More than spiritual wisdom: oxygen for the soul.
Behind every great person is one great mentor that no one talks about.
One of those mentors was Kobun Chino Otogawa.
The zen master of Steve Jobs.
I have been researching his philosophy of life for some time.
And I’ve discovered three lessons that have blown my mind.
Let’s start.
1. Your rareness is your superpower
“The more you sense the rareness and value of your own life, the more you realize that how you use it and manifest it is your responsibility.” — Kobun Chino Otogawa (book: Embracing Mind).”
Kobun was one of the people who dissuaded Steve Jobs from becoming a Zen monk.
He advised him to be himself and integrate his Zen practice with his passion for computers.
Steve, who had always been an Outsider, learned to use his rareness Card as his As Card.
He learned to accept those rare parts of ourselves that we usually reject because we fear not fitting in.
The result of such integration (technology and Zen) was prodigious: Apple, Pixar, iPods, iPhones, Tablets, Macbooks, you name it.
In a 2001 interview in Japan, Jobs said,
“Many forces in life tend to funnel us down into the institutional path, and people sometimes forget they are unique. They have very unique feelings and perspectives.”
Unlike other technology companies that focused on making technology with more megahertz and megabytes, Steve’s strategy was to help people do more with their computers than spreadsheets and word processors.
In Jobs’ words, “We help people express themselves in richer ways, in their songs, pictures, and movies.”
In short, his business strategy was to help people embrace their “rareness” and give them digital tools to express themselves creatively.
Something Steve, I think, learned from Kobun.
2. Stop standing in the way of success.
“The goal becomes a mirror, and what I understand is that this meta-mirror is an exact reflection of oneself.” — Kobun Chino Otogawa
Kobun was a master in Kyudo (Japanese archery).
He was able to hit a blade of grass at 25 meters.
On a website that pays tribute to him, I read that once, Kobun was driving with a student and stopped at the top of a hill. He took his bow out of the trunk and shot an arrow into the sea.
I think Kobun was trying to teach that the process matters, not hitting the bull’s eye.
We have to stop getting in the way of the process with our excess of intentions.
We must stop forcing things because we contaminate them with our haste and anxiety.
Steve Jobs learned to do that.
He learned to stop obsessing about making money and focused on creating a product that didn’t exist.
Focusing on the process made Apple what it is.
Steve won the game when his enormous ego stopped getting in the way of his arrows.
The important thing in both life and Kyudo is to connect with our inner wisdom through practice and channel the resulting peace into everything you do.
If you focus on the process and practice, you will become a master, and after enough time, your skill level will be reflected in your results.
Remember: successes are only the consequences of our actions when our actions are virtuous.
3. There are secrets and treasures inside of you
“Sitting is the rediscovery of your basic strength and your clarity.” — Kobun Chino Otogawa.
I read this phrase on the website of a center that Kobun and his students set up in 1983 called Jikoji.
As I read it, my soul’s voice whispered, “There is a sunken ship full of treasures in the deepest sea of your consciousness.”
I believe that Kobun thought that by practicing Shikantaza (Zen meditation), the practitioner stopped everything that was not true.
All the illusion of the world of forms. And he was left with the truth.
In other words, we are all a part of the whole, and therefore, we have a part of that whole inside.
Ergo, wisdom (the truth) IS NOT OUTSIDE.
It is inside, within ourselves.
Steve Jobs knew this.
That’s why he spent long periods meditating: he was fishing inside himself for those parts of the whole, those inner treasures, and with them, he built an empire.
Moral: If this were true, we all have a great treasure inside — wisdom that is part of the universal whole. — And if we can access it, exploring our inner seas of consciousness, we can impact the world as Steve Jobs did.
A virtual hug
AG
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