Understanding the Subjective Dimension of Work from a Buddhist Perspective (original) (raw)
Related papers
Virtue Ethics and Meaningful Work: A Contemporary Buddhist Approach
2019
This study adds to the existing literature on meaningful work by presenting a contemporary virtue-focused Buddhist view. While a virtue-ethics interpretation of Buddhism is now widely accepted and has been applied to several issues, not much has been written about meaningful work using a Buddhist-Aristotelian comparative framework. To develop a Buddhist approach, I draw heavily on the works of Buddhist scholars, particularly in the West who use a virtue framework in interpreting Buddhism. The aims of my essay are dual. The first is to articulate a straightforward application of Buddhism to the contemporary ethical discussion of meaningful work. The second is to discuss the similarities, clarify the differences, and demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses relative to each other of the Buddhist and the Western virtue theories. In my analysis, I argue that while Buddhism is not an alternative to Western virtue theory, it offers significant contributions to the latter’s approach to mea...
TOWARD A CROSS-CULTURAL VIRTUE ETHICS PARADIGM OF MEANINGFUL WORK: ARISTOTELIANISM AND BUDDHISM
This study adds to the existing literature on meaningful work by offering a cross-cultural perspective. Since work shapes the kind of person that we are and plays an important role in our well-being, some theorists have adopted a virtue theory approach to meaningful work using Aristotelian-MacIntyrean framework. For lack of a better term, I will call this a Western virtue theory. This paper presents a contemporary virtue-focused Buddhist perspective on the topic. While a virtue-ethics interpretation of Buddhism is now widely accepted and has been applied to several issues, not much has been written about meaningful work using a Buddhist-Aristotelian comparative framework. Buddhism is an important cultural component not only of countries that are predominantly Buddhist, but of other societies that have come in contact with it. To develop a Buddhist framework, I draw heavily from the works of Buddhist scholars, particularly in the West who use a virtue framework in interpreting Buddhism. The aims of my essay are dual. The first is to articulate a straightforward application of Buddhism on the contemporary ethical discussion of meaningful work. The second is to discuss the similarities, clarify the differences, and demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses relative to each other of the Buddhist and the Western virtue theory. In my analysis, I argue that consideration of Buddhist perspective enables us to construct a cross-cultural, inclusive, and pluralistic conceptual model for the deliberation of meaningful work that complements the Western virtue theory.
2015
In recent years there has been a growing interest in the application of concepts and practices that derive from Buddhist thought within organisations in Western nations and this has resulted in an exchange of ideas between Buddhist and Western psychological and organisational scholars and practitioners. The "dialogue" that is now occurring between Buddhist and Western psychological and organisational thought is one means whereby Buddhist thought is being adapted to a new historical and cultural period. The main Buddhist concept and practice that has been applied in organisational settings is mindfulness but the way mindfulness has been understood in the psychological and organisational theory and practice literature diverges from traditional Buddhist accounts of mindfulness. Specifically, the way in which mindfulness has been characterized obscures its relationship to ethical functioning and its role in the development of wisdom and hencemay not lead to the transformation that will result in liberation from suffering. Just as Buddhist concepts and Table of Contents Abstract i Acknowledgment ii Content iii Notes on translations and academic style v Chapters
Toward greater consciousness in the 21st Century Century Workplace: How Buddhist Practices Fit in
The purpose of this study was to determine the applicability of Buddhist practices in today's workplaces. The findings were supported by interviews with Buddhist masters and Buddhist business practitioners, as well as literature review, through phenomenological analysis. As a means of presenting the main reasons why Buddhist practices should be considered in contemporary workplaces, a SWOT analysis is presented. In this analysis, a number of strengths for using Buddhist practices in workplaces are listed such as pro-scientific, greater personal responsibility, and healthy detachment, while potential weaknesses such as non-harming, equanimity, and no competition are also reviewed. Both the strengths and the weaknesses could be listed in reverse if applied to a different extent. Among the opportunities were issues such as re-educating the world of business, enhancing personal ownership and a healthier society, while the threats comprised issues such as creating different imbalances, disinterest, and stationary development.
Toward Greater Consciousness in the 21st Century Workplace: How Buddhist Practices Fit In
Journal of Business Ethics, 2010
The purpose of this study was to determine the applicability of Buddhist practices in today's workplaces. The findings were supported by interviews with Buddhist masters and Buddhist business practitioners, as well as literature review, through phenomenological analysis. As a means of presenting the main reasons why Buddhist practices should be considered in contemporary workplaces, a SWOT analysis is presented. In this analysis, a number of strengths for using Buddhist practices in workplaces are listed such as pro-scientific, greater personal responsibility, and healthy detachment, while potential weaknesses such as non-harming, equanimity, and no competition are also reviewed. Both the strengths and the weaknesses could be listed in reverse if applied to a different extent. Among the opportunities were issues such as re-educating the world of business, enhancing personal ownership and a healthier society, while the threats comprised issues such as creating different imbalances, disinterest, and stationary development.
Journal of Business Ethics, 2021
This paper argues that the principles of spiritual traditions provide normative ‘standards of goodness’ within which practitioners evaluate meaningful work. Our comparative study of practitioners in the Buddhist and Quaker traditions provide a fine-grained analysis to illuminate, that meaningfulness is deeply connected to particular tradition-specific philosophical and theological ideas. In the Buddhist tradition, meaningfulness is temporal and rooted in Buddhist principles of non-attachment, impermanence and depending-arising, whereas in the Quaker tradition, the Quaker testimonies and theological ideas frame meaningfulness as eternal. Surprisingly, we find that when faced with unethical choices and clashes between organizational normativity and spiritual normativity, Buddhist practitioners acknowledge the temporal character of meaningfulness and compromise their moral values, whereas in contrast, Quaker practitioners morally disengage from meaningless work. Our study highlights ho...
Consciousness at Work: A Review of Some Important Values, Discussed from a Buddhist Perspective
This article reviews the element of consciousness from a Buddhist and a non-Buddhist (Western) perspective. Within the Buddhist perspective, two practices toward attaining expanded and purified consciousness will be included: the Seven-Point Mind Training and Vipassana. Within the Western perspective, David Hawkins' works on consciousness will be used as a main guide. In addition, a number of important concepts that contribute to expanded and purified consciousness will be presented. Among these concepts are impermanence, karma, non-harming (ahimsa), ethics, kindness and compassion, mindfulness, right livelihood, charity, interdependence, wholesome view, collaboration, and fairness. This article may be of use to students and workforce members who consider a transdisciplinary approach on human wellbeing in personal and professional environments.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to review Buddhism as a potential reform instrument in the workplace and discuss some obstacles in making that happen.
Springer eBooks, 2022
Over the last two decades, mindfulness has become popular in Western countries as part of the well-being movement. The corporate world has taken notice and is now hailing the potential of mindfulness as a tool to increase work performance and employee well-being. This view of mindfulness, however, contains an intrinsic contradiction: the core of mindfulness is derived from Buddhist traditions that accept the present moment without judgement, while neoliberal productivity demands constant renewal and a drive for stronger performance. The ethnographic data for this study was collected in an environment emblematic of the neoliberal service economy: a professional service firm with highly skilled employees. This chapter develops the concept of spiritual labour, which is informed by the ideas of postsecularisation and spirituality in the sociology of religion and the concept of emotional labour in organisational studies. Spiritual labour refers to harnessing the spirituality of the employee and incorporating it into the work of the organisation.