaching by loving speech: seek understanding and wisdom. 3) Teaching by
practicing the Noble Eightfold Path: The first one is Right Thought: your
thinking must be constructive and always be based on the teachings of the
Buddha – Compassion and Wisdom. To put it succinctly, one should live
accordingly to the teaching of the Enlightened One, the Buddha.
Boorom (2009) suggested that
leadership has roots in religion, as there is a direct correlation between
leadership and spirituality qualities. Marques (2010) urges that “it is
perfectly possible to be spiritual yet not religious. There are many spiritual
people who are atheists, agnostics, or that embrace multiple religions at the
same time” (p.13). For her, “a spiritual worker is a person who simply
maintains good human values, such as respect, tolerance, goodwill, support, and
an effort to establish more meaning in his or her workplace” (p. 13). DeVost
(2010) emphasized that current research in organizations has found a
relationship between the spirituality of the leaders and the workplace
spirituality. In this study, Devost (2010) found that the practice of
‘encouraging the heart’ – one of the five exemplified leadership values - was
significantly positive. According to Kouzes & Posner (1995), the five
practices of good leadership are: “Challenge the process, inspire a shared
vision, enable others to act, model the way, and encourage the heart” (p. 9).
Meanwhile, leaders often practice
their spiritual life as well as their moral belief and ethical values. As
Northouse (2004) has argued ethics and leadership are “concerned with the kinds
of values and morals an individual or society finds desirable or appropriate”
(p. 342). Furthermore, he pointed out that an ethical model of leadership
consists of five components: a) show respect, b) serve others, c) show justice,
d) manifest honesty and e) build community. In another study, Zhu, May, &
Avolio (2004) define ethical leadership as “doing what is right, just and good”
(p. 16). Zhu et al., (2004) added that leaders exhibit ethical behaviors when
they are doing what is morally right, just, and good, and when they help to
elevate followers' moral awareness and moral self-actualization. Bass and
Steidlmeier (1998) suggest that a truly transformational and effective
leadership must be based upon: a) the moral character of the leader and their
concern for oneself and others, b) the ethical values embedded in the leader’s
vision, and c) the morality of the processes and social ethical choices and
actions in which the leaders and followers engage.
Systems
Thinking as a Path for Sustaining Peace
“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we
make peace with ourselves.” Dalai Lama
“Hope lives when people
remember.” Simon Wiesenthal.
Creating
sustainable peace can grow from our
explorations of two notions: ‘Peace is a dynamic and organic phenomenon,
one that continually flows from past to present to future in systems’ and ‘A living system will re-create itself and open the
possibility for peace being central to the relationships, processes, and
contexts of the system.’ Both notions can be framed through “systems thinking.”
This section concludes on a note of how systems thinking for peace is a bridge
from the U-theory to the O-theory.
Rather than a suggestion or an idea
for leaders and organizations, mindfulness
can be woven into the fabric of the organization. Doing so must be deliberate and not
capricious, but organizations and leaders may need a framework for doing
so. One such approach is offered by the
Presencing Institute and the works of Otto Scharmer, as seen in his books
Theory U and Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges (Schramer, 2017
and 2013). The Institute continues to bring people from across the globe together
to learn how to “move through the U” toward sustainable change and peace. Understood from a balcony view, engaging in
such deliberate change can transform systems and the people in them, rather
than merely hoping for change. Given
much of the “un-peacefulness” in systems across the globe, we two authors
believe that, through the practice of the processes of the U, people can
transform systems.
The notion and practice of
mindfulness translates into early phases of the U. We develop the abilities to “suspend” our
preconceived notions and judgments. In
the language of the U, we become aware of “downloading” notions that prevent us
from seeing with fresh eyes, and we learn to observe (mindfully) how such preconceptions
shape our views of people, systems, and
the human condition. Individually
and collectively, we learn to “let go” in order to “let come” what we could not
see before, what may be our future selves.
As we do, we are “presencing” – mindfully
being both present in the moment and sensing what could be in the
future. Presencing, then, is “the
experience of the coming in of the new and the transformation of the old”
(Scharmer, 2013).
In the language of Theory U, there
are individual and collective “blind spots” that block our abilities to create
socially-conscious change and systemic transformation. It is these blind spots that trap us into
current ways of thinking and models of behavior, both individual and systemic. These, in turn, prevent us from creating
sustainable global peace. If we can be mindful of our blind spots, we can begin
to see with an open mind, open heart, and open will. Each of those three are dimensions of being
human. How can we be mindful enough to
live in the “open states” of them? The
processes of Theory U, through mindfulness, offer us deliberate paths to
embracing them and finding sustainable peace in systems.
If we know that peace rises from
within individuals’ daily practices of mindfulness, we are left with wondering
how the systems humans create can become generators of larger contexts of
peace. What constitutes a “system” the
authors define very broadly - any design created by humans to meet multiple
purposes, be they spiritual, political, charitable, financial, and so on. How, then, can “peace be a dynamic and
organic phenomenon, one that continually flows from past to present to future - in systems?”
We must, first, see systems in
totality and know that they are organic and living. While there are many metaphors for seeing
from broad perspectives, that of the “balcony view” helps us learn to see and
know the system in all of its complexities, dynamics of growth, and seeming
stagnations. To be a “systems thinker”,
though, we must suspend our judgments about the system, and, most particularly,
the people in it. We cannot see and
engage with an organic, living system, if our “blind spots” fixate us on what
has been in the system and on the foibles of humans in it. Such leads to the “collective failures”
described so well in Scharmer’s works.
To see from the balcony, to see without judgment gives us the view from
the balcony and opens up the possibility for moving up the right side of Theory
U into co-creating and co-evolving with others in “systems of peace.”
If there is circularity here, it is
this: To see from the balcony, to suspend our judgments, to co-create and
co-evolve with others, we must sustain our practices of mindfulness. Doing so is that “seed of leading by example”
(Thich Nhat Hanh). For leaders who would
co-evolve with others in a system to sustainable peace, we are reminded by Dr.
Phe Bach that “The mindful
leader is the one who leads inside out
with understanding, compassion, and wisdom.” Systems can be transformed for
sustainable peace on by the humans in the systems. Within the people and, thus, in the system,
“peace is every step” - to borrow the phrase from Thich Nhat Hanh. By doing so, we come to understand that
“a living system will re-create itself and open the possibility for peace being
central to the relationships, processes, and contexts of the system.”
As compassionate leaders with a
balcony view of a system, we can co-evolve with others to create systems that
embody sustainable peace. That we can do
by moving through the “U” to create prototypes of emerging systems grounded in
peace and compassion. Creating prototypes for peace and assessing them, as
would be done through the U, is not a process that ends. Our balcony view and practice would be
continual, circular, and flowing, as engendered in the O-theory.
Embracing
Continual Flow
“Living
24 hours with mindfulness is more worthwhile than living 100 years without it.”
- The Buddha
The “O” theory, as imagined by this article’s
authors, is the continuation of this BuddhaDharma flow. The “O” has no
beginning or ending. It symbols for
completeness or wholeness and ultimately the emptiness. As Watson (2014) put
it, “a philosophy of emptiness helps us to acknowledge impermanence,
contingency and the tragic sense of life and prosper on a middle path between
denial and mindless distraction and a nihilistic loss of value.” A beauty of the O theory is centered at the
foundation of any Threefold principles in Buddhism such as Buddha, Dharma,
Sangha; (Phật Pháp Tăng); Threefold Training / Tam Vô Lậu Học (Giới Định Tuệ):
Higher virtue (adhisīla-sikkhā), Higher mind (adhicitta-sikkhā), Higher
wisdom (adhipaññā-sikkhā);
Bi-Trí-Dũng (Compassion-Wisdom-Courage). The “O” theory has the core values of mindfulness, love,
understanding, perseverance, diligence, determination, harmony, trust,
trustworthiness, joy, gratitude, integrity, honesty, and responsibility.
According to Buddhist Theravada
tradition, pursuing the Threefold
Training, as Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1998b) translated from
Buddhist text can lead to the abandonment of lust, hatred, and delusion.
Ultimately, anyone who is fully accomplished in this training attains Nibbana
(Nirvana).
The “O” theory has 8 components, just
like the Noble Eightfold Path; these components are: recognizing, accepting,
embracing, learning, practicing, transforming, sharing, completing.
1. Recognizing: First and foremost, we must perceive clearly or realize
everything as-is. We need to acknowledge
that peace within creates beauty without and that inner peace is the foundation
for a more harmonious society. One must recognize this phenomenon. For example,
human species won’t be able to solve climate change and/or global warming if we
are in denial of it. We have to
recognize that human activities are the main factors that lead to this crisis.
We have to recognize and examine at both micro and macro levels.
Such
is analogous to a chemist who recognizes that everything is composed of a
smaller sub-particle and even quarks and how these basic components are
interacting and behaving. Looking at the ocean at the first sight, we can see
the water, space, its shorelines, and its immenseness. But that is just a macroscopic
view of all matters; at a microscopic view, it is all the connections or the
bonding, the intermolecular forces and attraction between molecules. We must
have “balcony” and “dance floor” views of a problem in order to solve it. That starts with the recognition that we have
a problem, and it is necessary to define it. We recognize that we have a
problem, an issue, and we must state it clearly so that we can make things
better for us.
2. Accepting: After the realization period, one
must accept the fact in order to move on. Part of the art of accepting is being
free from judgments and downloading of previous views of the problem and
potential solutions. For example, if we
don’t accept the fact that there is no global warming, then we won’t be able to
seek for the solution.
3.
Embracing:
As the Merriam-Webster Dictionary puts it, embracing is ‘to hold (someone)
closely in one's arms, especially as a sign of affection; accept (a belief,
theory, or change) willingly and enthusiastically; include or contain
(something) as a constituent part.’ Whatever it is, one must be willing to embrace others as
if they were a child that is crying, one must hold and comfort first.
Some leaders believe that, when
something is sustained, it has reached a static state and continues in that
state over time. Leaders and those in a system may try to embrace and hold
peace, only to find it slipping away. Peace, in this view, is not sustained.
Peace, though, can be perpetuated, if we accept that it has no beginning or
end. Rather, it is a dynamic and organic phenomenon, one that continually flows
from past to present to future. Embracing the continual flow brings the
phenomenon of peace into a leader’s mindful practice of it on a daily basis.
4. Learning: As the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
defines it, it is ‘the acquisition of
knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught.’
In times of rapid change and
uncertainty, leaders are faced with complexities that will and do challenge
peace. Seeing and reacting only to particular parts of a system leads to
fragmented responses that solve immediate problems. By seeing and being with
the system as an organic whole, the leader can co-create sustainable peace. Understanding
that a living system will re-create itself opens the possibility for peace
being central to the relationships, processes, and contexts of the system.
5.
Practicing:
As the Merriam-Webster Dictionary puts it: ‘Actively pursuing or engaged in a
particular profession, occupation, or way of life.’ Sustainable
peace anchors itself in mindfulness of the present, the people, and the
microcosms in which we exist. Rather than existing as a static state, the peace
is organic and dynamic, flowing itself around the vagaries of “unpeacefulness.”
Thus, being a mindful leader begins with the practice of the Noble Eightfold
Path, finds the peace within oneself, and continues by manifesting that peace
every day. Doing so is the seed from which systems and circumstances can,
themselves, perpetuate peace.
6. Transforming: As the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
puts it, ‘make a marked change in the form, nature, or
appearance of’, after the stages of learning and practicing, one must
transform into the betterment, from something negative to something positive.
Transformation is the art of progression. Without it, there is simply no
development and advancement.
7. Sharing: During and after transformation in
the system is the art of sharing to making sure others are even better than
oneself, as in the Golden Rules. The American’s concept of paying it forward is
priceless and makes the world a better place to live.
8.
Completing: Lastly,
the notion of completeness or wholeness is so essential in our human life. We
are just visitors to this planet; we’ll come and go just like everyone else;
what we leave behind is our own legacy. Thus, we must do everything that we can
while we are here on Earth to make this world more harmonious, peaceful, and
kind so that our children and grandchildren can live and excel. Now the whole
circle is completed.
This O theory is a peaceful
progression, a mindful path for walking in the present moment live in the
present moment, not worrying about the future since it is yet to come nor stuck
in the past. With mindfulness and meditation, using breathing as the anchor, we
focus on the present moment - 'presencing' as described in the U theory. It
takes practice to train our minds to be in the presence. Practice make it
better over time, just like nerve cells can be rewired and that ‘neurons that fire
together wire together’; in other words, ‘what you practice grows
stronger’, including mindfulness, peace and inner values. Similarly, Ven. Prof.
Dr. Phramaha Hansa Dhammahaso, the Director of Office of International
Association of Buddhist Universities), in his paper, The Peace Village, recognized that peace brings loving-kindness,
happiness, solidarity and harmony to human beings and societies.
Conclusion
Reflecting on the notions and
processes in this paper we might understand more deeply our lived-experiences, beliefs,
practices, and leadership styles and daily practices. Peace, mindfulness and transformation are
happening because of choice - not chance. Contemplating the U theory, we
learn to “let go” in order to “let come” and that we are “presencing” - the
state of being both present in the moment and sensing what could be in the
future. By doing so, we engage in O theory - a completion of the circle.
The O theory also reveals a strong,
yet simple notion: It is better to be a
human being than a human doing. What
is embedded in the Vietnamese Buddhist monks’ leadership style is their daily
practice that has transformed the lives of those in their communities. It is the idea of living inside out; it is
the idea of peace. Such leadership is based upon wisdom, understanding, practice,
peace of mind, harmony, and compassion.
All these elements are associated with a peaceful existence.
We can live, then, “Three
Intertwined Paths to Leading for Sustainable Peace.” We can learn and sustain peace based on
mindfulness practice. Systems thinking can be a path for sustaining peace. We can live and embrace the continual flow of
the O Theory. Sustaining peace through
these three paths can generate the best of who we are as human beings.
Acknowledgements: A very special thank you and gratitude to our wives, Trang
Nguyen and Chris Bureau. Thank you Keith
Carmona, IB English Teacher of Mira Loma High School, for reading over this
paper. Dr. Ed Bureau thanks his friend
Dr. John Gould for their continuing co-journey in systems thinking, creativity,
and teaching.
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1.
Right
understanding (Samma ditthi)
2.
Right
thought (Samma sankappa)
4.
Right
action (Samma kammanta)
5.
Right
livelihood (Samma ajiva)
6.
Right
effort (Samma vayama)
7.
Right
mindfulness (Samma sati)
8. Right concentration (Samma samadhi)
