Ven. Dr. Ashin Nyanissara

　　As a Bodhisattva (becoming Buddha), the Buddha’s first priority was to strive for the welfare and good of all beings (lokatthacāriya).  By striving for the welfare and good of all beings and by striving to perfect himself, he was able to become the Buddha.  Therefore, as disciples of the Buddha, Sangha members should diligently endeavor to work for the benefit and good of all beings, while we are striving for enlightenment.  Like the Buddha, we must do both efforts simultaneously in this and every lifetime.

　　It is not possible for humans to live alone in the world today.  No matter who or where we are, in some way or another, we have to live in a society where we associate or communicate with others.  Even the recluse monk who dwells deep in a forest monastery is not exempt.  Each day he must go on an alms-round to nearby homes or villages, as he depends upon these donors for his food.  In return, these donors depend upon the monk to provide spiritual guidance, and for him to provide blessings for their safety, or for him to radiate his loving-kindness and compassion.  In the present world, everybody is needy and everybody is responsible to fulfill the needs of others, even if they are one who has renounced the world.

　　When we look into the daytime sky we see the sun, which radiates its’ warm light upon us.  While at nighttime, it is the coolness of the moonlight, which reflects sunlight down upon us.  Though they turn and radiate separately, and though they don’t directly touch the earth - the sun and the moon provide the earth and each of us with many benefits; for this, we are grateful.  However, the sun and the moon do not expect anything in return from us.  So to, we the Sangha need to treat ourselves like an example of the sun and moon.  We should not expect anything from others while we radiate our light upon those in-need by providing social and spiritual leadership, and guidance. 

　　By performing social welfare works for the benefit of others, lay-people will be happy, thankful and grateful because they receive social and religious benefits from us.  As long as we provide for the World, just as the sun and moon provide warmth and cool light, we too will receive tremendous gratitude.  Accordingly, our missionary works will never fail.

　　Our missionary projects will only succeed when we perform our duties by balancing social and religious works.  However, when we perform these duties we must do so without any discrimination toward others and we should not be seeking to convert them.  It does not matter what a persons class, caste, creed, color, religion, etc., is — because, all people are needy.  When looking at those in need we must look towards their benefit only.  The list is endless because they may need some mental, spiritual, moral, cultural, or material support just to name a few.  So, from a missionary point of view the only conversion that needs to be done is to convert those from ignorance to enlightenment.  Two very important qualities are needed by us religious or social leaders when performing our missionary and social works.  They are wisdom (paññā) and compassion (karuna).  And when these two qualities are developed harmoniously and equally, only then can we properly say that the qualities of a leader are perfect.  I would like to say that wisdom is like the radiance of the sun, while compassion is like the radiance of the moon.

　　Wisdom is the intellectual ability to reason, investigate, and collect information and critique, when planning missionary and social works.  It is the ability to design, estimate, construct and run the project, evaluate the results and make corrections when it’s ineffective.  It is from the side of wisdom that (hu)man-power, material power, money power and mind power drive our missionary work and social welfare projects to succeed.  Therefore, wisdom means a quality of mind, its’ endeavor and strength is like the radiance of the warmth from the sun.

　　When we look at the characteristics of compassion, we see it as a perfect love, kindness, charity, sympathy and tolerance towards other beings.  Each of these is a quality of the heart because each quality is soft and gentle, like the coolness we feel from the radiance of the moon.  When leaders have these good feelings in the heart, one will be able to actually feel others suffering and feel their difficulties in their own heart.  Wisdom and compassion must go hand-in-hand.  A wise leader not only must be able to understand the suffering and difficulties of those in need, but one should also understand the people’s difficulties and be compassionate. 

　　Wisdom and compassion must go hand in hand.  If someone has wisdom and education but lacks compassion, loving-kindness and development of insight (bhavanā), he will be a cruel or hard-hearted wise man.  If someone has much compassion but no wisdom, his heart will be very soft and gentle, but he can do nothing for the world.  Therefore, we should develop wisdom and compassion equally in order to become a perfect social and religious leader.  By having both wisdom and compassion on an equal level, we as leaders will be able to intellectually and compassionately look at all difficulties and suffering.  We will be able to look at them and be able to reason accordingly, “How can I, at the best of my ability, be able to resolve these difficulties and sufferings of humanity in their best interest?”  And then with our wisdom we can start social welfare programs for their benefit.  But we leaders must not attach to our work and we must not expect anything in return.  We must only radiate our wisdom and compassion onto others, like that of the sun and moon’s light.

　　Buddhism endowed with the ethics of the spirit of free enquiry, complete tolerance, perfect compassion, and equal rights.  Buddhism teaches us and others: to have a sympathetic heart and maintain an open mind.  Buddhism illuminates and calms all beings through the twin rays of wisdom and compassion.  Buddhism sheds its genial glow of compassion unto every struggling being in the ocean of suffering and sorrow.

　　It was the Buddha who first attempted to abolish the degrading system of slavery and caste — illustrating how caste or colors are irrelevant circumstances for judging the true character of an individual.  Occupationally: fishermen, scavengers, courtesans, warriors, royal familes, and others — were equally admitted into the Buddhist order and enjoyed equal privileges.  Upali the barber, Sunita the scavenger, Angulimala the criminal, and Ambapali the courtesan  all took shelter under the compassionate shade of Buddhism.  They were converted into compassionate saints through the Buddha’s teachings and ethical examples.

　　In conclusion, at this present time, in all spheres of life, whether individual, social or political levels - we can truly say that thoughts of ill will, enmity, violence and hatred are the result of a lack of compassion and wisdom in the world today.  Therefore, we religious leaders who currently are or will be performing social and religious works, should endow ourselves with these noble qualities, such as selfless renunciation, or detachment to one’s benefit, loving-kindness or non-hatred, non-enmity and non-violence.  I would like to say that only then, the knowledge or wisdom that we have learned would become true wisdom.