Status

To live in society is to be bound to live within a structure of organisation, simple or complex. In ancient times, the organisation of society was fairly simple. The official who governed a region was at once the maker of the laws (legislative), the one who carried them out (executive) and the one who upheld them (judicial). Besides looking after the people's livelihood, he was also a judge who tried lawsuits. When necessary, he had to mount his horse and hunt down bandits.

As the human population gradually grew, social organisation became more complex, and the authorities, wanting to strengthen their ability to control the community, had to add ranks of officials. Law also became richer and more detailed as a result.

Where there is society, there is law. So says a Roman proverb. We may add: where there is society, there is organisation, with rulers and ruled.

Even a society reduced to a single family has leaders, the parents, with subjects, the children. A team of builders must have a foreman who oversees and directs the work. And in time, even in a classroom, a class monitor and deputy monitor must be organised.

The condition for being called a commander is that the person has a number of people who obey his orders, whether that obedience is voluntary or compelled. In that position of command, this person has the right to sit at the head and be served first, to make those under him sit and listen to him declaim eloquently for hours, and to make his subordinates do as he wishes if they do not want to be punished.

That right to command has intoxicated the hearts of countless people. They crave power to the point of fanaticism and are ready to use every scheme to fight over it with one another and to kill one another without mercy. Some, thanks to scheming and luck, reach the position of their dreams. Some, less lucky, although they also scheme, fail and suffer utter humiliation. Others are suddenly nominated by everyone to the position of command, as with Lý Công Uẩn, whom the court officials raised to be king, opening the Lý dynasty of Vietnam. (Although later historians also hold that there had been preparation by the monk Vạn Hạnh.) Or some, through toilsome service, are promoted and rewarded with a position of command...

The roads to power are very varied. Some use schemes to reach it. Some are raised up by everyone. Some owe it to resourceful talent. Some owe it to close relatives and acquaintances. Some are lucky. Some deserve high positions. And there are also those without talent or virtue who, for various reasons, still hold high positions.

Whatever the reason, whoever attains power is someone who made merit in a former life. We can review some of the karmic causes that can lead to a high position in the future, such as:

When in a high position, they are always respected and admired by everyone. With such a karmic result, they must surely have been, in former lives, humble people who knew how to respect their elders, revere the Saints and not look down on those lower than themselves. With the karmic cause of habitually respecting those worthy of respect, they attain a distinguished position in later lives. However, if they only sowed the karma of universal respect (respect for everyone) and lacked the karma of giving and making offerings, they will have a high position but remain poor. That was the case of Mạc Đĩnh Chi. In earlier lives he knew how to respect the wise and the holy, so in his own life (in the Trần dynasty) he had outstanding talent, passed first in the Vietnamese examinations as Trạng Nguyên, and was also named Trạng Nguyên of both countries by the Yuan emperor. His extraordinary repartee is still admired a thousand years later. However, he was very poor and very ugly (it is said that his mother was raped by an ape and then gave birth to him). Perhaps it was because he lacked the cause of giving and making offerings, and often used his literary talent to mock other people's appearance.

In another respect, a person in a high position always has many subordinates to command. Those under him are always anxious to follow his slightest wish and dare not disobey. That picture comes from having received too many kindnesses in former lives. So, to have many subordinates, this person must have bestowed favours widely over many past lives. Indeed, great giving also brings the karmic result of power. However, we will notice the difference in each kind.

If someone attained position through the karmic cause of humility, they still keep a gentle, courteous manner of respect for everyone, including their subordinates.

But someone who attained position through the karmic cause of bestowing favours widely is very wealthy in this life and seems to lack humility, because in the former life every time they bestowed a favour on someone they felt a little pride. That pride, accumulated over a long time, turns into an arrogant attitude in the next life once they hold power in their hands.

Sometimes a person also reaches a high and noble position only because in a former life they respectfully made offerings to true practitioners of virtue. This karmic cause would by rights have brought them to the position of a distinguished monastic in the next life, but because their mind did not turn towards a life beyond the world and was concerned only with worldly matters, the karmic result went astray in another direction: they hold great office in society. In this position they are still people of virtue, sometimes rather like a hermit; though they hold rank and office, they still like to have a quiet hermitage in which to calm the mind. And they are not necessarily talented. The successes that come are mostly due to luck and to the help of their colleagues.

Some, obliged to obey orders from above, have eagerly done great meritorious works such as building roads and bridges, building dykes, channelling water, clearing wasteland and founding settlements for people coming from afar, organising employment for workers, building clinics and schools, constructing houses for the poor... They have not a trace of a charitable heart towards people. They simply want to do well in order to win their superiors' favour and be praised and rewarded. With such a karmic cause, in the next life they also gain a high position because they benefited many people, but their hearts are very narrow and selfish. When necessary, they are ready to use schemes to snatch advantages from others. Moreover, for lack of morality, they always rely on their power and influence.

In the age of feudal monarchy, the king was regarded as the son of heaven, ordained and appointed by God, and the whole splendid realm belonged to the king. Loyalty to the king was exalted almost absolutely, for "if the king tells his subjects to die, a subject who refuses to die is disloyal". An exception was Britain, which had the seeds of democracy very early and so said, "When the sun has set, without the householder's permission even the Queen may not enter." With such an excessively exalted position, a king enjoyed the utmost respect of everyone.

Entering the age of democracy, the country's supreme leader is nominated by the people through the ballot. The spiritual meaning, with its air of myth, has vanished, and the President no longer has the sacred aura of the kings of old. He is still respected by everyone, for otherwise the people would not have voted for him, but the degree is moderate and measured. There is no longer the scene of subjects prostrating themselves before the dragon throne to seek an audience and cry "Ten thousand years!" If flattery is needed, subordinates must be more subtle and discreet.

In the same position of leading the country, a president no longer enjoys the towering respect of a king. Clearly their karmic causes differ. That difference is due to the great changes that science and philosophical views have undergone.

In ancient times, people believed strongly in spirits and God. The beliefs of that time guided people to put their whole hearts into reverent faith in the gods and in the priests who represented them. Alongside that intense faith, they were also guided to do good thoroughly, sacrificing themselves without sparing their lives. Whoever achieved both, with intense faith and thorough good deeds, would receive the karmic result of being a king in later lives, to enjoy again the excessive respect of everyone.

As science advanced, the colour of myth in the world view was gradually erased and philosophical views were changed at the root, so people's faith in the gods and their representatives (the priestly class) fell very far. They still like to do good because their conscience senses the goodness of charity, not as in the past, when good was done under the supervision of the spirits. So the degree of doing good is no longer as intense as before. People of today's age of physical science have become more doubtful, less reverent, inclined towards personal practicality. With such a cause, the karmic result returns in proportion. Because they do a great deal of good, a person will have the merit of becoming a leader, but is no longer looked at by the people with a sacred, godlike air as an emperor was.

A person who clearly understands the law of karma does not long for high rank and weighty office. They know that such longing is a sign of personal ambition, a sign of lost virtue within. They simply respect everyone calmly and are ready to help everyone with the abilities they have.

Jesus also said:

"Whoever pushes to the front will be pushed back; whoever steps back will be brought to the front."