Page 40 - Applied Buddhism

the priest. “Does God know there are children who are starving?”
The priest answered, “God knows everything.” From then on he
never went back to that church, and refused to believe in a God
that has no pity on starving children. His search continued and he
came into contact with Buddhism and eastern philosophies in the
university library. At 19, he travelled to India to search for the truth
and discovered meditation. This eventually changed Jobs for the
better. This was the third major factor that influenced Jobs.
Walter Isaacson, who authored the book “Steve Jobs”, mentioned
that the outstanding achievement and success of Jobs had a lot to
do with Jobs’s understanding of Zen Buddhism. The book recorded
Jobs’ experiences in India, and how those experiences became the
core philosophy of his business.
According to Isaacson, Apple’s sleek, minimalist designs reveal
Jobs’ zeal for Zen aesthetics – inspired by the uncluttered lines of
calligraphy and Japanese gardens.
His design principle did not come about through market surveys
or customer feedback, but was derived from Jobs’ own mind. Jobs
believed that direct intuition, or following the heart, was much
better than logic, reason and knowledge accumulation. This was
the insight he gained from Zen.
Jeff Yang of Wall Street Journal said, “That was the essence of
Jobs’ unique genius — understanding that absence defines presence;
that the only path to the great new things of the future was the
merciless elimination of the good old things of the past.”
Jobs himself said, “There is a saying in Buddhism, called the
028 Applied Buddhism
beginner’s mind. To have a beginner’s mind is a very wonderful
thing.” He adopted the beginner’s mind in his work. He opened
his heart, began from nothing, and really to accept all possibilities.
It is therefore no wonder that his creations were always new and
inspiring, always one above the rest.
Zen practice also leads one to a state of full concentration.
When you are concentrated and focused on one thing, you discard
all the frills around you. Jobs had a strong ability to concentrate.
He concentrated on what he knew best and what he loved, and was
not distracted by other things. That was the reason why he returned
to Apple after being chucked out of the company for several years.
As he put it, “To decide what not to do is equally as important as to
decide what to do.”
Zen Buddhism also influenced Jobs’ perspective in life. When
he was diagnosed with cancer, he was able to face death boldly. He
realised from his Zen practice that: “Death is a beautiful thing in life.
It discards the old and clears the path for new.” He advised young
people, “Your time is rather limited, do not waste it by duplicating
other people’s lives. Have the courage to follow your intuition and
your heart – to a certain degree they know what you want to be.”
He also said, when you regard every day as your last day
on earth, you will realise that you have a lot of things to do. The
accumulated result would be astonishing.
Do not be mistaken that Jobs was taking Buddhism as a
fashionable trend. In reality he was a sincere and serious Buddhist.
His marriage ceremony was accompanied by chanting from monks
and Buddhist hymns, presided by his Zen master Kobun Chino
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