The Buddhist Business Owner- Using The Eight-Fold Path to Guide Your Business- Right Meditation

Right Meditation

Right Meditation means using mental exercises, like learning to concentrate on your breathing or on your walking, so as to calm your mind down. A calmer, clearer mind can help you to respond more thoughtfully in everyday situations. Through making you more awake to what is happening all the time, it can help you practice all parts of Noble Eightfold Path.

A calmer, clearer mind leads on to another stage in Buddhist meditation when you simply watch what your mind does. This helps you to understand your mind better and notice how your mind sometimes make things up, which you then risk believing are true. This is part of waking up to the true nature of reality.

Concentration exercises on your breathing are the starting point for Buddhist meditation but not the whole thing. Buddha warned against spending too long doing concentration exercises. The latter can make your mind totally still, so that you do not feel bothered by anything. But this is not true Buddhist peacefulness, which comes from using a calm mind to understand things better.

The first example is a meditation method for increasing feelings of kindness and goodwill towards other people. The second meditation method is for increasing wisdom and your understanding of the mind.

Buddhism teaches that you need both these types of meditation. The emblem often found on top of Buddhist stupas, which are monuments to Buddhist teachers. The crescent moon shape stands for loving kindness. The sun stands for wisdom and understanding. It means that if you put these together, you get the little jewel on top of the sun shape, which stands for Enlightenment.

Meditation for increasing goodwill towards other people

This is a short, 10 minute meditation for doing at the start of each day.

You could do this sitting in a quiet place. You could also do this sitting on a bus, if you can be on your own.

• For 5 minutes, you go through in your mind the various things which you and other people want in life – for instance to be happy, to be loved, to be praised for good things you do, to have friends and company from other people, to have things to look forward to. You think about how, in general, we all want the same sort of things. You think about how you and other people affect each other and affect how each can get what they seek.
• Then for 5 minutes, as you breathe in, each time you wish kindly to yourself that you be happy. Each time you breathe out, you wish the same for various people whom you know - you wish that they have the good things which they seek. You try to extend this to as many people as possible. If you can, try to include some people whom you do not like so much.
• Afterwards, try to keep this feeling in mind all day towards everyone whom you meet, whether they’re someone you know well or not. Try to keep this feeling in mind, whatever anyone does to you.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has urged that as many people as possible practice this simple meditation. It could make the world a better place, he says. The Dalai Lama is the religious leader of Buddhists from Tibet and nearby parts of Asia.
(For more about the Dalai Lama see: http://www.dalailama.com)

You do not need to be a Buddhist to do this meditation or to value its results.

Meditation for increasing peacefulness and understanding of how the mind works

You need to do this sitting comfortably in a quiet place. For a beginner, 20 minutes is long enough. With practice, 30 minutes would be suitable.

Start by wishing that any benefits from the meditation will affect not only yourself but other people with whom you come into contact.

Then relax for some minutes.

Then sit a little straighter and put your mind on your breathing at the tip of your nose. Count up to ten your out-breaths at the tip of your nose – if you lose count, start again.

After two or three complete sets of ten breaths, just sit calmly watching your mind and let any thoughts and feelings come and go.

If restlessness or worrying thoughts come, just let them come and go. Do not either follow or try to stop them. If moments of calm come, just let these also come and go. The idea is to remain peaceful whatever goes on in your mind. Just sit back and watch what the mind does.

If you get lost in thought and distracted from this, for a little while go back to watching your out-breaths at the tip of your nose.

You need only moderate effort in concentrating on your breathing. Buddhist teachers compare calming the mind to letting muddy water settle in a glass. The water goes clear in its own time and there’s nothing you can do to hurry it up. In fact if you try to hurry it, you’ll only stir up the mud. In meditation, it’s enough just to keep sitting there and watch your mind – without trying to change anything.

Benefits of This Type of Meditation

• During meditation, a taste of a way of being which is peaceful and different from the irritations and worries of everyday life.
• After meditation, ability to handle everyday situations in a more thoughtful and generous way and to break free from following your habits.
• Both during and after meditation, noticing and understanding how your mind works.

The Dalai Lama has compared meditation to recharging your batteries for everyday life.

The Dalai Lama has also described meditation like this:

“We tend to be controlled by our mind, following it along its self-centred path. Meditation is the process whereby we gain control over the mind and guide it in a more virtuous direction. Meditation may be thought of as a technique by which we diminish the force of old thought habits and develop new ones.”

Other Methods of Meditation

Detailed examples have been given of two common types of Buddhist meditation. There are many other methods:

‘Walking Meditation’ is very common. This means practicing keeping your mind on every footstep you take. It trains you to keep your mind calm and concentrated while you are walking around and doing everyday things.

There are meditation methods for thinking deeply about important Buddhist teachings, like that everything is changing and nothing lasts forever.

There are meditation methods for helping you forgive people whom you feel have wronged you.

Buddhist meditation and Buddhist codes for conduct go hand in hand

For meditation to give most benefit, you need also to follow the Buddhist guidance for conduct in the Noble Eightfold Path – like not telling untruths and not speaking hurtfully to people. These rules also eventually bring peacefulness to your life. For instance, not telling untruths will save you from the strain of living up to a false image and not speaking hurtfully will mean you make fewer enemies. To practice meditation but ignore such guidance is a bit like your left hand undoing what your right hand is doing.

In the Buddhist Wheel symbol, the link between meditation and everyday conduct is likened to the need for a wheel to have both a hub and a rim. It needs both parts to work.

http://www.reep.org/gardens/buddhism/eightfold-path.php#top

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You are what you think you are and you need to learn to guide your thoughts in positive ways. I try to start each day with thoughts on how I want to be happy and how I wish other people will find their happiness.

If I am troubled by someone or an incident during my working day, I stop and close my eyes for a moment and breathe in and out a few times and clear my head of any angry or selfish thoughts before I try to come up with a solution to the problem or answer a difficult question. Sometimes the first idea you give is just that the first idea... not a well thought out idea, a fair idea or even a good idea.
I like the walking meditation technique when I'm especially upset or concerned over a problem. It takes time and effort to learn to control your thoughts and emotions and use them in positive ways. Keep working each day and don't be discouraged.


Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
Buddha

May all these different articles I've shared with you help you on your journey through life and with your business. I'd love to hear your experiences.
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The Buddhist Business Owner-Using the Eight-Fold Path to Guide Your Business-Right Mindfulness

Right Mindfulness

This means remembering to apply Buddhist teachings in everyday life all day long – keeping Buddhism in mind all the time.

For instance, it means remembering to treat each person you speak to in a kind and pleasant fashion. It means remembering to be truthful.

It also means remembering to apply Buddhist teachings to any difficult situations. In difficult situations, sometimes Buddhists ask themselves, ‘What might Buddha do in this situation?’ so as to help themselves to decide what to do.

Some Buddhists spend some time each day when they think back about how well they have followed Buddhist teachings so far that day. They can praise themselves for things they have done well. Concerning anything they regret doing, they can think through what went wrong and work out how to do better in the future.

Right mindfulness also means training yourself to keep your mind on whatever you are doing and not drifting into daydreams. One such Buddhist training method is ‘Walking Meditation’, when you practicing keeping your mind on each step you take when walking. Buddhism teaches that, when we are daydreaming, we can build up beliefs and feelings, which then can create difficulties for us. This will happen less if our mind is occupied instead with whatever we are doing.

Also, if we are fully paying attention, we will notice more, understand more and be able to handle situations better.

http://www.reep.org/gardens/buddhism/eightfold-path.php#top

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My most important comment about this path is that you have to pay attention to your business. I know that seems obvious, but if you're not watching the types of materials you're buying, treating your vendors and customers with respect, you're not going to be in business for very long.

I'm an obsessive list maker. Not only do I make up daily lists about what supplies I need or what dolls I need to finish, I also try to add personal goals. Like today I want to work on improving my mastery of embroidery stitches because improving my skills makes me more confident as an artist. When you feel good about yourself, it's easier for you to treat others better.

If you did something you regret, like reprimand an employee in front of customers, now is the time to be honest about it and try to come up with a better way to resolve a problem. Remember berating yourself isn't going to solve the problem. Recognize your error, forgive yourself and resolve to do better. And apologize to that employee.

What will you do today to improve yourself and your business?

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The Buddhist Business Owner-Using the Eight-fold Path to Guide your Business -Right Effort

To put Buddhist teachings into practice, a special type of gradual effort is needed.
It is much too difficult to put all Buddhist principles into practice perfectly at once. People who try to do this will probably give up in days.
Instead, you need to make small improvements, one at a time. Then, once an improvement has become a habit, adding another improvement till you are living more and more of the Buddhist life by habit.

For instance, an improvement might be to remember to do a kind deed every day. To keep this up till it becomes a habit is enough to keep anyone busy.

So right effort is about making improvements gradually but then keeping them up forever. It is about making improvements at a pace which is easy enough for you to keep up. It is like a long-distance runner, who deliberately runs at a slow pace which it is possible to keep up for miles. It is the opposite of a sprinter, who can run very fast during a short race but cannot keep this up for longer.

Right effort also means paying equal attention both to doing more good, kind things and to doing fewer harmful things.

Right effort can also involve praising yourself and rewarding yourself for progress in following Buddhist teachings.

http://www.reep.org/gardens/buddhism/eightfold-path.php#top

Make yourself a list of things you want to improve about your business. Here are a few things you might be thinking about as you grow your business.

Are you concerned about the origin of your supplies? Are your customer service skills up to snuff? Do you manage your time well enough so that your family doesn't feel neglected? Do you want to be a "green" business?

Set realistic goals for yourself. Take your time and change your business plan gradually. If you're worried about the supplies you're using, research more cost effective suppliers whose business practices are in line with your personal beliefs.

If the family is feeling neglected, set up special family times or if they want to, involve them in simple tasks that will help you with your business or household tasks.

Make gradual changes in what you do and you will find it much easier to run a more people and environmentally friendly business.

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The Buddhist Business Owner- Using the Eight-Fold Path to Guide your Business- Right Livelihood

Right Livelihood

This means a way of earning money and a lifestyle which does not harm other beings and, preferably, benefits them.

Buddhism teaches that the following ways of earning money are wrong.

Anything to do with making

• weapons and warfare.
• Any business which exploits its workers or controls them like slaves.
• Any business which produces poisons or pollutes the environment.
• Trade in meat, fish or the killing of living creatures.
• Trade in alcohol or addictive drugs.
• Any job which involves telling lies or deceiving customers or misleading advertising or high-pressure salesmanship.

Buddhism teaches that you should do what you can to reduce the harm you do to the environment and the natural world.

Buddhism also teaches that you shouldn’t seek lots of expensive things which you don’t really need. The latter can lead to you wasting your life working for these possessions or looking after them or running up debts which then mess up your life.

http://www.reep.org/gardens/buddhism/eightfold-path.php#top

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There's not much I can say to augment this section....

Greed, lying and carelessness are not Buddhist virtues and should not be part of a good Buddhist business plan.

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The Buddhist Business Owner- Using the Eight Fold Path to Guide Your Business- Right Action

Right Action

• Buddhism teaches to try hard to avoid killing any living creatures, including insects. While you cannot always succeed in this, you should show consideration for living creatures whenever possible. You should let wasps out of windows, for instance, rather than killing them. If you see a line of ants across a path, you should take the trouble to step over them. Buddhism is against all killing for sport, like hunting.
• You should not take from anyone else anything which they do not want to give you. This means much more than not stealing. It also means that you don’t pressure or trick people to give you things or do you favors which you know they don’t really want to give.
• Buddhism teaches that when men and women have close relationships, like marriage, this should be with only one partner at a time. Only if they have ended a relationship, should a person seek another partner - not at the same time.
• Another Buddhist teaching is not to get drunk on alcohol or other drugs. One reason is that, once drunk, people much more easily get angry or speak hurtfully to other people or do other harmful or destructive things.

http://www.reep.org/gardens/buddhism/eightfold-path.php#top

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How you conduct your business will effect how successful you are.

Now I realize many people run a business and don't care how they make their profits. These business owners do make a lovely profit even though they treat people and the environment badly. But I'm hoping if your reading this you want to be an ethical business owner and that you realize that you eventually pay for the harm you do in this life.

1. Be honest about what supplies you're actually using, and how much you are actually spending on them. Perhaps using recycled, cruelty free supplies should be an ultimate goal for you as a Buddhist. But, each of you need to use your own judgement as to what you feel is right.

2. Treat your customers fairly. Make sure you cover your costs of supplies, time etc, but don't overcharge or delay in shipping something out. If you dislike doing custom orders, just say so, don't lead the client on and waste your time and theirs. Don't renege on your stated shop policies.

3. Advertise your wares honestly. Do not downgrade others work to boost your own sales. You end up looking petty and dishonest.

4. Run your business honestly. Cheating or abusing your suppliers, customers and employees may make you extra profits or make you feel powerful, but eventually you will pay for the harm you cause.

What other ideas do YOU have about running a business in an ethical fashion?
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The Buddhist Business Owner-Using the Eight-Fold Path to Guide Your Business- Right Speech

Right Speech

• Buddhism teaches you to train yourself to be truthful.
• Likewise to train yourself not to speak to anyone in a wounding, hurtful way. Sometimes people can be hurt very deeply by things which other people say to them – sometimes more than by physical blows. Whilst you should always speak the truth, Buddhism teaches that you should think up ways of doing this which are not hurtful.
• Also, it’s important never say things to people in order to stir up anger or suspicion against someone else or to break up someone else’s friendship.
• When you’ve nothing to say, it’s fine to be silent. It is not helpful to fill up other people’s minds with pointless chatter.

http://www.reep.org/gardens/buddhism/eightfold-path.php#top
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The first principle of ethical conduct - What you say and how you say it is going to effect your business....period.

1. Who are you selling to? The answer to this question will give you the idea about the vocabulary is appropriate. Gear your speech to the situation.

2.Learn to critique an employee or customer situation in a positive way. For every fault or problem you need to correct find one positive trait that can be complimented. Never correct employees in a public setting or in a demeaning manner.

3.Refrain from gossiping about other workers or customers.

4. Do not disparage the work or skills of other sellers. You will only look ill mannered for hurling insults.

A true follower of Buddha speaks truthfully, but in a warm and gentle fashion....and only when really necessary.



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The Buddhist Business Owner- Using the Eight-Fold Path to Guide your Business- Right Motivation

Right Motivation

Naturally many people first get interested in Buddhism because they are seeking peace and happiness for themselves.

But Buddhism teaches that, to obtain long-lasting peace and happiness for yourself, you need to help the people around you to obtain peace and happiness too. One reason is that we all affect each other so much. Other people’s troubles can soon become your troubles.

If you are to truly follow Buddhism, your motivation needs gradually to change. You need to become less interested in how Buddhism can make you happier and more interested in to how Buddhism can enable you to make other people happier.

It takes time to develop this more unselfish motivation and it’s only natural that many people don’t have it at the beginning. Buddhism teaches methods for encouraging yourself to want to benefit other people.

http://www.reep.org/gardens/buddhism/eightfold-path.php#top

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DO You Have the WILL to Change?

1. Free yourself from those traits that you know are wrong or not ethical. You should be free from ill will and harmless in your intent.

2. What is your intention when you plan to do something in your life or create something for your business.
What kind of materials do you use in your work? Are they recyclables or made yourself or bought from local businesses, or supplies made by the gross in over seas sweat shops? Trying to be aware of what kind of products you're using as supplies in your work shows your motivation.

3. How do you deal with your customers and other sellers can also show your motivation.
Are your prices covering your expenses and supplies etc fairly? Do you create custom pieces and do you ship in a timely manner? Are you concerned with your own work and doing your best or are you bad mouthing or underselling your competition to gain sales?

Commit yourself to the path of good will and harmlessness to others and you will be on you way to being a good business owner.

How do you show right motivation in your business?

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The Buddhist Business Owner-Using the Eight-Fold Path to Guide Your Business: The Right Understanding

Right Understanding


I was looking for some basic info on Buddhism to explain my way of thinking to an on-line friend of mine. While this statement below that I found explains the first path - right understanding to me, I'd like to add some concrete ideas and maybe some anecdotes from my own or your experience.

Please feel free to use the comments section or if you'd like to write a post on any of these 8 topics, let me know.
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http://www.reep.org/gardens/buddhism/eightfold-path.php#top

Right Understanding

This means finding out about all the basic Buddhist teachings and then checking with your own experience to see whether each teaching makes sense. Buddhism says that for real understanding you need to see for yourself that Buddhist teachings are true.

So one part of Right Understanding is finding out about all the basic ideas in Buddhism.

The other part is testing them in your everyday life to see for yourself if they make sense. You should not just try to believe what you are told.

Elsewhere in the Noble Eightfold Path, in Right Speech and Right Action, you will see guidelines for behavior like avoiding telling lies and avoiding killing insects. This is not to please any god, since there are no gods in Buddhism. Right Understanding means that you try out following these guidelines and see how they affect you and other people. Only then can you truly understand why they matter.

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I see this as going to source material and learning about how Buddha defined suffering and how to deal with it positively.

A Buddhist sees suffering as life in general really....being born, growing old, being unhappy, grieving, being in any kind of pain or despair. It can also mean not succeeding in getting what you want in life.

Want creates suffering and the ending of want ends a person's suffering.

Things to consider that will help you in right understanding .....

1. Karma-- Every action, whether it be wholesome or unwholesome will have a positive or negative effect on your world.

2. Your time in this body is temporary...everything comes to an end eventually.

Wrong understanding rises from ignorance, wrong intentions, speech, actions, employment, effort, mindfulness and wrong concentration.

Right understanding rises from a mind that is not rigid, but one that is creative and open to new ideas.

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Now what does this little post have to do with running a business? Well, you tell me.

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