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8 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

breathing, mindfulness of the body, and so forth. Then whole time, that one little element of relaxation allowed
there’s the practice of living in community. (One of the the whole thing to be consummated; simply because
elder monks of my Sangha once referred to communal there was a letting go of the stress, I stopped pushing.
monastic training as being the practice of 100,000 The irony was that I was still fulfilling 99.9 percent
frustrations— we don’t qualify until we’ve had our of my spiritual duties and practices. But I did them
hundred thousandth.) So there is an enormous amount without being driven. We can relax without switching
of preparatory work that is required to make that off, and consequently we can enjoy the fruits of our
relaxation effective. work. This is what we mean by letting go of becoming
and learning to be. If we’re too tense and eager to get to
I like to think of this relaxation as a type of overdrive.
the other end, we’re bound to fall off the tightrope.
We use the fifth gear, the same speed but less revs. Until
I told Ajahn Sumedho that I had given up my ascetic Adapted from a talk given during a retreat led by Ven.
practices, I was in fourth gear and racing. There was Tsoknyi Rinpoche, held at Wisdom House in Litchfield,
always a pushing, a take-it-to-the limit attitude. When I Connecticut, in September of 1997. A longer version of
dropped back one notch and was not quite so fanatical this talk was published in Broad View, Boundless Heart
about the rules and doing everything perfectly the under the title “Ajahn Chah’s View of the View.” EH

Why Leaders Should Be Mindful,

Selfless, and Compassionate

By His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

His Holiness the 14th Dalai the Nobel Prize, he has met
Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the with world leaders, scientists,
spiritual leader of Tibetan and educators, emphasizing
Buddhism and a global the importance of secular
advocate for peace and ethics, emotional well-being,
compassion. Awarded the and dialogue. His collaboration
Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for with neuroscientists has helped
his nonviolent struggle for bridge science and spirituality,
Tibet, he has since expanded especially in studies on
his efforts to promote global compassion and mindfulness. Over the past nearly 60 years, I
ethics, interfaith harmony, and Though retired from political have engaged with many leaders of
human values beyond religious leadership since 2011, he governments, companies, and other
boundaries. Living in exile in remains a revered moral organizations, and I have observed
India since 1959, he continues figure, encouraging a more how our societies have developed
to advocate for Tibet through compassionate, peaceful world and changed. I am happy to share
the Middle Way Approach— rooted in shared human values some of my observations in case
others may benefit from what I have
seeking autonomy rather than and mutual understanding.
learned.
independence. Since receiving