* Bringing mindful qualities into one's career — how is this possible when life, especially business and making money, is a battle, as some put it, “the marketplace is a battlefield”?
– Since I first started in business, I have never believed that “Business is a battlefield.” A battlefield is already a war. Going to battle means carrying a gun. Whom would we shoot?
In reality, some entrepreneurs, despite success and wealth, have created much karma without recognizing it because of ignorance, or carry too many unhealed wounds from an overly materialistic and “violent” way of living and working. I think we should adjust things a little: the marketplace should be a “place” filled with love. That would be better.
We can absolutely follow a path balancing the material and spiritual. It is an extremely progressive path. And on that path, the core value of love cannot be absent.
* Have you ever failed, lost yourself, or felt unsteady? How did you face and overcome it?
– Many times, especially when I first started. Sometimes investors took control of the company; sometimes business results were poor; at other times I had to close an entire project…
How I faced things before is very different from later. Back then, I used the power of the mind, spirit, and will to overcome difficulties. Later, I realized that approach easily creates much repression within, like a silently active volcano that has never been transformed. Those memories can gradually accumulate and lead to tragedies later.
Later, I often faced and carefully examined the causes of failure, their root causes, whether anything was misaligned with the laws of heaven and earth, what lesson was meant for me, where I needed to cultivate my mind and character, and which qualities I still lacked… Understanding natural laws brings greater peace, because I can explain things for myself after seeing a bigger picture.
* A sensitive question: What do you think about money? Is having a lot of money necessary to be happy and help others?
– Money is simply a resource. And it is not the only resource. If someone is already good, money merely makes those good qualities more visible (along with bad traits, if any). If someone is already happy, money can help them become happier; it is not money that makes them happy.
But that is only conditional happiness, happiness outside oneself. It is not yet unconditional happiness, true happiness from within.
Yet that external happiness remains necessary in the physical 3D world we inhabit today. Not everyone immediately has the conditions to cultivate and deeply practice spirituality or Buddhist teachings to touch their inherent inner happiness.
Money is not the only resource; people can use many other resources to help others and the world, such as wisdom, kindness, time, effort, and service…
I think what matters is taking a “middle way” approach to money. Do not become attached to money, but do not deny its role either.
* So what is happiness to you? Do you have any advice or suggestions for young people on creating happiness, building a career, and starting a business?
– To me, happiness is everyone's innate nature, a natural essence we all possess. We enter this life with happiness already within us, like a precious jewel. As we grow up, accumulating memories and wounds, we inadvertently build a maze that locks this jewel deep inside. The aim is to protect ourselves from possible future hurt, but we also unintentionally prevent ourselves from “touching” that innate happiness, that precious jewel already present in our own consciousness.
If we realize this, instead of seeking happiness outside ourselves, we only need to let go of what our minds have woven to prevent us from finding happiness within. Immediately, at that moment, we are happy. Indeed, we are not merely happy (as an adjective); we become happiness (as a noun).
Start a business without creating bad karma. Once you understand the path, do not just pursue entrepreneurship; pursue… Right Livelihood Entrepreneurship.
* Thank you for this interesting conversation!
Reporter: Lưu Đình Long
Interview: Bringing mindful awareness into your career
Giác Ngộ Newspaper
Article link:
https://giacngo.vn/dua-pham-chat-tinh-thuc-vao-su-nghiep-post66401.html
https://giacngo.vn/dua-pham-chat-tinh-thuc-vao-su-nghiep-post66401.html
