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 things every day.
     This is certainly true for shepherds. Knowing their flock, being able to call them and get them to obey, knowing how to work in partnership with the dog, knowing how to use the crook to lift sheep out of danger without hurting them, none of that is easy. And they need more than knowledge. There is the courage to face lonely nights in the fields and to stare down wolves with only a staff or a sling. It takes a lot of wisdom, knowledge, strength, courage, and caring to be thought just an average shepherd. And against this background of excellence, there was one shepherd who was so good that he was known as the Good Shepherd.
     The Good Shepherd could tell a member of his flock by the sound of their voice. He could tell a lame sheep by the print of a hoof. He could count the entire flock with a single sweep of his gaze. He could track a missing sheep over bare rock, and never lose track of the rest of the flock. And once he stood up to a lion and got it to back down and slink away.
     Others took notice of everything the Good Shepherd did. They followed his every move, and tried to emulate him. They wrote down what he did and what he said so that people could continue to study The Book of the Good Shepherd  even after he was no longer tending an Earthly flock.
     One day the Good Shepherd was out with his herd and came to a place where there was cliff on the right. “Go left,” said the Good Shepherd to his flock and his dog. The flock went left, with some urging from the dog, and all were saved.
     The chroniclers of The Book Of The Good Shepherd wrote in their book, “Coming to the place of the cliff, the Good Shepherd said, ‘Go left,’ and the flock was saved.”
     Recently, there was a modern-day shepherd in Colorado. This shepherd was a reasonably good shepherd too, by ordinary standards. But that wasn’t good enough for him. He strove to emulate the Good Shepherd. He read The Book of the Good Shepherd every night, and remembered the lessons he learned there.
     About 2 years ago, this shepherd came to a place where there was a cliff on the left. He remembered what he had read in The Book Of The Good Shepherd: “Coming to the place of the cliff, the Good Shepherd said, ‘Go left,’ and the flock was saved.” So he told the flock to go left. The flock went left, with some urging from the dog.
     At his memorial service, as they laid flowers on his closed casket, everyone commented on how devoted the shepherd was to The Book of the Good Shepherd and how the Good Shepherd must have had a reason for calling the shepherd and his whole flock – and his sheepdog – to be with Him.

 “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.”


[1] 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.
 

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