A Symposium on “Visionary Leadership -Fostering spiritual growth through Dharma practices”

On March 31st, 2018, Theravāda Buddhist Council of Malaysia (TBCM) and Nalanda Institute Malaysia (NIM) co-hosted the “2018 Inaugural Summit of Buddhist Leaders” . The summit’s objective was to enable Buddhist leaders to get to know their mission, and to identify the spirit and mindset required for the mission. The leaders built a model of Buddha Dharma practice to provide positive direction and influence to their own organizations. The leaders interacted with each other through courses, games and discussions. Nearly 80 English-speaking Buddhist leaders attended the summit from all over Malaysia.

Ven. Chang Zao, (常藻法師)Director of Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Centre Malaysia, and Wu, Qing-Song (吳青松), former Chief of Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia were invited to attend the symposium .”Ven. Chang Zao shared with the group her five years director’s experience in dealing with the inevitable conflicts in the organization.

Ven. Chang Zao told the group she had no experience in managing a center before taking on the job of director. In her early days as a director, she encountered quite a bit of difficulties. In addition to the day to day activities, she was faced with a constant stream of challenges. However, she pushed forward with equanimity and did not look at the problems as problems. She focused on what she needed to do to resolve the issues and treated each problem as a learning opportunity.

When asked how a Buddhist organization leader should lead the followers to make progress and advance themselves, Ven. Chang-Zao said, ”In addition to getting the job done, more focus should be put on caring about others. We need to be humble, set an example, and accept imperfect results and criticisms cheerfully.”

In order to help people make progress in Buddhism, it is important to coach them on how to search for the value of life, and how to use it. The difficult times encountered in the process will become assets for growth. A Buddhist leader needs to understand how to use the circumstances to practice, learn how to deal with oneself and the environment as is. Buddha did not teach us to be optimistic or pessimistic, but to accept what is. Accepting the circumstances and environment as is can help us understand ourselves more. All our stress and burden come from inside of us, not from outside of us. Through constant reflection on how our minds function, we can better understand the method that Buddha taught us. If we can do that, we can live more at ease with ourselves joyfully. We can influence others to develop confidence in Buddhism and increase our own ability to apply Buddha dharma.

At the end of the symposium, Ven. Chang-Zao encouraged everyone to take refuge with Dharma. “Those who are interested and ready would naturally come. When we give ourselves to serve the public, we could sometimes feel tired.” she said. “We need to remind ourselves why we’re here and go back to our initial vows to maintain our fervor and keep our vows alive.” She advised.

The symposium was the first exchange between Dharma Drum Mountain and Theravāda Buddhist Society. It built a base for future exchanges between Chinese Buddhism in Malaysia and Theravāda Buddhism. All participants were very thankful for the learning opportunity.

Texts / Photography: Shen, Qi-Ying (沈豈瑩) (Malaysia)
Translation: Elenda Huang (頤嵐達)
Editor: Agnes Chan (Canada)