10月26日BBC聽力：引導人物應具有何種品德
We're hearing a lot about leadership: what workedfor Alex Ferguson; what didn't work for StuartLancaster, and what might work for the individualsaspiring to be the next UK Prime Minister or USPresident. But what are those elusive leadershipqualities and what can we learn from the greatleaders of the past? What about the Buddha, Gautama, who started a movement thateventually grew into a great religious and cultural civilisation?
Many texts, or Discourses, recount Gautama's conversations with religious seekers, merchantsand kings. These were memorised and passed on orally after his death, probably around 400BC, and written down a few centuries later. However much may have changed in transition, theBuddha of the texts is a vivid character and a remarkable leader.
His most striking quality, for me, is the deep confidence he displays in his understanding oflife, and this enables him to teach in varied and flexible ways without departing from hisessential vision. Sometimes, in private Gautama speaks passionately - the texts say 'he roarshis lion's roar'. But in dialogue with others, including other religious teachers, he's alwayscourteous and concerned to establish rapport. No hair-dryer treatment, then.
He listens to what someone believes in - security or virtue say - and teases out theunderlying values. He tells a householder that real security means accepting insecurity, andtells priests that true virtue comes from inner qualities, not external rituals. In other words,the Buddha exemplifies an approach to communication that engages with another person'sway of thinking without accepting their assumptions, and then opens up a wider perspective.
This is leadership as communication, not coercion, and Gautama was similarly open with hisown followers, encouraging them to see him as a teacher with authority but no power. Heurged the members of his monastic community to live harmoniously within clear collectivestructures, but refused to appoint a successor to lead the community after his death. Insteadhe told them to rely on the truth they found in his teachings, not on rites, dogmas orinstitutions.
The Buddha's example suggests that while great leaders display many skills, these aren't justtechniques. When a leader's qualities express his or her being — who they really are and whatthey really know - they can be open and flexible without losing control. Perhaps the lesson isthat offering really compelling leadership means truly learning to be ourselves.
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