Process Values

For all of May we are looking at some of the precepts of the Tiep Hien Buddhist Order to see what they might have to say to us, especially about process values. [1] The ninth   precept of Tiep Hien Buddhism is:           9. Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. Do not utter words that cause division or hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things that you are not sure of. Always speak truthfully and constructively. Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety. For those of you who are comparing and contrasting the Fourteen Precepts to the Ten Commandments, this is completely analogous to the (coincidentally) ninth Commandment, 9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Except it is much more sweeping in scope. Remember that the Ten Commandments are one of those approximate systems

For all of May we are looking at some of the precepts of the Tiep Hien Buddhist Order to see what they might have to say to us, especially about process values. [1] The third   precept of Tiep Hien Buddhism is:            3. Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others to renounce fanaticism and narrowness. I always have a lot of trouble with compassionate dialogue. I guess I read too many of the Dialogues of Plato in high school. Plato tells stories of the great debate victories of Socrates. I think we will never know if they are accurate retellings or stories Plato made up to let us know how great his teacher was. In the Dialogues Socrates uses logical proofs to make his point. A fundamental principle of logical proofs is the existence of the proposition. A proposition is a statement that has a determinable t

For all of May we are looking at some of the precepts of the Tiep Hien Buddhist Order to see what they might have to say to us, especially about process values. [1] The second   precept of Tiep Hien Buddhism is: 2. Do not think that the knowledge you possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow minded and bound to present views. Learn to practice non-attachment from views in order to be open to receive other's viewpoints. Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself and the world at all times.      Once upon a time about 2000 years ago in Judea there was a good shepherd. Well, at this time, there were a lot of good shepherds, because there were a lot of shepherds and most of them were very good. Shepherds epitomize what Drucker has said about workers everywhere: to even hold down a job and be thought competent, the average worker has to do extraordinary thing

In his book Being Peace, Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn shares the Fourteen Precepts of the Tiep Hien Buddhist Order. Tiep Hien is a particularly Vietnamese order of Buddhism that Hanh thinks might find resonance with some Americans. We will spend May looking at some of the precepts to see what they might have to say to us, especially about process values. The first precept of Tiep Hien Buddhism is:                1. Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means: they are not absolute truth. When I first read this, I thought, “All systems except this one.” I had a little laugh at the naiveté of the author. But on reflection I realized that this is not a system of thought, it is a system of thinking about systems of thought. In our language, it is a process value, maybe the foundational process value that leads us to all the other process values. Doctrines, theories, and ideologies are a