Steve Jobs: A Visionary Who Translated Buddhist Philosophy
Into Technology
By Shura Darapuri
08 October, 2011
Countercurrents.org
In 1974, a young boy of 21 asked for a sabbatical from his employer, Atari, in order to go to India. After a month long visit, things were not the same for Steven Jobs, the technology genius and the cofounder of Apple. He is said to have visited many spiritual gurus, but none seem to have succeeded in giving him satisfactory answers to his questions. He returned home to California, a Buddhist, complete with a shaved head and traditional Indian clothing, he chose to walk barefoot. His house had no furniture, just a picture of Einstein, a Tiffany lamp, a chair and a bed.
He started frequenting the Los Altos Zen Centre in California. There he met his new teacher Roshi Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Soto Zen monk trained in Japan at Eiheiji, Fukui. Steve often said that he thought of becoming a monk up in a monastery in Japan instead of starting Apple, but his guru Kobun Chino convinced him otherwise. That same Zen master was a spiritual adviser at NeXT and married Steve and Laurene in Yosemite in 1991.
He practiced primal scream therapy at Los Altos Centre and became a fruitarian, apple became his favourite food at that time. Buddhist philosophy based on “wisdom and compassion” shaped his corporate values. According to Robert Thurman, a professor of Buddhist studies at Columbia University, “ the Zen’s vision, that human beings can understand the reality if they focus their mind on it and develop the wisdom” impressed Jobs a lot. He used to say, “Don’t be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown out your own inner voice.” For the same reason focus and simplicity became the foundation stone of Apple’s ethics.
Also inspired by Zen philosophy of “a less is more, approach to life,” his ipad, iphone etc.were designed to be simple and easy to handle. But as Jobs believed “simple can be harder than complex” his gadgets are made simple by using highly advanced technology which again could not have been achieved without focused orientation of mind, very much in compliance with the simplistic but deep philosophy of Gautam Buddha. Inspired by democratic philosophy of Buddha he also attempted to “democratize computer power.”It was his initial role in making the PC available to the individuals,” according to Professor Thurman.
A visionary who translated Buddhist philosophy into technology will be remembered for generations to come.
Shura Darapuri
Associate Professor
Department of History
Baba Sahib Bhim Rao Ambedkar University,
Lucknow
Liked the article? Support CC to keep the information flowing
Comments are not moderated. Please be responsible and civil in your postings and stay within the topic discussed in the article too. If you find inappropriate comments, just Flag (Report) them and they will move into moderation que.
