Five Qualities of
Effective Buddhist Leaders

By A K Nelson

Introduction

In the past, most Buddhists who were chosen as presidents of temple committees were judged by their status in society. The other office bearers and committee members were selected for convenience sake to fill up the quorum needed. The purpose of the committee was to run the temple satisfactorily. The situation remains more or less the same today. As long as important programmes like full-moon puja, Wesak and new-year blessings are organized, all is well in the organization. Furthermore, it is not strange to find the same president and committee members voted in year after year.

In the past, devotees of the temple were quite satisfied with this arrangement. Most of the activities in the temples were ritualistic. Not much knowledge of the Buddha’s teachings was passed to the devotees. Today however, we find the younger generation of Buddhists more sophisticated, and they have begun to question the meaning of rituals and ceremonies held in the temple. A good number of young Buddhists are finding answers to their spiritual quest provided by other religions, especially Christianity. The Christian Church believes in educating their followers so that they will have confidence in their beliefs. Thus, rarely do you hear of Christians converting to other faiths.

Although we are seeing changes in our current quality of Buddhists who sit in the temple committees, there is still a lot to be improved. Unlike in the past, when any willing (and sometimes even unwilling) members would be voted into the committee, it is time that we start to elect committee members based on certain qualities.

I would like to suggest that members of the Buddhist organizations select their President and Committee members based on the following five qualities:

1. Confidence in & Knowledge of the Buddha Dhamma

It is unthinkable that there are certain committee members who have only vague knowledge of Buddhism sitting in committees and making decisions that will affect the future of Buddhism. Shockingly, this is happening in some Buddhist organizations. Buddhist leaders must have good knowledge in Buddhism and also understanding and respect for different faiths since we live in a multi-religious country, and conversion to other religions is a pertinent problem among Buddhists. The committee members should have confidence (saddha) in the wisdom of the Buddha and the inspiration to propagate and share the Dhamma with others.

2. Knowledge & Skills in Leadership & Management

Committee members should be taught the latest Leadership and Management principles and practices. This is to ensure that the organization is managed professionally and effectively. Training can be arranged by inviting Buddhist experts in these areas to deliver lectures and conduct workshops for the temple committee. The management committee should come up with a vision and mission statement for the temple. Short-term and long-term plans should be made and followed diligently with control measures included to ensure that the organization is moving in the right direction. If possible, audits should be conducted not only on the financial health of the society, but more importantly on the success of the organization in producing knowledgeable and practising Buddhists.

3. People Skills

We have heard complaints that when a Buddhist visits a temple for the first time, he or she is rarely greeted cordially and made welcome. There must be a culture in the temple when a new devotee visits, either the committee members or devotees of the temple greet them with a smile, make them feel welcome and attend to their needs. The committee members and devotees must cultivate strong spiritual friendships (kalyana-mittata) – as brothers and sisters in the Dhamma. Furthermore, they should treat the monks with kindness, respect and attend to their requisites.

4. Respect for all Buddhist Schools – “One Dhamma” Principle

When they visit a temple, most Malaysian Buddhist devotees often do not discriminate between Theravada, Pure Land, Zen or Vajrayana centres. To them, it is just a ‘Buddhist’ temple. It is important that committee members recognize this and respect all the accepted Buddhist schools and strive to work together to spread the noble teachings of the Buddha. All these schools have a right to represent the Buddha’s message of peace and harmony that is much needed in this world. How can we Buddhists think we can bring peace to the world when we cannot work in harmony with our brothers and sisters in the Dhamma?

5. Willingness to Sacrifice

When we take up positions as committee members, we are expected to at least sacrifice our time to serve the Buddha Dhamma. There must be leadership by example. Unlike in a profit-oriented organization where the employees are paid at the end of the month, it might not matter to them if their bosses are not putting in the necessary effort to run the company. By contrast, in a non-profit Buddhist organization, if the committee members are not willing to make sacrifices of their time to serve the organization, but merely order the devotees around, this will have a negative effect on the devotees and volunteers of the temple.

Committee members should sincerely take up their responsibility to serve the Buddha Dhamma and the organization. If only a few committee members are putting in the necessary effort to manage the temple while the others are mere spectators, this will drain the energy and motivation of those few who truly work. This will lead to those dedicated members to finally leave the management committee feeling frustrated and discouraged. This is how some organizations finally lose some of their most sincere members. Only if all the committee members effectively perform their respective duties will the organization be successfully managed and thrive.

Let us reflect on this current situation and hope that in the future we can expect to have more of the best members who possess these five qualities of effective Buddhist leadership serving in the management committees of our temples.