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Being Buddha at Work
Book

Being Buddha at Work

108 Ancient Truths on Change, Stress, Money, and Success

BJ Gallagher and Franz Metcalf
Berrett-Koehler, 2012
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7

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Recommendation

Thousands of years ago, the Buddha established a framework to help people achieve happiness and avoid suffering. For Buddhists, work is an organic, important part of life and an expression of a person’s highest values. Religious studies professor Franz Metcalf and business writer BJ Gallagher prove the modern relevance of Buddhist ideas, particularly in the workplace. Presented as question-and-answer discussions – as if students were quizzing a master teacher – this is a small book, but not a light read. It will give you plenty to think about, despite sometimes being a bit esoteric (consider the difficulty of condensing 2,500 years of thought into 176 pages). getAbstract finds that the readings have a cumulative, stress-relieving impact; they will give you a deeper understanding of Buddhist canons and their practical application in seeking balance.

Summary

“Four Noble Truths”

Based on spiritual – but also pragmatic – principles, Buddhism provides a path for individual enlightenment. Even at the office, it offers a practical way to tackle the “three marks of existence,” which are “frustration, interconnectedness and impermanence.” The road to peace starts with simple awareness or mindfulness. Buddhism posits four “noble truths”: that life is full of suffering, that humans suffer because they’re attached to what they want, that it’s possible to end suffering by ending desire and that the “eightfold path” offers a way to peace. The eight stages on this path to enlightenment are “right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.”

The Buddha – the “Awakened One”– lived 2,500 years ago. He was a prince, then a beggar and finally a spiritual leader who followed the “middle way” of moderation. He taught that anyone can use mindfulness to attain enlightenment and that everyone, essentially, has a “Buddha nature.” Within that nature is a sense of calm and unity with all things – a serenity anyone can achieve by choosing to be mindful. Such peacefulness...

About the Authors

Franz Metcalf, a religious studies professor at California State University, Los Angeles, also wrote What Would Buddha Do? BJ Gallagher, who produces corporate videos, also wrote several books, including the bestseller A Peacock in the Land of Penguins.

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