Zen Story of the One-Eyed Monk: Know Yourself

Management is about encouraging and controlling the behaviour of others. We cannot do that unless we understand, encourage and control our own behaviour first; and if we wish positively to develop the attributes of those whom we manage, then self-knowledge is even more important.

The two basic reasons for this are that:
• Attitudes and prejudices learned through our lives, sometimes in totally different contexts, influence what we do and say now, even without our knowing it.
• What we do and say can have lasting impact upon others, and usually determines the response we get in return.

One of the greatest influences on how we behave to other people is the image we have of ourselves, which acts as a filter, interpreting all the other information our senses feed to us.

Zen Buddhists understand very well that dealing effectively with the outside world begins with understanding ourselves, and there is a simple little story which graphically portrays this.

Wandering disciples of Zen can claim food and shelter from any Zen temples if they initiate and win an argument on Buddhism. Late one evening, a traveling monk arrived at a templ where two brothers lived. The elder was very c1ever, but the younger was rather stupid and had only one eye.

The elder was tired from much study and told his younger brother to meet their visitor, but advised him to request the discussion be in silence. The traveler and the younger brother went off together to the shrine.

A few minutes later the visitor sought out the elder brother to tell him that the young man had so cleverly beaten him in argument that he would have to leave and seek shelter elsewhere.

"Tell me what happened", said the elder brother.

The visitor explained, "I held up one finger representing Buddha, the enlightened one. He held up two fingers signifying Buddha and his teachings. So I held up three fingers to represent Buddha, his teachings and his followers in harmony. Then he shook his clenched fist in my face indicating that all three come from one riealization."

Just as the wandering monk had gone on his way, the younger brother came rushing in, angry with the discourteous treatment he had received at the hands of the visitor. His brother asked him what had taken place.

"No sooner had he sat down then the boorish fellow insulted me by holding up one finger, drawing attention to the fact that I have only one eye. Responding with constraint and courtesy, I held up two fingers, congratulating him on his two eyes. He then insulted me again by holding up three fingers indicating that between us we had only three eyes. I lost my temper at this point and went to punch him in the face but he got up and left."

There are many employees who seem to interpret every action by management as a two-fingered gesture, and there are many managers who react to employees in the same way. Most of the time it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, based on the expectation of the response--an expectation conditioned by attitudes which may be quite erroneous, but which seem to 'prove' themselves whenever the reaction is repeated.

If you expect people to be bloodyminded and approach them accordingly, they are almost bound to respond in the way you expect, because you haven't given them much option. Feeling bad about other people is usually a reflection of feeling bad about ourselves. We begin to learn our own sense of worth from our earliest contacts with parents, guardians, neighbours, friends, teachers -- anybody we come in contact with -- depending on how they behave towards us. At the same time, we establish feelings about them as individua1s, which become generalized as feelings towards 'people'.