Advice to Center Directors

The chairperson of an FPMT Center should be nice and easygoing from the beginning. Don’t listen to other people’s gossip about others’ faults. If you listen, you will become upset with those people, then you will have a bad relationship with them, thus causing difficulties in relating to people. Then, you can’t succeed in running the organization.

You should see others as blank paper, be completely neutral, and learn about people through friendly communications. Even with the same person, due to different karmic connections, some people will think this person is OK, some will think they are very good, while others will think they are bad. It’s important to communicate with people in a friendly way and judge people peacefully according to their ideas and actions from your own experiences with them.

If you encounter any legal problems, you should consult with FPMT International Office. Whenever problems come up, it’s very important to analyze the situation first. It’s easier to run things this way.

Don’t be too fussy, just take it easy! Don’t be bothered by small things. The accumulation of small things can make a big deal and make you feel bad, and then that worsens the situation and your relationship with people. Try to treat everything in a smooth, peaceful, and harmonious way. Whenever problems come up, try to analyze and resolve them from the very beginning. Don’t wait until a small problem turns into a disaster and becomes very hard to resolve. This advice is very important.

The motivation for being the chairperson is to benefit others, to spread the holy Dharma, bring prosperity to the Buddha Dharma, and bring sentient beings to enlightenment.

Try to deal with everything in a peaceful way in general. However, it’s necessary to be tough sometimes, according to the situation. This latter is external skillful means.

To manage a center, a family, and a country requires compassion and the wisdom to analyze and distinguish advantages and disadvantages. It’s very important to run things in a practical way. Compassion alone is not sufficient, you must apply wisdom too. Don’t ignore the big benefit and go with the small benefit. Sometimes a situation can bring small benefits in the beginning, but turns into a disaster later on. This is not what we want. Try to be wise and think in a large way for the long term with a broad mind.

This is the same as running a family, a country, and the world. You must be practical and run things with both compassion and wisdom. You can’t solve problems properly without wisdom. Presidents and Prime Ministers need both compassion and wisdom.

Try to get to know everybody while you are new, as then you can have a new, fresh relationship with them. You don't need to follow what previous people have said and fall into the same situation as them.

My very dear (director),
Thank you very much for your great dedication and service to me and to the center, which is service to sentient beings and to the teachings of the Buddha.

My experience when meeting you is that you always have a calm quality and are easy to communicate with. You may not be involved with sadhanas and mantras, but your heart is very good and genuine. The purpose of sadhanas, prayers, and mantras is to make you into a good human being with a good heart. From being a good human being with a good heart, it is possible to become a holy being. From being a holy being, it is possible to become a Buddha. Then you can end all sentient beings’ suffering.

During this period, the center’s work is very important. This is a very crucial stage in the center’s life, in order for it to be able to benefit others on a large scale, benefiting thousands of others, for many years to come.

I deeply appreciate your having accepted this job and doing it seriously and sincerely.

I will send a separate letter to the other member of the center’s committee who wrote to me about you.