Thursday 2nd May 2013
Venue: Arnoma Hotel Bangkok (Room: Anoma 1)
Youth in ASEAN and "Mind Management"
By Phra Maha Wudhijaya Vajiramedhi (Interviewed)
Good Morning, all delegates of ASEAN Anti-Corruption Youth Camp.
Corruption is the most serious danger for Thai society and all countries especially developing countries.
Corruption is a very dangerous problem. It is like the social cancer.
You are important anti-corruption force because today you are youth but, in the future, you will be adult who will take parts in define the destiny of the country and the society in the future.
Therefore, all of you must learn how bad corruption in your countries is.
In Thai society, we discover that corruption is a cancer which seriously attacks Thai society and is a great concern.
All of you can participate in anti-corruption activities.
In the history, an important anti-corruption leader of the world had opportunities, power and wealth but all of them could not lure him to be a slave.
On the day he passed away, he left only 3 legacies for the world.
1. The Bhagavad Gita
2. A glass of goat milk
3. A bead necklace
The world’s famous person with great political power had only these properties on the day he passed away.
This person is Mahatma Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi is the anti-corruption role model by his life.
His concept is the person of truth. He can insist on truth the whole life.
When he was young, every morning, he hadbreakfast with his mother
Before he had breakfast, a raven crowed.
One day, a raven did not crow so he crowed like the raven.
When his mother heard him crowed like the raven, she came out to have breakfast.
His mother knew that he lied.
While she was having breakfast, she called him to sit nearer and asked whether he crowed as the raven.
He said yes.
His mother told him to get nearer.
Instead of feeding him, his mother slapped at his face.
Then, his mouth was full of blood.
He asked his mother why she slapped at his face.
She said “Remember, my beloved son. I am pleased to starve to death instead of allowing you to be a liar. ”
The lesson learnt from this case developed him to be Mahatma Gandhi, the world’s famous politician who applied honesty and transparency as his whole life’s disciplines.
He took these disciplines to be his Satyagraha policy or Insistence on Truth Policy.
He regarded that honesty, sincerity, trustworthiness, and transparency as his god.
He said “Truth is god”.
He is the world anti-corruption role model.
He started with his small lesson learnt from his mother.
If all of you apply ethics, trustworthiness and truth insistence, in the future, we will become the adults with stable ethics like Mahatma Gandhi and the social leaders.
Small people like us can also be a part of social change.
In every countries tries intensively to solve corruption problem”.
It becomes the issue of tight law regulation reinforcement.
However, tight laws and reserve punishment seem to worsen the situation.
We may enforcement is an indirect remedy as corruption problem
is to be solve from bother inside and outside (personal and society)
Integrated solving from both directions, it would need acceptance towards anti-corruption concept in the society.
Once, majority does not go against corruption, Law becomes useless. On the contrary,if majority does not enjoy corruption,
The law would still be sanctified.
However, whenever corruption is accepted ,the habit of such practice would continue. Therefore, social norm on anti-corruption perception must be established. As well as, laws regulations, must be updated to evolve along ever changing nature of corruption.
Individually mind management must be kept in mind.
Such management would control our minds not to be the slave of greed, hunger etc.
If we have poor mind management, we would corrupt every time we have achance regardless to law enforcement.
The main anti corruption scheme for individual, is building super subconscious to trust that corruption is booby trap , and we always build one own trap, we are hurting others ,our society.
We must tell ourself that the stronger can beat the weaker and the real stronger is the one who has chances to corrupt but refuses to go along with the idea.
Those who can control their conciious by stand
Strong against incentive would understand and
Perceive mind management .Hence all of you must stand up to manage your minds to be away from any reward or interest, Make yourself
I realized that any success with wrongful ways must be rejected.
And only welcome all success with the rightful ways.
All of you have to make sure that one day if you have a chance to corrupt, you have to refuse to do it.
This is called mind management, in short, mind management as ethical capital is placed above your desire.
All of you are able to build up yourself-ethical capital in accordance to ever-changing society as what Baruk Obama once said “change”
Therefore, only positive mind you have can change the whole society to be corruption free.
An obstacle for our mind management is the lack of continuous control of our mind.
Normally, if we do not train our minds, they will be aroused to act based on bad external influences.
For example, when the greed occurs, we are under its influence. When the anger occurs, we are under its influence. When the dullness occurs, we are under its influence.
We can learn to win over the greed, the anger and the dullness by carefully monitoring them whenever they occur in our minds. One day, we can be the controller of the greed, the anger and the dullness in our minds.
The main approach to control our mind is meditation.
When you feel that you are going to do bad things, try to close your eyes and monitor your deep breath both inhale and exhale.
When you mind get calmer, ask yourself if what you are going to do will make you happy or sad in the future.
Set up your mind. If it is a good thing which helps you get praised in the future, you should do it.
If you close your eyes, ask yourself and feel that it will lead to future disaster, you should not do it.
This is a criterion for judging good or bad thing.
Whenever you are attracted to corruption cycle, close your eyes, quietly monitor their breath, and clearly ask yourself, you will know the right answer.
You must do the right thing today. If you do the right thing today, you will not be wrong tomorrow.
If you choose bad things today, you will be still wrong tomorrow.
Therefore, you should learn to monitor your minds every time you are challenged.
If we can control our minds, we can always lead ourselves to the right side.
Whenever we cannot control our minds, we will be the slave of the greed, the anger and the dullness. This is the start of the disaster of our lives.
Therefore, our ethical capital is like the gold mine of potential to change ourselves, societies, and countries.
We should not look down on ourselves. We can identify the destiny of our countries.