Buddhist stories from the suttas that are related to leadership?

[ngoonera]

I’m preparing a talk on Buddhist lessons related to leadership for our local meditation center-–could you help me identify examples in the suttas that describe a story relevant to leadership?

I’ve found a few suttas that describe Buddha’s perspective on leadership in regards to rulers, such as the Dutiyacakkānuvattana Sutta: Wielding Power (AN 5.132) and the Jataka’s Dasavidha-rājadhamma: Ten Qualities of a Ruler. However, I think the presentation would be much more interesting if I could mention specific instances in the EBTs where Buddha or his disciples showed leadership in tackling a difficult situation. For example, Kucchivikara-vatthu: The Monk with Dysentery, describes how Buddha showed leadership by example when tending to an ailing monk.

There are quite literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of examples of this throughout the suttas. I’d like to identify a few examples for each of the five categories described in the Dutiyacakkānuvattana Sutta. These categories were ascribed to Sariputta:

Sariputta knows what is right, knows principle, knows moderation, knows the right time, and knows the assembly

Are there any examples of leadership in the suttas that resonate with you? Thank you in advance for any suggestions you may have.

[DooDoot]

Consider browsing thru this: https://www.mahidol.ac.th/budsir/Contents.html , where sutta references are below each listing. For example, DN iii 182 = DN 31

For example, the teaching below of the four "agati" ("prejudice"; "bias") from DN 31 is important in the Vinaya in respect to leadership. You can search this Vinaya link for the word "bias".

“On what four grounds do they not do bad deeds?
“Katamehi catūhi ṭhānehi pāpakammaṃ na karoti?

One does bad deeds prejudiced by favoritism, hostility, stupidity, and cowardice.

Chandāgatiṃ gacchanto pāpakammaṃ karoti, dosāgatiṃ gacchanto pāpakammaṃ karoti, mohāgatiṃ gacchanto pāpakammaṃ karoti, bhayāgatiṃ gacchanto pāpakammaṃ karoti.

When a noble disciple is not prejudiced by favoritism, hostility, stupidity, and cowardice,

Yato kho, gahapatiputta, ariyasāvako neva chandāgatiṃ gacchati, na dosāgatiṃ gacchati, na mohāgatiṃ gacchati, na bhayāgatiṃ gacchati;

yhey don’t do bad deeds on these four grounds.

imehi catūhi ṭhānehi pāpakammaṃ na karotī”ti.

https://suttacentral.net/dn31/en/sujato

Concise Pali English Dictionary
agati
feminine
1. wrong course; 2. prejudice.

[DooDoot]

MN 22 & MN 38 show strict leadership.

MN 32 shows an inclusive approach.

[ngoonera]

This is very helpful--thank you! I looked up the Mahidol University website and agree it is full of helpful guidelines. I tried to print my presentation as a PDF and attach it to this post, but the dhammawheel site kept saying the file was too large (at 900KB), so I made a public Google Drive link in case you are interested: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... sp=sharing

I'll be giving a free talk on the topic on 3/18/2021 at 8 PM EST: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/philadelph ... 1179814511

With Metta

[confusedlayman]

This is very helpful--thank you! I looked up the Mahidol University website and agree it is full of helpful guidelines. I tried to print my presentation as a PDF and attach it to this post, but the dhammawheel site kept saying the file was too large (at 900KB), so I made a public Google Drive link in case you are interested: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... sp=sharing

I'll be giving a free talk on the topic on 3/18/2021 at 8 PM EST: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/philadelph ... 1179814511

With Metta

nice pdf

[mikenz66]

Hi ngoonera,

You might also look at Bhikkhu Bodhi's collection of suttas:
The Buddha's Teaching on Social and Communal Harmony.
https://wisdomexperience.org/product/bu ... l-harmony/


Mike