I had dinner with a charming friend of mine last night. She works for a big international company in marketing and is getting increasingly unhappy with work, to say the least. According to her feelings her job gives her not enough freedom to develop herself. She feels that her colleagues just are career focused and do not advance personally or spiritually. This raises the interesting question if a business career is against personal development and spiritual advancement.
In the book The Diamond Cutter by Geshe Michael Roach, the first American to become a buddhist master in Tibet, personal development does not only happen in secluded monastries. The principal of compassion and caring about people for its own sake can also be applied in the business world. Making a profit is not bad, in contrary. The question is how it is done. Michael Roach is the living proof having been an executive in a big diamond company while at the same time applying buddhist teachings and principles. He believes, him being a monk, that the buddhist principles also lead to success in business. The challenge lies in caring for people for its own sake, for realizing that all things are "empty", meaning nothing is per se good or bad, but that our mental imprints and past actions, thoughts and talks affect our present reality. I can stronlgy recommend to all business people with a spirtual interest to read this book. May your mental imprints change forever...
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