The Poem
Don't beat the drum
Don’t blow the flute
Don’t be the front
Be the lion’s rear.
This poem has become a guiding philosophy of my life.
The Japanese translation of Baisao: The Old Tea Seller includes it as well:
太鼓たたかず、
笛ふかず、
さき（先）あしやめて、
跡（後）あしになれ。
About the poem
This site, The Lion's Rear , is named after a Baisao Poem , one of my favorite poems, this translation is taken from Norman Waddell's The Old Tea Seller .
The poem evokes the Lion's Dance celebration, where two people are in a shi-shi mai costume one controlling the head and one filling out the rear. They dance and celebrate while music and firecrackers play.
The poet believes it's better to be the person who is filling out the rear rather than any of the loud or spectacular positions.
I have been blessed with success and privilege far beyond my means, and I feel duty bound to use that to quietly push forward people the people who I want to succeed. Further, when working well with someone in this rear-guard grounding formation, you can get in to really good flow states with your people. There are many benefits to being the lion's rear, but of course these are trade-offs. It's surely got me in trouble before.
See also: Okakura Kakuzo on Teaism
Charles Lamb, a professed devotee, sounded the true note of Teaism when he wrote that the greatest pleasure he knew was to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident. For Teaism is the art of concealing beauty that you may discover it, of suggesting what you dare not reveal. It is the noble secret of laughing at yourself, calmly yet thoroughly, and is thus humour itself,—the smile of philosophy.