Biography of an Ethical Leader (Dalai Lama) - Research Paper Example

Biography of an Ethical Leader (Dalai Lama) Introduction Leaders are people with the responsibility of showing a group of people (subordinates) the way, and or guide them so as to achieve a given goal. Ethics refers to a set of moral conducts that guide the human conduct, and it is an important virtue in leadership. To determine what makes an ethical leader, a detailed look at the biography of Dalai Lama from the Tibetan nation will be inscribed. According to Harrington (2002), Dalai Lama is considered the living spirit of the Tibetan nation. In specific, this essay will analyze the 14th and still current Dalai Lama; whose original name is Tenzin Gyatso. In Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of Dalai Lama published in 1990, Dalai Lama gives a detailed account of his life from being born in a poor family of horse breeder to winning a Nobel Prize. Dalai Lama came to being in 1935 to a poor family in northeastern Tibet. He was recognized as the future Dalai Lama at two years old and began his monastery education at six years of age. At 15 years of age, he was given the political power of Tibet after an invasion by the Maoist army. He retained this position even when he fled to India in 1959 to evade the Chinese chaos of the Tibetan revolution in Lhasa. In this leadership position, Dalai Lama has worked on several developments for the Tibetan people which include; provision of cultural opportunities and education to the exiled Tibetans and most importantly the democratization of the people in exile. Due to his struggle for the liberation of Tibet he won a Nobel Pease Prize in 1989. What initially appealed about Dalai Lama? There are several appealing things about ethical leadership as expressed by Tenzin Gyasto. First, having being recognized at the age of two, Dalai Lama was practically brought up in a Buddhist monastery. He started his monastery education at the age of 6 and by the help of his teacher (whom he referred to as a very kind old monk); he learned important virtues of life and the art of being a great leader. These ethics made him one of the most respected and famous leaders. Secondly, according to Gyasto, (2009), he assumed power at a very young age of 15. Not very many people in the world possess the courage to undertake such a huge responsibility at that age. This is appealing because the people of Tibet believed in him very much to entrust him with their security and hope for peace. Thirdly, his ability to forgive is amazing. Despite sending his delegates to Britain, America and Nepal for help only to be turned down, and the Chinese brutally sending his people to exile, he managed to forgive them and started campaigns advocating for human rights and world peace. Finally, he came from a poor family to become the political leader of the Tibetan nation to winning a Nobel Peace Prize. This required tolerance and perseverance of high levels. Despite being invaded and sent to exile by the Chinese, not to mention being ignored by the nations he sought help from, he never lost his faith but kept on advocating peace. These show the real qualities of a good and successful ethical leader. What were the key life-makers (influential life experiences) in Dalai Lama’s life? Dalai Lama’s influential life experience occurred after the passing of the 13th Dalai Lama, when a search party was sent by the Tibetan government to look for the new incarnation of Dalai Lama. On a stop at Gyasto’s family home, the search party was amazed when a 2-year-old boy recognized a holy priest who came from the temple of Sera, (Gyasto, 2009). The 2-year-old Gyasto shouted “Sera Lama” to the priest who was wearing a disguise as required of the search party. The search party took out their belongings including some that belonged to the late 13th Dalai Lama, and Tenzin picked the items that only belonged to the former Dalai Lama and claimed they were his. These acts proved he was the real incarnation of the Dalai. They took him to the temple where he was recognized as the future Dalai Lama. The second influential experience happened when he was the age of 15, and he was made the political leader of the Tibet people. After his ascension to power, Dalai Lama issued a general amnesty that set all the prisoners free. At this age, he was the leader of over a million people. He appointed two Prime Ministers to help him in his ruling. Due to the continued war in his area, he sent delegations abroad with the hope of getting aid and support from other nations and a peace negotiation with China although all these attempts failed. The third influential experience occurred when he (Dalai Lama), disguised as a soldier, escaped to India in 1959 due to the continued brutal invasion by the Chinese. As said by Gyasto (2009), The Indian government accommodated him and gave him protection over the Chinese. While in exile, he still played the role of a leader to other Tibetans and offered education and cultural opportunities to his people. The last but not the least influential experience was in 1987, when he proposed a Five-Point peace plan to liberate Tibet and bring peace. Because of this, he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his non-violent efforts to liberate Tibet and bring peace to the people. What were Dalai Lama’s personal values and how did he put them to practice? Having started his monastery lesson at an early age, Dalai Lama had admirable personal values. Inconsistent with Ciulla (2003), these values are one of the prime aspects that led to his success as an ethical leader. These values included: • Courage - his courageousness was first seen at a very young age when the assumed political power at the age of 15. At this time, the Tibet nation was under invasion by the Chinese but this did not stop him from leading the people of Tibet. • Non-violent – he did not advocate for war and even though Tibetans were under great trouble, he did not command his army to a battle instead he opted for peace negotiations. • Forgiving – Dalai Lama’s value of forgiveness is evident in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech where he speaks, not out of anger or hatred, but instead urges nations to support each other. • Tolerance – Dalai Lama is tolerant in the sense that despite becoming a political leader at a time when his nation was in crisis, he never gave up on his people and held that position until 2011 when he stepped down. • Risk averse – he was not a risk taker; this can be seen in the time when the Chinese called him for peace talks but on the condition that he and his guards were to be unarmed. He denied this offer due to suspicions. • Intelligent and wise – these values are seen when he graduated at Lhasa’s Jookhang Temple with honors and awarded the Geshe Lharampa degree at the age of 23. • Love – Dalai Lama is a person of love. This is evident during his time as the leader of Tibetans. He continued to fight for their rights even in exile. These are just but a few personal values that Dalai Lama had which led to his success as a leader. Did Dalai Lama us an ethical reflection process? First, ethical reflection, as per Brown (2000), incorporates role flexibility, inquiry, trust and power. These attributes provide effective communication and relationship between leaders and their subordinates. Role flexibility is the capability of someone to quickly adapt to changes in life and changes in their identity. Inquiry is a learning process where one seeks information from outside sources before making decision that will affect the individual or the society at large. Trust is having confident expectation from other people and power is the authority on has over his subordinates. Dalai Lama used ethical reflection process during his time as the leader of Tibet. First, when he assumed the political power at the age of 15, he showed role flexibility by transforming from a teenage monastery student to a leader of more than a million people of Tibet. He went ahead and appointed two officials to help him in his reign. He showed his capability to trust his colleagues when he sent delegates abroad to seek help and have negotiations with the Chinese government. Secondly, he visited other nations including Japan and Thailand. In his visits, he aimed at inquiring useful information that may help him save his people from the chaos. He also exercised his power as the leader of Tibetans by traveling abroad to represent his people in inter-nations peace talks. Having power, trust, role flexibility and the capability to inquire, Dalai Lama used ethical response to serve optimally and or lead the people of Tibet, who had entrusted their nation on him. In relation to Brown (2000), he used ethical reflection process so as to communicate effectively and relate with his subordinates which was a key role to achieving his mission of liberating Tibet. What was Dalai Lama’s ethical response to his society? When he was made a political leader, Dalai Lama responded with love and respect by freeing the then prisoners. This response showed that he was not after personal gains but the wellbeing of Tibetans. Secondly, when the Chinese invaded them, he did not respond back with violence, instead out of his respect for human rights, he led peace negotiations and despite several failures he never gave up campaigning for peace and human rights, he responded with persistence. Finally, when he and the nation of Tibet were ignore by the nations they sought help from, he did not respond with anger, he instead showed forgiveness and made peace with them. This is a good example of an ethical leader. Identify one behavior that exemplifies Dalai Lama as an ethical leader. Dalai Lama’s behavior or reaction when he assumed power showed him as an ethical leader. Despite being from a poor family, he did not aim at selfish gains from his post as the leader, secondly out of love, concern and consideration he granted amnesty to all the then prisoners. This showed that what he did in office was not for personal gains but the larger good of the nation of Tibet. He later introduced democracy to the nation. In addition, when Tibet was invaded by the Chinese, he did not fight back but instead tried peace negotiating with them. This showed his non-violent character, respect for human life and love for peace. All this attributes justify Dalai Lama as an ethical leader. What normative ethical theory best describes Dalai Lama? In consistence with Lama (1991), the normative ethical theory that best describes Dalai Lama is the virtue ethics theory. This theory focuses on the role of someone’s personality and the virtues that one’s personality exemplifies for evaluating ethical behavior. This theory best describe Dalai Lama not only as a leader but an ethical leader as well. This theory proposes that the morality comes from personal intrinsic virtues but not from actions learned from the environment. Most of Dalai Lama’s actions can be credited to his personal virtues as opposed to acquired traits. For instance, the virtue of patience and tolerance which enable him survive the Chinese invasion and live in exile, are traits that cannot be acquire from the environment, but come from within an individual. This results to the general morality in the society. It was his personalities that made him a great leader and made him accomplish his mission to liberate Tibet and bring peace back. It was the virtues inside him and not acquired traits that made him such a success. According to Gyasto (2009), these personal virtues make him be best described by the normative ethical theory of virtue ethics. In your opinion, is Dalai Lama, an ethical leader? Why or why not? I strongly refer to Dalai Lama as an ethical leader. This is because of several deeds witnessed during his period as the political leader of the Tibetan nation. For instance, it is his personal virtue of love that made him take his people to seek refuge in India, he arranged for their accommodation with the Indian government. His virtues of forgiveness and tolerance enabled him to survive the invasion and life as an outcast and eventually brought peace to the people of Tibet by negotiations with other nation on the issue of peace. In addition, when Tibet was invaded by the Chinese, he did not fight back but instead tried peace negotiating with them. This showed his non-violent character, respect for human life and love for peace. He continues with the campaign for peace and respect of human rights even after he resigned as the political leader of Tibetans. All this attributes justify Dalai Lama as an ethical leader. Democratization of the Tibet nation which gave Tibetans the right to elect any candidate of their choice shows that Dalai Lama is in office for the betterment of the nation. This also shows his love and respect for human rights and concern to his subordinates. What inspiration or challenge does Dalai Lama’s story offer? In conclusion, the life story of Dalai among the many respected leaders in the world. His story makes one long for a united peaceful world in which, despite of each nation’s difference, we are one big family, and we should love and respect each other. Another inspiring thing about Dalai Lama is his non-violent struggle for peace. This started locally as he struggled to bring peace to Tibet. However, he has now gone global, and campaigns for peace and human right all round the world. Being a Nobel Prize winner, he has much influence on people world-wide. References Brown, M. (2000). Working Ethics: Strategies for Decision Making and Organisational responsibility. Oakland, CA: Regent press. Ciulla, J. B. (2003). The Ethics of Leadership. Florence, KY: Cangage Publishing. ISBN: 978 0155063174 Gyasto, Tenzin. (2009). Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of Dalai Lama. Abacus, London Harrington, A. (Ed.). (2002). Visions of compassion: Western scientists and Tibetan Buddhists examine human nature (pp. 107-130). New York: Oxford University Press. Lama, D. (1991). Freedom in exile: The autobiography of the Dalai Lama. HarperCollins. Read More