Reflections on the quality of atthagngnu in the matter of leadership

Elections are about representatives. Leaders.  Candidates believe they are leaders or at least that they can be leaders.  Maybe they know everything there is to know about leaders.  Some, though, may benefit from some salient points made more than 2,500 years ago by the Enlightened One, Siddhartha Gauthama, the Buddha. This is the first of a five-part explication, first published three years ago in 'The Nation'.

In the Raja Vagga (discourses referring to kings) of the Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses) is recorded some very interesting observations by Siddhartha Gauthama, our Budun Wahanse, about the ideal attributes of the Chakravarthi or the Universal King.  In addition to the more widely discussed discourses on governance such as the Dasa Raja Dharma, there are two sutras that are extremely instructive. 

The first, Pagnamakkanuvattanasutta or the ‘First on the turning of the wheel,’ lays out five characteristics of the (successful) universal monarch and can be applied in the modern context to any ruler or indeed any leader of any institution, public, corporate or cooperative.  The second, Dutiyaccakkanuvattanasutta or the ‘Second on the turning of the wheel’ is an elaboration of sorts referring to succession, i.e. is the qualities that the monarch’s son ought to acquire and as such applicable to a person designated or aspires to replace a leader. 

The monarch is required to know about profitability, be conscious of the righteous, tempered enough to ascertain appropriateness of action, have a sense of timing and take cognizance of the gathering or the public.  Beginning this week, I shall offer comments on these five attributes with a view to throwing light on issues of governance which, sadly, seem to borrow uncritically from notions developed in other countries by scholars and practitioners who are naturally inclined to draw from location and time specific examples in their formulations and which are not necessarily adequate or even useful in understanding our context and advocating for the same. 

That which in translation is called ‘profitability’ has very little to do with the general meaning of the term in current usage.  It is not necessarily about rupees and cents. The Pali term is Atthagngnu, which means ‘acting with full understanding of meaning’.  In the matter of governance, the ruler is required to operate, weigh options and make decisions, after availing him/herself of all relevant information so that the logic of a particular course of action is informed by previous experiences and moreover there is reasonable understanding of possible consequences.  In this manner, a ruler will issue edict and pass judgment in a manner that has a superior chance of producing a greater collective good.

How does a leader acquire such qualities?  We have to assume, first and foremost, that the leader is fundamentally disposed towards doing whatever necessary to ensure the well being of his/her people.  The greedy, the self-seeking, the thieving, the arrogant and the power-hungry are therefore not relevant to this discussion.  It is not about politicians, then, but about statesmen and therefore not about those interested in the next election but those who focus on the next generation and beyond. 

In this sense Budun Wahanse’s formulation can be called an ideal type.  However, to the extent that ideal type is benchmark and a destination, though not reached, nevertheless can take one from here to somewhere instead of turning here into nowhere, these eminently cultivable attributes make for self-assessment (on the part of those aspiring to be more than just another petty politician) and for evaluation of representative or representative wannabe in today’s election-oriented, let’s-make-a-revolution and let’s-change-regime context. 

 In the case of a leader of say a maranaadhara samithiya (Funeral Donation Society) or a Dayaka Sabhava of a Temple (a lay committee associated with and devoted to the proper conduct of all matters pertaining to a temple), a leader or an aspiring leader, if he/she is of the community and possesses basic intelligence, has an analytical mind and is willing to work with and learn from the rest of the community, obtain a decent score on the matter of embodying the quality of Atthagngnu.  As group size grows, as the areas of jurisdiction expands and becomes more and more complex, a leader cannot with casual survey and reflective engagement alone obtain a data set that is statistically and otherwise significant.

The true or approximate meaning of things pertaining to the full gamut of issues that a leader has to contend with, especially in the case of governing a country or a large polity or a large and complex sector of the economy, cannot be obtained without proper and reliable information channels.  Certain things compromise information flows.  First, arrogance on the part of a leader can lead to horrendously erroneous readings of things and processes.  A ‘know-all,’ history has shown, knows little and typically is made to pay for it.  This can be further aggravated by a tendency to give ear to sycophant and treat all criticism as malicious and exaggerated articulations of enemies with agenda that have nothing to do with ground realities. 

A manifest insecurity about position and political future, itself an indicator of unsuitability to lead, can persuade leaders to impose censorship, direct and indirect.  While this could obtain respite from political pressure for a while, today’s information technology has made censorship untenable. Information will reach people somehow and those who want to know will find ways of knowing.  The other negative of censorship is that it blocks information flows in both direction.  The leader would then hear no evil and assume that evil (pertaining to position and future) does not exist. 

A successful leader will keep all channels of communication open, exercise intellect in assessing truth value of claims, and have the humility to acknowledge error and correct relevant flaw.  He would not only say ‘do not sing hosannas of praise, instead offer constructive criticism,’ he would do everything possible to ensure that the dimensions pertaining to the privilege of criticizing are expanded to encompass as large and varied a portion of the population as possible. 

How can a leader extrapolate on the matter of consequence, if he/she does not have a sound grounding in relevant histories and a thirst for examining to the extent practicable given time-space constraints the nuts and bolts of similar scenario?  No leader can be expected to be well versed on all matters.  This is why in the modern context a leader needs to avail him/herself of the best advice possible. This is why there needs to be a mechanism which ensures that the most competent and knowledgeable persons have a greater chance of occupying positions relevant to expertise.  For this to happen, a leader must ensure that the structures are in working order or else do what it takes to get them in place and operating smoothly.  In addition, the leader should make sure that the system of education is appropriate to provide for the human resource needs of the particular economy. 

In the matter of ‘knowing’, a leader must have a strong sense of history.  If a leader does not know much about what made a civilization, what turned a population into a people and a nation, then he/she will not have a sense of appropriate direction when considering ‘better futures’.  The chances are that directional decision will not be congruent to the relevant yesterday or the ground reality of today.  All policies are for people.  People are not individuals with physical attributes alone.  Resident in a people, as individuals and as a collective, are cultural sensibilities that have been ingrained over centuries and generations.  These are not erased easily.  A leader who is determined to erase history gets evacuated him/herself.  It has happened and not very long ago either. 

All of the above is relevant, I believe to the operationalization of a leader’s vision.  It is relevant to presidents, leaders of the opposition, pradeshiya sabhikas, corporate heads and even those in civil society organizations.  History matters. Information matters.  Arrogance, greed and a penchant for self-aggrandizement compromises all this and does not produce a contented polity.  It hastens the end of a ruler, a regime, a system of governance or a corporate entity. 

I am humbled yet once again by the continuing and amazing relevance of words spoken by Siddhartha Gauthama over 2,500 years ago and moreover by their applicability to multiple contexts.

Sabbe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitatta.  May all beings be happy.

msenevira@gmail.com

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The leader must be conscious of ‘the gathering’

The discussion I launched on the Pagnamakkanuvattanasutta or the ‘First on the turning of the wheel,’ a couple of months ago was unfortunately interrupted by a necessity to comment on issues of national import.  The Pagnamakkanuvattanasutta, contained in the Raja Vagga (discourses referring to kings) of the Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses) details some very interesting observations by Siddhartha Gauthama, our Budun Wahanse, about the ideal attributes of the Chakravarthi or the Universal King. 

As mentioned in previous discussions on this subject, this sutta lays out five characteristics of the (successful) universal monarch and can be applied in the modern context to any ruler or indeed any leader of any institution, public, corporate or cooperative. I’ve already discussed the first four requirements i.e. the need to consider profitability, be conscious of the righteous, be tempered enough to ascertain appropriateness of action and have a sense of timing.  Today, I shall consider the last of these attributes, that of parisagngnu, i.e. taking cognizance of the gathering or the public.  

No leader, be he/she monarch or corporate head, can hope to be successful by ignoring the stakeholders.  A leader must always be conscious of the various people-segments, the problems they face both in their generality and specificity, their needs and how they can be expected to change over time. 

What are the kinds of ‘people-segments’ that a leader has to consider?  First there are those who are considered loyal and those who are not.  A leader must be aware of who he/she can trust, who he/she should be wary of and who the detractors are. 

In a democracy, leaders are elected by the people.  Thus there are those who expressed support and those who expressed preference to someone else.  A democratic leader who has to keep in mind the next election and therefore be mindful of the needs and aspirations of the core constituency, even as moves are made to win over the doubters and the virulently opposed.  In all related engagements the leader must show fidelity to the satharabrahma viharana (loving kindness, compassion, equanimity and the ability to rejoice in another’s joy), be conscious of the thrilakshana – anityaa, dukkha and anathema – and the verities of mortality (birth, decay and death).  An opponent is not won over with hatred but with compassion. 

There are other kinds of people-segment. Societies are not flat. There are distinctions along the lines of class, region, gender, age, ethnic and religious identity, political loyalties etc.  The great leader will not only be mindful of these distinctions and particularities with respect to grievance and aspiration, but will design policy in a manner that obtains the optimum outcome this side of causing social rupture.  The leader will have to make decisions for the ‘here and now’ without compromising the future of several generations down the line. 

The leader, moreover, will have to exercise both wisdom and compassion.  The emotional element of grievance, in addition to their true and verifiable dimensions, will have to be taken into account and yet, at no point should the leader be swayed by rhetoric and frill.  The truth value of claim will have to be ascertained. 

Delivering redress to grievance of all people-segments is of utmost importance and the onus is on the leader to allay apprehension of other elements that may take issue with the particularities of ‘resolution’.  The successful leader will do so with conviction and force of argument.  By the same token, the onus is on the leader to set up mechanisms of verification whose integrity is unquestioned.  Where it is found that claim has no foundation, it is up to the leader to boldly say, ‘can consider aspiration but not bound to deliver, certainly not on account of fiction and not at the expense of aggrieving others’.  

All leaders operate within a geographical reality, bounded by laws of jurisdiction.  While they need to understand that the world is larger than their ‘kingdom’ and that this larger world has to be engaged with, the leader’s first and foremost responsibility is to the ruled. 

All leaders, weak and powerful, ruling countries or other entities big and small will have to take note of the political economies pertaining to the overall of which country and/or entity is only a part.  Leaders no doubt will have to operate in contexts of power imbalance and therefore be forced to contend with arm-twisting, threats, invasions and other instruments that seek to undermine the interests of the particular political, financial or social institution/unit and the constituents therein. 

Negotiation and concession will figure in relevant solution-matrixes, but the honourable and successful leader will have a keen sense of costs.  He/she would not give that which undercuts the core of what makes ‘nation’ or ‘organization’ meaningful, will fight to protect the core values that gels individuals into a people, geographies into ‘nation’.  A ruler endowed with such qualities will always have the support of the people and will place utmost trust in that support. 

If ‘people’ are central in the manner described above, the leader should always be in conversation with them; soliciting view, encouraging criticism and recommendation, debating merits and demerits and in this and other ways stand shoulder to shoulder in nation-building and nation-protecting even as he/she stands above, articulating and implementing their will. 

The leader is a special citizen or stakeholder, but the leader is not divine.  A leader can have aides and advisors, but must also have mechanisms that are capable of filtering out the negatives that the inevitable sycophancy breeds. 

The leader must understand that in his/her being resides a nation and understand that this nation is made of people, invariably made of diversity’s richness, their joys and sorrows, hopes and aspirations, hurts and anger.  It is not an easy body to own; the humours therein are not easily balanced or governed.  The leader must be acutely aware of all the body parts within.  This, I believe is the crux pertaining to the parisagngnu considerations articulated by our Budun Wahanse.

This concludes the 5 part series on the Pagnamakkanuvattanasutta.

Sabbe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitatta. May all beings be happy.

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Kalagngnu: the importance of time, timeliness and timing

The commentary on the Pagnamakkanuvattanasutta (‘First on the turning of the wheel’) in the Raja Vagga (discourses referring to kings) of the Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses) that I began a few weeks ago was once again interrupted by the need to respond to certain ill-advised and obnoxious comments made by Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party, India.  I return this week to the fourth attribute that a Chakravarthi or ‘Universal King’ is endowed with, or which an aspirant to such a position is advised to acquire according to Siddhartha Gauthama, our Budun Wahanse, that of Kalagngnu.

‘Kalagngnu’ refers to the matter of time and the quality of being able to weigh the pros and cons relevant to saying and doing at a particular moment.  Today’s politicians are a superstitious lot and place great value on determining the auspicious moment for almost every public act, from announcement of candidature through casting vote to launching this or that project.  While the particular configuration of celestial elements may or may not have bearing on things, the quality of kalagngnu speaks to a much broader consideration of the time factor. 

The ruler or leader of any body, from a state to a village-level society and all things between these, is advised to locate ‘moment’ in terms of both past and future; in other words acquire what is called the thun kal dekma or the ability to factor in the three broad time categories of history, the here-and-now and the tomorrows that will be impacted by decision and non-decision.  A leader has to see beyond his/her term in office and his/her vision should have dimensions broader than issues of personal career objectives and prospects.  Indeed a leader needs to take into account the possible impact of what is said and done several generations into the future. This is what makes a leader a statesman and not a politician.

No extrapolation is possible if history is discounted.  A leader needs to take cognizance of the past, what has worked and what has failed, learn the lessons embedded in success stories as well as failure.  This includes a consideration of the sum total of knowledge on the particular matter at hand and adjustment according to changed realities.  It is of course not a perfect science for the sum total of human knowledge is but a speck of dust compared with the universe of our human ignorance.  This is no excuse for deleting ‘past’ from the relevant decision-equation. 

Leaders tend to focus on the here and now and base calculations on immediate and tangible benefits.  Such leaders can be successful but history will not remember them in soft and fond terms.  Time will designate for them little more than name and number.  The great leaders are those who constantly base judgment on things past, the wisdom wrought of experience, the words of the wise.  They will add to all these the visible and known realities of the particular moment and will stay decision until they are able to make a reasonable assessment of impact, not just for those who inhabit the ‘today’ but those who are yet unborn, factoring in also those other processes which can be expected to have a bearing on the future. 

It would be worthwhile at this point to reflect on what kinds of outcomes have been produced by what is clearly an aversion to the idea thun kal dekma.  Modernity is characterized by a fixation with the present.  Although leaders (political as well as religious and the captains of industry) do refer to forecasts, they rarely calculate beyond the short-term.  ‘Long term’ rarely exceeds a couple of decades and gaze never proceeds beyond the next generation.  ‘Profit now’ seems to be the preferred the guiding principle and since this is an economy and a development paradigm obsessed with trade and markets, and since ‘moment’ is where need and need fulfillment intersect, there is an inevitable rubbishing of the past, sanitized as ‘sunk costs’ while the future gathers dust in the innumerable ‘imponderables’ that will not find residence in relevant equations. 

Profit now goes hand in hand with seizure of wealth and securing and protecting markets as well as avenues of resource and value extraction.  We have as a species plundered and raped the earth with scarcely any concern about resource depletion, compromising of biodiversity and indeed impact on the natural cycles of the earth.  The response to these dark clouds ought to have infused caution into calculation but in reality it seems to have spurred even more frenzied extraction and produced a firm entrenchment of ‘moment-thinking’.

How does a leader acquire the quality of kalagngna?  Politically speaking, the aspiring leader does a lot of learning on the job.  The experience of others and his/her own experiences yield understanding in this regard.  On the other hand, the great and successful leader is required to employ this character trait to matters that go beyond securing and maintaining political power.  It is learnt not on the job but in applying principle to all considerations, however small and seemingly insignificant.  It requires the applicator to also equip him/herself with humility, the ability to reflect, the virtue of being cautious and, ideally, a commitment to observe the sathara brahma viharana, i.e. loving kindness, compassion, equanimity and the ability to rejoice in another’s happiness. 

In general, those who have resolved to understand the eternal verities invariably are better equipped to apply the principle of kalagngnu.  For example, those who understand the reality of impermanence are not prone to succumb to the inevitable traps set up by ego. They are fully conscious of their mortality. They will therefore eschew the pursuit of popularity and for this very reason will succeed in leaving behind a legacy.    

Kalagngnu is a quality that mellows a leader.  It is about being punctual and this is no doubt important. It is about efficient time management, another important trait in a leader. It is about picking the right moment to say something and the right time to do something.  It is more than all this, as elaborated above.  A leader who is guided by the principle of Kalagngnu will protect a heritage and thereby ensure that sense of meaning and cultural relevance is preserved in his/her people and moreover will always consider seriously the matter of sustainability. Such a leader will eschew gimmicks and cheap thrills, will not succumb to the cry and holler of the crowd but will operate with full ear to the silence of those yet to come.  Such a leader will, in time, be hailed as ‘good’, ‘benevolent’ and ‘successful’.  Such a leader will have a tender place in history. 

Sabbe aatta bhavantu sukhitatta.  May all beings be happy.

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Mattagngnu: the importance of determining appropriateness

The commentary on the Pagnamakkanuvattanasutta (‘First on the turning of the wheel’) in the Raja Vagga (discourses referring to kings) of the Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses) that I began a few weeks ago was interrupted by the need to respond to some tendentious comments by Human Rights Watch.  I return this week to the third attribute that a Chakravarthi or ‘Universal King’ is endowed with, according to Siddhartha Gauthama, our Budun Wahanse, that of mattagngnu.

‘Mattagngnu’ refers to appropriateness or a sense of proportion, the right amount or correct dosage in all matters pertaining to governance.  This I believe is of particular significance in the spheres of law and development in today’s context, both in Sri Lanka and in the world. 

‘Knowing limit’ is the key to this element of the Sutta.  This is not as easy as it seems.  It requires, first of all, a sound understanding of all relevant factors.  It requires sound judgment.  Wisdom needs to be applied to all deliberations.  Facts need to be considered dispassionately.  Prejudices need to be retired or suspended.  The yesterday, now and tomorrow relevant to the matter, or the thun-kal dekma, have to be factored in.  The leader, in other words, should ‘read’ the moment at hand in terms of its antecedents and evaluate each option in terms of possible consequences. 

For example, a leader who treats a problem without considering the history it evolved from increases the possibility of failure and moreover renders the future vulnerable to unpleasant and unintended effects of the chosen course of action. If a more here-and-now example is required, treating the ‘ethnic-conflict’ (so-called) by considering only the configuration of forces at the present time and the ‘prerogatives’ of political expediency without taking into account the genesis of the problem and the veracity of all relevant claims in terms of historical, geographical, demographical and economic realities, can very well generate further rupture down the line.  That’s what misdiagnosis does. 

‘Knowledge,’ a leader has to keep in mind, is not value-free. It is often fettered by ideological baggage.  A leader is often handicapped by a felt-need of advisors, aides and loyalists to keep him/her happy.  The leader is often kept in the dark and operates blindly, believing erroneously that all is well and that the information provided is reliable and true.  When knowledge is lacking, deciding ‘limit’ becomes arduous and error-prone.  A lack of humility, likewise, can stop a leader from reminding him/herself that the sum total of human knowledge is just a speck of dust compared with the universe of our ignorance.  ‘Mattagngnu,’ therefore imposes upon ruler a need to equip him/herself with mechanisms that cut through these clarity-compromising impediments.  Such a leader would constantly guard against censorship and self-censorship, deception and self-deception and seek ways of circumventing the twin curses of ignorance and arrogance. 

A reasonable understanding of the weight and contour of all relevant or at least the most pertinent factors is a necessary but not sufficient condition for making decisions that enhance overall profitability.  This is where mattagngnu comes into play.  Perhaps comment on a couple of examples would help shed light. 

Let’s begin with law or the dispensing of justice, the latter referring to word as well as spirit.  Suraj Randiv bowling a no-ball to give India a win in a match that was lost in all but name and simultaneously denying Virendra Sehwag a century (he was 99 not out) was legal but violated ‘sense of justice’.  What is important is that the word should celebrate the idea of equality.  No one should be above the law and everyone should be equal before the law.  The law should not be referenced and applied selectively.  Violation of law should be met with punishment appropriate to the infringement.  Notions such as ‘innocent until proven guilty,’ and ‘due process,’ as well as adequate corrective mechanisms to safeguard against error such as the right of appeal all fall into the ambit of ‘appropriateness’. 

A leader who abides by the principle cannot punish one person for theft while letting another person get away with it. Neither can such a leader be arbitrary in determining severity of punishment.  Punishment as well as punitive action should follow reason and not emotion. Neither should political convenience be a determining element.  There should be clarity at all stages of the process and the decision as well as the justification should be open to scrutiny.  A leader cannot demolish a house claiming that an occupant is hiding a gun therein, reducing everything to rubble and killing or maiming other occupants who are innocent of any such infringement of the law.  There should be adequate proof and moreover the accused should be offered a chance to defend him/herself against the charge.  A leader cannot bomb one such house (even if this can be justified based on the fulfillment of the above criteria) and leave another house (where an occupant guilty of the same ‘crime’ is resident) untouched.  That’s arbitrary, selective and in clear violation of the principle of mattagngnu.   

‘Development’ is a discourse, a set of ideas (and indeed an ‘ideology’) and a practice in the modern world where mattagngnu has been cast aside as irrelevant, obstacle and irritant.  Sense of proportion is a notion that is either footnoted (grudgingly) or is largely absent(ed) in/from the development discourse.  The prerogatives of ‘modernity’ took for granted that things past are irrelevant and indeed needed to be erased altogether. History and heritage were made to take a backseat.  What mattered was what was at hand.  Traditions and customs were considered relevant on in terms of their market value.  ‘Irrelevanced’ simultaneously was the ‘future’.  Whereas some cultures extrapolated seven generations into the future to ascertain the worth of a particular course of action, ‘modernity’ and modernist development paradigms was far less far-seeing and utterly impatient. The future could wait, it was thought.  Saving for a rainy day was out of question. The value of all things was ascertained in the marketplace.  Tomorrow would take care of itself, it was thought.  It was the era of the ‘er’.  BiggER. BettER. TallER. RichER.

The lack of concern for appropriateness is clearly shown in the mindless mining of all resources and until very recently the callous disregard for the impact on the environment and therefore the overall health of the planet.  We are pushing countless species to extinction.  The seas have been over-harvested.  We are champions of desertification.  We are running out of carbon fuels.  In short, the earth’s capacity to regenerate and renew itself has been severely compromised.  We have precipitated natural disasters and scripted our own tragedies as well.  We have not only abandoned that thing called ‘sense of proportion,’ we’ve lost our bearings as well.

Development was in an almighty hurry.  We ran along.  At breakneck speed. We are panting now.  We’ve run out of steam. Running out of petroleum. Running out of answersto the problems we’ve created.   A leader cannot run away. He/she must stand and fight.  That fight cannot be won if the leader refuses to acknowledge, among other things, that modernism and the modernist drive got the dosage all wrong.  We took more and more and didn’t think of giving back.  We were so fixated on ‘the moment’ that we forgot about the future.  We borrowed so much from our children, their children and generations yet unborn that we may very well have condemned them to impoverishment. 

Our leaders, in the matter of development, have shown that they’ve not factored in mattagngnu in their deliberations.  Neither did the development gurus. Nor those who made careers out of development – academics, NGO operators, advisors and other blueprint-makers.  

Any standout leader needs to be sober. Mattagngnu is a quality that exemplifies sobriety.  Be it in constitutional enactment, application of the law, designing development, imposition of taxes, granting of subsidies, exercising presidential prerogative or any other governance element, the leader who has the wisdom to exercise restraint and determine appropriateness will stand tall. Others can stand tall too. Not for long. 

Sabbe aatta bhavantu sukhitatta.  May all beings be happy.

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Reflections on the quality of atthagngnu in the matter of leadership

In the Raja Vagga (discourses referring to kings) of the Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses) is recorded some very interesting observations by Siddhartha Gauthama, our Budun Wahanse, about the ideal attributes of the Chakravarthi or the Universal King.  In addition to the more widely discussed discourses on governance such as the Dasa Raja Dharma, there are two sutras that are extremely instructive. 

The first, Pagnamakkanuvattanasutta or the ‘First on the turning of the wheel,’ lays out five characteristics of the (successful) universal monarch and can be applied in the modern context to any ruler or indeed any leader of any institution, public, corporate or cooperative.  The second, Dutiyaccakkanuvattanasutta or the ‘Second on the turning of the wheel’ is an elaboration of sorts referring to succession, i.e. is the qualities that the monarch’s son ought to acquire and as such applicable to a person designated or aspires to replace a leader. 

The monarch is required to know about profitability, be conscious of the righteous, tempered enough to ascertain appropriateness of action, have a sense of timing and take cognizance of the gathering or the public.  Beginning this week, I shall offer comments on these five attributes with a view to throwing light on issues of governance which, sadly, seem to borrow uncritically from notions developed in other countries by scholars and practitioners who are naturally inclined to draw from location and time specific examples in their formulations and which are not necessarily adequate or even useful in understanding our context and advocating for the same. 

That which in translation is called ‘profitability’ has very little to do with the general meaning of the term in current usage.  It is not necessarily about rupees and cents. The Pali term is Atthagngnu, which means ‘acting with full understanding of meaning’.  In the matter of governance, the ruler is required to operate, weigh options and make decisions, after availing him/herself of all relevant information so that the logic of a particular course of action is informed by previous experiences and moreover there is reasonable understanding of possible consequences.  In this manner, a ruler will issue edict and pass judgment in a manner that has a superior chance of producing a greater collective good.

How does a leader acquire such qualities?  We have to assume, first and foremost, that the leader is fundamentally disposed towards doing whatever necessary to ensure the well being of his/her people.  The greedy, the self-seeking, the thieving, the arrogant and the power-hungry are therefore not relevant to this discussion.  It is not about politicians, then, but about statesmen and therefore not about those interested in the next election but those who focus on the next generation and beyond. 

In this sense Budun Wahanse’s formulation can be called an ideal type.  However, to the extent that ideal type is benchmark and a destination, though not reached, nevertheless can take one from here to somewhere instead of turning here into nowhere, these eminently cultivable attributes make for self-assessment (on the part of those aspiring to be more than just another petty politician) and for evaluation of representative or representative wannabe in today’s election-oriented, let’s-make-a-revolution and let’s-change-regime context. 

In the case of a leader of say a maranaadhara samithiya (Funeral Donation Society) or a Dayaka Sabhava of a Temple (a lay committee associated with and devoted to the proper conduct of all matters pertaining to a temple), a leader or an aspiring leader, if he/she is of the community and possesses basic intelligence, has an analytical mind and is willing to work with and learn from the rest of the community, obtain a decent score on the matter of embodying the quality of Atthagngnu.  As group size grows, as the areas of jurisdiction expands and becomes more and more complex, a leader cannot with casual survey and reflective engagement alone obtain a data set that is statistically and otherwise significant.

The true or approximate meaning of things pertaining to the full gamut of issues that a leader has to contend with, especially in the case of governing a country or a large polity or a large and complex sector of the economy, cannot be obtained without proper and reliable information channels.  Certain things compromise information flows.  First, arrogance on the part of a leader can lead to horrendously erroneous readings of things and processes.  A ‘know-all,’ history has shown, knows little and typically is made to pay for it.  This can be further aggravated by a tendency to give ear to sycophant and treat all criticism as malicious and exaggerated articulations of enemies with agenda that have nothing to do with ground realities. 

A manifest insecurity about position and political future, itself an indicator of unsuitability to lead, can persuade leaders to impose censorship, direct and indirect.  While this could obtain respite from political pressure for a while, today’s information technology has made censorship untenable. Information will reach people somehow and those who want to know will find ways of knowing.  The other negative of censorship is that it blocks information flows in both direction.  The leader would then hear no evil and assume that evil (pertaining to position and future) does not exist. 

A successful leader will keep all channels of communication open, exercise intellect in assessing truth value of claims, and have the humility to acknowledge error and correct relevant flaw.  He would not only say ‘do not sing hosannas of praise, instead offer constructive criticism,’ he would do everything possible to ensure that the dimensions pertaining to the privilege of criticizing are expanded to encompass as large and varied a portion of the population as possible. 

How can a leader extrapolate on the matter of consequence, if he/she does not have a sound grounding in relevant histories and a thirst for examining to the extent practicable given time-space constraints the nuts and bolts of similar scenario?  No leader can be expected to be well versed on all matters.  This is why in the modern context a leader needs to avail him/herself of the best advice possible. This is why there needs to be a mechanism which ensures that the most competent and knowledgeable persons have a greater chance of occupying positions relevant to expertise.  For this to happen, a leader must ensure that the structures are in working order or else do what it takes to get them in place and operating smoothly.  In addition, the leader should make sure that the system of education is appropriate to provide for the human resource needs of the particular economy. 

In the matter of ‘knowing’, a leader must have a strong sense of history.  If a leader does not know much about what made a civilization, what turned a population into a people and a nation, then he/she will not have a sense of appropriate direction when considering ‘better futures’.  The chances are that directional decision will not be congruent to the relevant yesterday or the ground reality of today.  All policies are for people.  People are not individuals with physical attributes alone.  Resident in a people, as individuals and as a collective, are cultural sensibilities that have been ingrained over centuries and generations.  These are not erased easily.  A leader who is determined to erase history gets evacuated him/herself.  It has happened and not very long ago either. 

All of the above is relevant, I believe to the operationalization of a leader’s vision.  It is relevant to presidents, leaders of the opposition, pradeshiya sabhikas, corporate heads and even those in civil society organizations.  History matters. Information matters.  Arrogance, greed and a penchant for self-aggrandizement compromises all this and does not produce a contented polity.  It hastens the end of a ruler, a regime, a system of governance or a corporate entity. 

I am humbled yet once again by the continuing and amazing relevance of words spoken by Siddhartha Gauthama over 2,500 years ago and moreover by their applicability to multiple contexts.

Sabbe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitatta.  May all beings be happy.

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