What Zen Taught Silicon Valley (And Steve Jobs) About
 What Zen Taught Silicon Valley (And Steve Jobs) About
on the Apple iPod inspired by kinhin, the Zen practice of walking in circles while meditating? There’
evidence, but a new book, The Zen of Steve Jobs, suggests a connection. The illustrated
relationship between the late Apple co-founder and a Zen Buddhist priest, juxtaposes the lessons Jobs learned from his
 Zen master with design breakthroughs in his products. In so
innovator was, himself, greatly influenced by Zen principles and practices. advertisement advertisement
, aggressively Western, and not at all Zen: Can the rest of us boost our innovation mojo
Folks from Google and Apple are regulars at the Do Zen Meditation Center."
. A recently published title from Wiley, Zennovation proffers “an East-West approach to
 There’s also a popular blog called Valley Zen that explores the synergy between Silicon Valley innovation and Zen
. And according to Les Kaye, a Zen abbot based in the Valley, there’s no
 shortage of innovative types coming to his Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center in Mountain View–including folks from Google
 That’s not to suggest that Valley deniZens who are embracing Zen are doing so for career
advancement purposes–and if they are, says Zen master Kaye, they’re missing the whole point
 of Zen and are probably destined to be disappointed in the results
. But Kaye does say that Zen meditation can “help the innovation process by calming
 And he acknowledges that some of the principles of Zen align nicely with the challenges faced by would-be
 Start, for instance, with the Zen emphasis on questioning. In my own research looking at
everything” mindset that could be compared to the Zen notion of shoshin, or “beginner’s
wisdom. According to Randy Komisar, a Zen practitioner who’s also a partner with the Silicon
 Byers, Zen practice “is about stripping away one’s
 "Zen teaches one to look at challenges from a naïve perspective
approach plays an important role, as does the Zen notion of bringing together masters and neophytes. “
Stanford’s d.school, and various Zen principles and practices. For instance, “the
 Zen emphasis on listening is very design thinking-y,
” Sutton notes. And Zen practitioners are taught to remain attentive and “mindful
Even the iterative process of prototyping has echoes of the Zen idea that one learns and advances by “small
visualization firm Jess3–which did the illustrations for The Zen of Steve Jobs–thinks that Zen can help designers
concentration,” Thomas says. “The Zen approach can help focus on the vision for the experience
 Zen practice also encourages working and thinking together in groups.
, there are the fundamental design ideals associated with Zen–including, among others, kanso (simplicity
 To see these Zen design ideals embodied, just look at any Apple product
not Jobs’s iPod scroll was inspired by a Zen stroll, clearly his overall design sensibility was influenced by
 Zen ideals of austerity and refinement. But it went beyond
individual products: Jobs told Isaacson and others that Zen helped him stay highly focused and free of distraction.
that the people working for him could benefit by learning Zen practices.
the next breakthrough gadget? Not surprisingly, Zen practitioners tend to be bemused if not appalled by this
for people to think, ‘If I do Zen practice, I’ll become more creative,ʼ
“It’s not a magic pill. Zen does not create intellectual muscle.”
center cites “no striving” as a guiding Zen principle; if someone aims to be more innovative or
 productive through Zen practice, it would be seen as inappropriate and out
the spiritually aware venture capitalist Komisar explains, “Zen practice does not concern itself with outputs like creativity or
question of, “Is a mind informed by Zen practice “better” at listening, questioning,
 Komisar’s answer is, “In Zen there is no ‘better.ʼ”
 As to whether a Zen mindset can provide an edge in business, Komisar points
 out that Zen is about “no self. No ego.
 "Steve had an unusual relationship with Zen. He got the the art, but not the
has been observed that Steve Jobs managed to take from Zen what he needed–all the while maintaining a healthy
 not to mention ruthless competitive instincts. The Zen teacher Kaye, who once studied with Jobs at the
 same Zen center in the Valley, says: “Steve
 had an unusual relationship with Zen. He got the artistic side of it but not
 So is Kaye worried that Zen’s rising popularity in innovation circles might produce more