White Collar Zen: Using Zen Principles to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Your Career Goals

209 Pages·2005·1.24 MB·English

by  Steven Heine

WHITE COLLAR ZEN

WHITE COLLAR ZEN
Using Zen Principles to Overcome Obstacles
and Achieve Your Career Goals
Steven Heine
2005
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-516003-1
ISBN-10: 0-19-516003-7
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
GAME PLAN ix
PART ONE
Mountains Are Mountains:
Roots of Everyday Stress
Introduction: Applying Zen 3
1. Zen and Professional Leadership 12
2. The Power of Zen 25
PART TWO
Mountains Are Not Mountains:
Transforming Conflict into Opportunity
3. Everybody Must Get Foxed 45
4. The Greater the Doubt, the Greater the Enlightenment 68
5. Seeing the Forest, But Not Missing the Trees 87
vi Contents
PART THREE
Mountains Are Mountains Again:
From Structure to Anti-Structure
6. Returning to the Marketplace 107
7. All’s Well that Ends Well 128
8. Coming from Nowhere to Somewhere 155
GLOSSARY/INDEX 185
APPENDIX:
Koan Translation
(“Te-shan Carrying His Bundle”) 191
Acknowledgments
SOMEOFTHEMATERIAL in this book has previously appeared in
the following journal articles: “Ch’an Buddhist Kung-Ans as
Models for Interpersonal Behavior,”Journal of Chinese Phi-
losophy, 30/3–4 (2003): 525–540; “Zen in the Workplace: Apply-
ing Anti-Structure to Enhance Structure,”Global Business Language,
9 (2004); “Critical View of Discourses on the Relation between Japa-
nese Business and Social Values,”Journal of Language for Interna-
tional Business, 15/2 (2004). The picture on p. 38 of “Kuei-shan
kicking over the water pitcher” appears courtesy of Ryoanji temple
in Kyoto (it is also in Nishimura Eshin, ed., Mumonkan, Tokyo:
Iwanami shoten, 1993). The statue of Pai-chang holding the fly-
whisk on p. 113 is held at Saijoji temple (aka. Daiyuzan) near Oda-
wara city.
White Collar Zen is dedicated to my Sensei, who sometimes
pounded his fist so hard there was blood on the table. I will al-
ways remember those words we laughed out loud about as we
waited in the parking lot of a 24-hour auto service mall one steamy
summer night. May he rest.
This book could not have been written without tremendous
support and assistance from the right persons. I especially thank
viii Acknowledgments
Cynthia Read of Oxford University Press, who believed in the
project from the very beginning and went way beyond the call of
duty at every step in editing the manuscript on multiple levels.
Several extremely insightful assistants helped the project, in-
cluding Jessica Reyes and Melissa Sekkel. In addition, Cristina
Sasso and Patricia Gonzalez were helpful, and there were addi-
tional comments on portions of the manuscript from Sandy Avila,
Maria Cubau, Carmen Cusack, Claudia G. Flores, and Erin Weston,
among others. Also, Zen buddies Chris Ives, Dan Leighton, and
Dale Wright put in their two cents. They know I probably shoulda
been a doctor.
Then there was the growl of that wild cat heard while hitchin’
a ride all the way to Nashville . . .
Disclaimer: All narratives contained herein are exaggerated,
distorted, or otherwise taken out of context. Read with caution,
and enjoy.
This book, like that old missive to Kyushu, is for all the angel-
headed hipsters out there. They know who they are.
Acknowledgments ix
Game Plan
Using Zen Principles to Overcome Obstacles
and Achieve Your Career Goals
MountainsAre Mountains:
Roots of Everyday Stress
Introduction Chapter One Chapter Two
APPLYING ZEN ZEN AND PROFESSIONAL THE POWEROF ZEN
On making use of a LEADERSHIP Applying the steadiness
Zen-based experience Introducing the and flexibility of the
of intuitive insight, relation between Zen Unmoving Mind to
which is not a thought and the business world, professional
process but a state of and why the workplace interpersonal relations
existence is in need of Zen
MountainsAreNotMountains:
Transforming Conflict into Opportunity
Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five
EVERYBODY MUST THE GREATER THE SEEINGTHE FOREST,
GET FOXED DOUBT,THE GREATER BUT NOT MISSING
Why do obstacles block THE ENLIGHTENMENT THE TREES
the path to professional Transforming feelings Activating and
development based on of hopelessness by integrating the Hermit’s
deficiencies in self- experiencing the intuition and the
discipline? Great Doubt Warrior’s spontaneity
MountainsAre Mountains Again:
From Structure to Anti-Structure
Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight
RETURNING TO THE ALL’S WELL COMING FROM
MARKETPLACE THAT ENDS WELL NOWHERE TO
Advantages of Zen Four Steps for dealing SOMEWHERE
Encounters over with problems in The immediacy and
Confrontations for organizational eccentricity of enacting
ending conflict and structure through anti-structural
achieving mutual creative ways of approaches
productivity speaking and silence