The Wisdom Of Equality

"The Wisdom of Equality comes from the seventh consciousness, manas. Manas is the number one discriminator. It says, "This is me. This is mine. This is not mine." That is manas's speciality. We have to keep this consciousness, so that it can become the Wisdom of Equality...

Wonderful Observation Wisdom transforms manas into the Wisdom of Equality. We are one. We are equal."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Just 100 people in India own about 10% of India's national wealth. Think about it. That's a lot of money in the hands of very few people. Flipkart paid its Chief People Officer, Mekin Maheshwari, Rs.187 million in the year 2014-15. That's about 100 times the salary of India's Prime Minister and 1000 times the salary of a delivery agent.

Just how much money is enough? I don't think many people think about it. They only compare. Seeking career growth and financial rewards has become a deep rooted habit.

Let us consider the example of a department in a fictitious company, Look Good Corporation. This department answers customer queries received via email. They spend 50% of their wage budget on the people who actually respond to those emails and 50% on supervisory staff like Quality Analysts, Knowledge Management Analysts, Trainers, Team Leads and Managers. It may be possible to write 35 emails in a day but to make financial sense they would need to write 70. The additional 35 to pay the wages of the supervisory staff. Naturally, this leads to unhappy employees as well as customers (as the quality of responses are of poor standard).

If they decided to eliminate hierarchy and implement pay equity, they could double their staff strength and each one would only need to write 35 emails in a day.

The hierarchical system is a manifestation of manas's habit of discriminating. Since we discriminate, one can be superior to others and earn more than others. To earn more money and for recognition and power, we are willing to push others into a life of economic difficulties and make them participants in unethical workplace practices.

If we let go of our desire for such kind of growth, we can transform our workplace into a monastery.

Monks don't possess personal wealth. They all have similar rooms. The teacher is also a monk and does not earn more money than other monks. They wake up at the same time, eat at the same time, study together and meditate without fail. They are disciplined and well organised. Decisions are made collectively. The attrition rate is lower than that at corporations like Flipkart.

We can only continue doing something for a long time if we are happy doing it. Unfortunately, in a hierarchy, the system can be rigged, causing dissatisfaction. Incompetence is rewarded more often.

At Look Good Corporation, they announce opportunities through Internal Job Postings. People apply for these if they want to be promoted. People who apply for the IJPs are looking for more money and better career opportunities for themselves. How can such selfish people make good leaders?

Almost everyone at Look Good Corporation applies for IJPs. If all of them can work by themselves, supervisory roles should have become redundant. If they can't work without supervisors themselves, what makes them think they can supervise others?

Supervisory staff rig the system to prove that they are still needed. If supervisors could really make staff better, staff would work without supervision and supervisors would not be needed. In fact, they do just the opposite. By breaking down a process into parts, constituting separate teams and introducing access restrictions, they hide information from others to create an appearance of possessing more knowledge. They require staff to seek approvals from them. They use their ability to distribute and evaluate work to hide reality and present a completely different picture. Ah! The machinations of manas.

Naturally, in such an environment, no one can be happy. If you make others unhappy, they won't just sit back and watch. There's stress and moral corruption. Politics and disruptions.

If we let go our desire for this kind of growth, it is possible to be happy. We don't need to become the CEO of Look Good Corporation. The 100 richest Indians should not be our role models. We should look up to the Bodhisattvas and follow their footsteps.

Each one of us has come into contact with Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas are beings who selflessly help others. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, teachers etc. have frequently manifested Bodhisattva qualities, loving us without seeking money, worldly goods, recognition, incentives or designations in return. We must stop seeking material pleasures. They become necessities, then they enslave us. Then we lose our ability to stand up for what is right.

We must look deeply to see how discrimination manifests suffering and allow the Wisdom Of Equality to arise. Shantideva wrote this verse to strengthen his and our commitment to the Bodhisattva path:

"May I be a guard for those who are protectorless,
A guide for those who journey on the road,
And for those who wish to cross over to the other shore,
May I be the boat, the raft, the bridge."

(The author, Saurabh Singh, is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh.)