Steve Jobs stirred the world with his magnanimous creation, Apple. Its magnanimity lies in simplicity. Jobs was phrased to be the modern Einstein for his unique innovation. When he passed away his obituary was posted in the Apple website in grayscale form. Such was his simplicity.
Before reaching the covetous seat of Apple’s CEO, Jobs is said to have been in a spiritual journey. He had travelled to India to dig more into Buddhism. How he got the wind of the ancient religion, no mention is made.
Interestingly Jobs is a biographical child of two unmarried academics who emphasized the adoptive parents should send him to university.
Jobs and his college friend Daniel Kottke, who later worked for him at Apple, visited Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi Ashram. He returned home to California a Buddhist, complete with a shaved head and traditional Indian clothing and a philosophy that may have shaped much of his corporate values.
“I wouldn’t say Steve Jobs was a practicing Buddhist,” said Robert Thurman, a professor of Buddhist studies at Columbia University, who met Jobs and his “Tibetan buddies” in the 1980s in San Francisco.
“But he was just as creative and generous and went outside the box in the way that he looked to Eastern mental discipline and the Zen vision, which is a compelling one.”
“He was a real explorer and very much to be mourned — and too young at 56,” said Thurman. “We will remember the design simplicity of his products. That simplicity is a Zen idea.”
Zen Buddhist monk Kobun Chino Otogawa married Jobs and his now widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, in 1991.
“We did not pay too much attention to his personal life, but from his past interviews and speeches, we could see the embedded influences by the Buddhism,” said Gary Li, secretary of the Buddhist Association of the United States.
He was a fan of the Beatles, who also embraced spirituality and made a similar pilgrimage to India. Jobs told television’s “60 Minutes” he modeled his own business after the rock group.
The name Apple was inspired by the Beatles’ Apple Corps. Like the Beatles, Jobs went to India to seek spiritual truth. He eventually converted to Buddhism. Buddhist monk Kobun Chino presided over his wedding.
Also, Forbes Magazine is publishing a comic book about Steve Jobs. The book focuses on Steve’s travels to Japan. The book re-creates the relationship with his mentor, Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Buddhist priest.
Steve Jobs’ Apple company could be said to have a very Zen-like attitude toward design with it’s pure lines and minimalist approach to user-experience. This might not be by accident. Jobs is in fact a follower of the Buddha.
It all began, as far as we know, in 1974 when Jobs, then 21, asked for a sabbatical from his employer, Atari, in order to go to India.
After a month visiting gurus, looking for answers, he came back, not really satisfied with what he had found. For some reasons, he decided that Thomas Edison had done more for mankind than a lot of Gurus and other philosophers.
When he went back, he started frequenting the Los Altos Zen center, in Los Altos, California. There, he practiced primal scream therapy.
It is also interesting to note that at the time, he was a fruitarian and his favorite food was the apple.
“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” Jobs is quoted to have stated.
Steve Jobs channels Buddhist monks from all over the world for this piece of advice. We barely ever really think about how little time we have on this planet. That within a blink of an eye everything could be gone. – SM / Daily Newa
