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the priest. “Does God know there are children who are starving?” beginner’s mind. To have a beginner’s mind is a very wonderful
The priest answered, “God knows everything.” From then on he thing.” He adopted the beginner’s mind in his work. He opened
never went back to that church, and refused to believe in a God his heart, began from nothing, and really to accept all possibilities.
that has no pity on starving children. His search continued and he It is therefore no wonder that his creations were always new and
came into contact with Buddhism and eastern philosophies in the inspiring, always one above the rest.
university library. At 19, he travelled to India to search for the truth
and discovered meditation. This eventually changed Jobs for the Zen practice also leads one to a state of full concentration.
better. This was the third major factor that influenced Jobs. When you are concentrated and focused on one thing, you discard
all the frills around you. Jobs had a strong ability to concentrate.
Walter Isaacson, who authored the book “Steve Jobs”, mentioned He concentrated on what he knew best and what he loved, and was
that the outstanding achievement and success of Jobs had a lot to not distracted by other things. That was the reason why he returned
do with Jobs’s understanding of Zen Buddhism. The book recorded to Apple after being chucked out of the company for several years.
Jobs’ experiences in India, and how those experiences became the As he put it, “To decide what not to do is equally as important as to
core philosophy of his business. decide what to do.”

According to Isaacson, Apple’s sleek, minimalist designs reveal Zen Buddhism also influenced Jobs’ perspective in life. When
Jobs’ zeal for Zen aesthetics – inspired by the uncluttered lines of he was diagnosed with cancer, he was able to face death boldly. He
calligraphy and Japanese gardens. 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
His design principle did not come about through market surveys people, “Your time is rather limited, do not waste it by duplicating
or customer feedback, but was derived from Jobs’ own mind. Jobs other people’s lives. Have the courage to follow your intuition and
believed that direct intuition, or following the heart, was much your heart – to a certain degree they know what you want to be.”
better than logic, reason and knowledge accumulation. This was
the insight he gained from Zen. 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
Jeff Yang of Wall Street Journal said, “That was the essence of accumulated result would be astonishing.
Jobs’ unique genius — understanding that absence defines presence;
that the only path to the great new things of the future was the Do not be mistaken that Jobs was taking Buddhism as a
merciless elimination of the good old things of the past.” fashionable trend. In reality he was a sincere and serious Buddhist.
His marriage ceremony was accompanied by chanting from monks
Jobs himself said, “There is a saying in Buddhism, called the and Buddhist hymns, presided by his Zen master Kobun Chino

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