When I was in high school, I had a friend whose father was an industrialist. This man had evidently crossed the line in his business practices in style, and was at the time behind bars. Even so, a servant would go around the house at regular intervals to all rooms with incense which exuded a fine fragrance. The idea I suppose was to eliminate the malodour of crime and sin, and convince both men and gods that the man was really and truly an upright and worthy soul.
This is a great metaphor for CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) in India. Businesses cross the line in spectacular fashion, bribing to get business, avoiding excise duty, illicitly damaging the environment, skirting all kinds of laws with the connivance of corrupt politicians and officials, and then give money to a very visible cause like ‘Save the Tiger’ to spruce up their image. CEO’s sit smugly on podiums pontificating on the necessity of supporting social causes and swearing their firms’ commitment, the audience applauds, cameras flash, newspaper columns are filled. There are a lot of NGOs which feed off this kind of convenient conscience, some do good work, some not - not all NGOs are socially responsible either.
The truth is CSR is not really about how you spend your money but about how you make it. To be socially responsible a business has to earn its money in an ethical fashion well within the law. It has to behave responsibly and ethically with customers, suppliers, employees, the government and even competitors. No bribing, no cutting corners on laws and taxes. Products (including services) sold should be of good quality, and should be constantly upgraded in light of changing circumstances and knowledge. For example - processed food companies eliminating hardened fats and trans fatty acids once evidence has surfaced showing they are harmful, and being smart and using that move as a source of gaining customer franchise and loyalty, not losing it. Being within the law isn’t enough – tobacco companies seeking to get young people addicted to their deadly products cannot ethically use surrogate advertising, even though it may be legal.
Being truly socially responsible also means seeking opportunities in areas that are ethical and socially relevant, as part of your range of goods and services – and to find ways to do so profitably and sustainably, in the interest of shareholders, not as a social burden. The late CK Prahalad talked about the opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP – yet another acronym, and no, not balance of payment any longer). Smart and socially responsible firms will seek BOP opportunities. For example, banks can seek opportunities to lend to socially relevant sectors, like low cost housing or microfinance. Microfinance was once considered esoteric and ‘do gooding’, but has proven to be low risk and very profitable, and is now considered a great business opportunity. Water quality is a big issue in India, and now companies have discovered that low cost water purification systems for rural areas aren’t just a do-gooding effort but also a huge potential business. Yes, CSR is not about giving money away, it’s about earning money responsibly.
This all sounds very simple and common-sensical, but is a far cry from where lots of companies are in terms of their practices and their products. For companies seeking higher ground the migration is a process that will take time, and has to be done with shareholder interest front and centre, not as a hair-shirting, purely do-gooding effort. There has to be a will to change, and that has to do with the leadership of the company, who are a product of its culture - which incorporates errant ways. It’s like asking a person to improve, to be a better person. The surest way to make it happen is to identify a driving force for the change, a payoff. This migration can only be driven by the understanding that tomorrow’s world will require greater social responsibility for success in business. It is the evolution in the expectation of consumers, customers, markets and also in regulation which will make this a necessity, so getting in position early without sacrificing performance just makes business sense. Being in denial and staying with old ways of doing business while spending on causes cosmetically will extract a painful price later.
The next question relates to businesses spending money on ‘socially relevant causes’. That has been promoted as the sum and substance of CSR, as that view suits everybody - the fund hungry NGOs, honest citizens and media with a great desire to see ‘good’ being done (by someone else), and of course companies eager to get a nice clean image by spending some money cosmetically. The simple truth is that the only real purpose of a company is to create shareholder value, in a legal, ethical and sustainable basis. Business isn’t meant to ‘save’ the world, it just shouldn’t destroy it! It is the role of business to create wealth in society – in a socially responsible way. Every rupee/dollar/euro on this planet is generated by business. It is up to society then to use the wealth as it thinks fit. Much though many would like corporations to be the new cash rich philanthropists, that is just not their role. Their money belongs to the shareholders; it is not up to the management to give it away. Shareholders (us, really) invest in a company to get maximum return on our money, not so that the company do charity work. If we shareholders want to give to charity we are perfectly capable of doing so ourselves, and in fact would prefer to select our own causes to support.
Using shareholders’ funds for any philanthropic or ‘noble’ cause should only be done if it serves a business purpose. Some modest contributions to causes can be legitimate. Improving the company’s image is not a good enough reason in itself, unless it translates into a definite business advantage, like brand image and therefore sales (either an increase or eliminating the danger of a decrease), or helps raise capital in primary issues, or attracts better talent and better business partners. As a specific example of worthwhile spend on a cause, it makes sense for a company that uses up water, an increasingly scarce resource, to spend money to promote water harvesting. That will reduce its risk of attack from irate citizens with consequent damage to sales and to the image of its brands. Perhaps tobacco companies should give to cancer research….. Running medical camps and providing some school supplies in villages that provide workers for your factory can be helpful to create goodwill, to help create and hire the best talent, and also to ward off industrial relations problems.
Too often money is given to charities to feed the ego of senior managers, make them feel noble and give them standing in society. That is neither legitimate nor sustainable. The next guy will come along and ride a different hobby horse – a constant complaint of NGOs. Charity is something managers should dig into their own pockets for. A perfectly legitimate approach is for companies to create mechanisms for employees to collectively donate to urgent or important causes. True sustainability of NGOs will come from society at large wanting to do good, individuals wanting to spend their money to do good, whether at a modest level like you or me, or at a colossal level by the likes of the Ford family, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet, and to that extent can feed indirectly off corporate profits through shareholders. Mind you, the American tradition of such philanthropy hasn’t yet shown signs of reaching our shores, where equally rich people prefer to build a modest $1 bn, 60 storied house for themselves. But I am sure their companies do the requisite amount of cosmetic ‘CSR’, possibly while throwing real social responsibility to the winds!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
The wisdom of the Buddha
I recently read a translation of the Dhammapada - a compilation of the teachings of the Buddha. It is, in a word, stunning. I am giving below quotations which struck me as being particularly brilliant: articulate, sophisticated, yet down to earth and practical, even contemporary. Worth reflecting on to extract the wisdom of one of the most illumined minds ever. I have prefaced the extracts with some comments and questions with the hope of inviting responses - nudge, nudge. If you find my ruminations painful just skip straight ahead to the quotations, Those are unmissable.
The startling conclusion I came to from reading the Dhammapada is that Buddhism is actually nothing but an attempt to reform Hinduism. The fact that Buddhism got driven out of India makes one think of it as an East Asian phenomenon - Burmese, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, not to mention Tibetans (the Dalai Lama!), mainly meant for chinky eyed people (kidding). It isnt. It is uniquely Indian. After all, even though Buddhism isnt accepted as part of Hinduism Buddha is paradoxically considered the ninth avatar of Vishnu!
The comparison in thought between the Dhammapada and the Upanishads is quite striking. For example, the first key to the Buddha's philosophy is contained in the opening of the very first verse:
"Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think." Mental discipline backed by meditation is the basis of the Buddha's philosophy of living.
In comparison the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says:
'You are what your deep driving desire is.
As is your desire so is your will.
As is your will so is your deed.
As is your deed so is your destiny".
The other key to the Buddha's thought is equally vedantic, that you should act in accordance with the knowledge that all things are connected. He concludes that selfish desire can only lead to sorrow. As an aside he does not reject desire completely, he does say desire is useful if channeled towards seeking nirvana.
The bedrock of the Buddha's philosophy is uniquely Hindu: the vedantic concepts of karma, rebirth and moksha (he calls it nirvana). No other religion has these concepts. To that extent Buddhism is nothing but a reformation of Hinduism, which by the time the Buddha appeared on the scene was badly in need of reform. The Buddha saw this and sought to free the soaring concepts of Vedanta from the petty stranglehold of brahmins who had reduced the religion mainly to vedic rituals aimed at their own benefit rather than the benefit of the faithful - an assertion of economics that seems to be one of the key distinguishing factors between religion and faith. The Buddha perhaps sought to sever that relationship.
What is surprising is that the Buddha is silent about God (Brahman or the Self in the Upanishads), and only speaks of nirvana as release from the cycle of birth and death, a cycle which he sees as full of sorrow. The Upanishads go a step further and speak of the indescribable joy, the bliss of merging with the Self, a joy which far exceeds anything that can be experienced on earth. In the Dhammapada the whole philosophy comes across more as about escaping misery than about seeking greater joy. Even though the Buddha talks about joy it seems to come across as rather clinical and sterile. The question here is: how you can believe in karma and rebirth and moksha without a God? Beats me, and that is something I would love to get a viewpoint on from anyone. One viewpoint I have got is that the Buddha was silent on God as he wanted to do away with the hegemony brahmins had established on the basis of being interlocutors between man and God. However, while he succeeded in getting rid of the caste based stranglehold of brahmins, he wasnt able to do away with ritual. Buddhism seems to be pretty riddled with its own tedious rituals, though much calmer and less greedy/graspy than brahmanical ritual.
Where the vedas are clear that you cannot expect to reach God without the help of a God-realised soul, a guru, greatly exalted in hinduism (guru Brahma, guru Vishnu, guru Devamaheya), the Buddha emphatically states that there is no better guide for the journey to nirvana than yourself, holding up his personal example of not having a guru. Perhaps this was part of dismantling the hold of brahmins. On the other hand I have heard a seriously 'vidwan' yogi say that the Buddha fell short of true realisation. Whether that yogi's viewpoint represents the remnants of the backlash from brahmins against Buddhism, culminating with Shankaracharya who re-established the supremacy of hinduism in the subcontinent (I have only a foggy notion of this - any inputs?), or reflects a true limitation of not having a guru - I dont know. I can only say it is a little difficult to imagine a God realised soul not talking about a creator, or about the enormous hidden human potential in the possibility of realising God. Perhaps The Buddha's silence about God is why Buddhism never got accepted as a reformist branch of Hinduism, and couldnt resist the fightback by Brahmins, in a country so strongly theistic as India.
Be that as it may, there is great beauty and truth in these verses. The instruction they provide are beautifully detailed and expressed in a very articulate and communicative way. They are also very practical and aim to give insights into how to live your life. In that vein the Dhammapada is superior as a guide to living than the Upanishads, which are not really meant to be very practical or actionable, though they are unmatched in the transcendant, ethereal beauty of their metaphysical thought.
QUOTATIONS FROM THE DHAMMAPADA
"Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Verse 1.
More than those that hate you, more than
all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does
greater harm. More than your mother, more
than your father, more than all your family, a
well-disciplined mind does greater good. 42, 43.
But the wise live without injuring nature, as the
bee drinks nectar without harming the flower.
Do not give your attention to what others do
or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do. 49, 50
Like a lovely flower full of colour but lacking
in fragrance are the words of those who do
not practice what they preach. Like a lovely
flower full of colour and fragrance are the words
of those who practice what they preach. 51, 52.
If you see someone wise who can steer you
away from the wrong path follow that person
as you would one who can reveal hidden
treasures. Only good can come of it. 76
Better than a speech of a thousand vain words is
one thoughtful word which brings peace to the mind.
Better than a poem of a thousand vain verses is
one thoughtful line which brings peace to the mind.
Better than a hundred poems of vain stanzas is one
word of the dharma that brings peace to the mind. 100-102.
One who conquers himself is greater than another
who conquers a thousand times a thousand men
on the battlefield. Be victorious over yourself
and not over others. When you attain victory over
yourself not even the gods can turn victory into defeat. 103-105
Better than performing a thousand rituals month
by month for a hundred years is a moments homage
to one living in wisdom. Better than tending the
sacrificial fire in the forest for a thousand years is
a moments homage to one living in wisdom. 106, 107
Evildoers may be happy as long as they do
not reap what they have sown, but when they
do sorrow overcomes them. The good may
suffer as long as they do not reap what they have
sown but when they do joy overcomes them. 119, 120
As a rich merchant traveling alone avoids
dangerous roads, as a lover of life avoids poison
let everyone avoid dangerous deeds. 123
Speak quietly to everyone and they too will
be gentle in their speech. Harsh words hurt
and come back to the speaker. 133
Your own self is your master; who else could be?
With yourself well controlled you gain a master very
hard to find. 160
As a vine overpowers a tree, evil
overpowers those who do evil, trapping
them in a situation that only their enemies would
wish them to be in. Evil deeds which harm the
doer are easy to do; good deeds are not so easy. 161-163
By oneself is evil done; by oneself one is
injured. Do not do evil and suffering will
not come. Everyone has the choice to be pure
or impure. No one can purify another. 165
Let us live in joy, never hating those who hate us. 197
There is no fire like lust, no sickness like
hatred, no sorrow like separateness, no joy
like peace. No disease is worse than greed
no suffering worse than selfish passion. Know
this and seek nirvana with the highest joy. 202, 203
Health is the best gift, contentment the best
wealth, trust the best kinsman, nirvana the greatest
joy. 204
But avoid the company of the immature
if you want joy. 206
As your family and friends receive you with joy
when you return from a long journey so will your
good deeds receive you when you go from this life to
the next where they will be waiting for you with joy
like your kinsmen. 219,220
Use your body for doing good not for harm. Train
it to follow the dharma. Use your tongue for doing
good not for harm. Train it to speak kindly. Use
your mind for doing good not for harm. Train your
mind in love. The wise are disciplined in body
speech and mind. They are well controlled indeed.
As the rust consumes the iron which
breeds it, evil deeds consume those who do them 240
Life seems easy for those without shame, no better
than a crow, a mischief maker who is insolent and
dissolute. Life is hard for one who is humble,
gentle and detached, who tries to live in purity." 244, 245
There is no....jailer like hate... 251
It is easy to see the faults of others; we winnow
them like chaff. It is hard to see our own; we
hide them as a gambler hides a losing draw.
But when one keeps dwelling on the faults
of others his own compulsions grow worse
making it harder to overcome them. 252, 253.
Not by rituals and resolutions, nor by much
learning, nor by celibacy nor even by meditation
can you find the supreme immortal joy of nirvana
until you have extinguished your self will. 271, 272
Wealth harms the greedy but not those who
seek nirvana. 355
Bhikshu empty your boat! It will go faster.
Cast out greed and hatred and reach nirvana. 369
There can be no meditation for those who are not
wise and no wisdom for those who do not meditate." 372
The startling conclusion I came to from reading the Dhammapada is that Buddhism is actually nothing but an attempt to reform Hinduism. The fact that Buddhism got driven out of India makes one think of it as an East Asian phenomenon - Burmese, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, not to mention Tibetans (the Dalai Lama!), mainly meant for chinky eyed people (kidding). It isnt. It is uniquely Indian. After all, even though Buddhism isnt accepted as part of Hinduism Buddha is paradoxically considered the ninth avatar of Vishnu!
The comparison in thought between the Dhammapada and the Upanishads is quite striking. For example, the first key to the Buddha's philosophy is contained in the opening of the very first verse:
"Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think." Mental discipline backed by meditation is the basis of the Buddha's philosophy of living.
In comparison the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says:
'You are what your deep driving desire is.
As is your desire so is your will.
As is your will so is your deed.
As is your deed so is your destiny".
The other key to the Buddha's thought is equally vedantic, that you should act in accordance with the knowledge that all things are connected. He concludes that selfish desire can only lead to sorrow. As an aside he does not reject desire completely, he does say desire is useful if channeled towards seeking nirvana.
The bedrock of the Buddha's philosophy is uniquely Hindu: the vedantic concepts of karma, rebirth and moksha (he calls it nirvana). No other religion has these concepts. To that extent Buddhism is nothing but a reformation of Hinduism, which by the time the Buddha appeared on the scene was badly in need of reform. The Buddha saw this and sought to free the soaring concepts of Vedanta from the petty stranglehold of brahmins who had reduced the religion mainly to vedic rituals aimed at their own benefit rather than the benefit of the faithful - an assertion of economics that seems to be one of the key distinguishing factors between religion and faith. The Buddha perhaps sought to sever that relationship.
What is surprising is that the Buddha is silent about God (Brahman or the Self in the Upanishads), and only speaks of nirvana as release from the cycle of birth and death, a cycle which he sees as full of sorrow. The Upanishads go a step further and speak of the indescribable joy, the bliss of merging with the Self, a joy which far exceeds anything that can be experienced on earth. In the Dhammapada the whole philosophy comes across more as about escaping misery than about seeking greater joy. Even though the Buddha talks about joy it seems to come across as rather clinical and sterile. The question here is: how you can believe in karma and rebirth and moksha without a God? Beats me, and that is something I would love to get a viewpoint on from anyone. One viewpoint I have got is that the Buddha was silent on God as he wanted to do away with the hegemony brahmins had established on the basis of being interlocutors between man and God. However, while he succeeded in getting rid of the caste based stranglehold of brahmins, he wasnt able to do away with ritual. Buddhism seems to be pretty riddled with its own tedious rituals, though much calmer and less greedy/graspy than brahmanical ritual.
Where the vedas are clear that you cannot expect to reach God without the help of a God-realised soul, a guru, greatly exalted in hinduism (guru Brahma, guru Vishnu, guru Devamaheya), the Buddha emphatically states that there is no better guide for the journey to nirvana than yourself, holding up his personal example of not having a guru. Perhaps this was part of dismantling the hold of brahmins. On the other hand I have heard a seriously 'vidwan' yogi say that the Buddha fell short of true realisation. Whether that yogi's viewpoint represents the remnants of the backlash from brahmins against Buddhism, culminating with Shankaracharya who re-established the supremacy of hinduism in the subcontinent (I have only a foggy notion of this - any inputs?), or reflects a true limitation of not having a guru - I dont know. I can only say it is a little difficult to imagine a God realised soul not talking about a creator, or about the enormous hidden human potential in the possibility of realising God. Perhaps The Buddha's silence about God is why Buddhism never got accepted as a reformist branch of Hinduism, and couldnt resist the fightback by Brahmins, in a country so strongly theistic as India.
Be that as it may, there is great beauty and truth in these verses. The instruction they provide are beautifully detailed and expressed in a very articulate and communicative way. They are also very practical and aim to give insights into how to live your life. In that vein the Dhammapada is superior as a guide to living than the Upanishads, which are not really meant to be very practical or actionable, though they are unmatched in the transcendant, ethereal beauty of their metaphysical thought.
QUOTATIONS FROM THE DHAMMAPADA
"Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Verse 1.
More than those that hate you, more than
all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does
greater harm. More than your mother, more
than your father, more than all your family, a
well-disciplined mind does greater good. 42, 43.
But the wise live without injuring nature, as the
bee drinks nectar without harming the flower.
Do not give your attention to what others do
or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do. 49, 50
Like a lovely flower full of colour but lacking
in fragrance are the words of those who do
not practice what they preach. Like a lovely
flower full of colour and fragrance are the words
of those who practice what they preach. 51, 52.
If you see someone wise who can steer you
away from the wrong path follow that person
as you would one who can reveal hidden
treasures. Only good can come of it. 76
Better than a speech of a thousand vain words is
one thoughtful word which brings peace to the mind.
Better than a poem of a thousand vain verses is
one thoughtful line which brings peace to the mind.
Better than a hundred poems of vain stanzas is one
word of the dharma that brings peace to the mind. 100-102.
One who conquers himself is greater than another
who conquers a thousand times a thousand men
on the battlefield. Be victorious over yourself
and not over others. When you attain victory over
yourself not even the gods can turn victory into defeat. 103-105
Better than performing a thousand rituals month
by month for a hundred years is a moments homage
to one living in wisdom. Better than tending the
sacrificial fire in the forest for a thousand years is
a moments homage to one living in wisdom. 106, 107
Evildoers may be happy as long as they do
not reap what they have sown, but when they
do sorrow overcomes them. The good may
suffer as long as they do not reap what they have
sown but when they do joy overcomes them. 119, 120
As a rich merchant traveling alone avoids
dangerous roads, as a lover of life avoids poison
let everyone avoid dangerous deeds. 123
Speak quietly to everyone and they too will
be gentle in their speech. Harsh words hurt
and come back to the speaker. 133
Your own self is your master; who else could be?
With yourself well controlled you gain a master very
hard to find. 160
As a vine overpowers a tree, evil
overpowers those who do evil, trapping
them in a situation that only their enemies would
wish them to be in. Evil deeds which harm the
doer are easy to do; good deeds are not so easy. 161-163
By oneself is evil done; by oneself one is
injured. Do not do evil and suffering will
not come. Everyone has the choice to be pure
or impure. No one can purify another. 165
Let us live in joy, never hating those who hate us. 197
There is no fire like lust, no sickness like
hatred, no sorrow like separateness, no joy
like peace. No disease is worse than greed
no suffering worse than selfish passion. Know
this and seek nirvana with the highest joy. 202, 203
Health is the best gift, contentment the best
wealth, trust the best kinsman, nirvana the greatest
joy. 204
But avoid the company of the immature
if you want joy. 206
As your family and friends receive you with joy
when you return from a long journey so will your
good deeds receive you when you go from this life to
the next where they will be waiting for you with joy
like your kinsmen. 219,220
Use your body for doing good not for harm. Train
it to follow the dharma. Use your tongue for doing
good not for harm. Train it to speak kindly. Use
your mind for doing good not for harm. Train your
mind in love. The wise are disciplined in body
speech and mind. They are well controlled indeed.
As the rust consumes the iron which
breeds it, evil deeds consume those who do them 240
Life seems easy for those without shame, no better
than a crow, a mischief maker who is insolent and
dissolute. Life is hard for one who is humble,
gentle and detached, who tries to live in purity." 244, 245
There is no....jailer like hate... 251
It is easy to see the faults of others; we winnow
them like chaff. It is hard to see our own; we
hide them as a gambler hides a losing draw.
But when one keeps dwelling on the faults
of others his own compulsions grow worse
making it harder to overcome them. 252, 253.
Not by rituals and resolutions, nor by much
learning, nor by celibacy nor even by meditation
can you find the supreme immortal joy of nirvana
until you have extinguished your self will. 271, 272
Wealth harms the greedy but not those who
seek nirvana. 355
Bhikshu empty your boat! It will go faster.
Cast out greed and hatred and reach nirvana. 369
There can be no meditation for those who are not
wise and no wisdom for those who do not meditate." 372
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
