Work as a Spiritual Practice: A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job

by Lewis Richmond

Book Overview

A guide to developing and maintaining a spiritual life on the job, drawn from the teachings and practices of Buddhist tradition.

Most people associate Buddhism with developing calmness, kindness, and compassion through meditation. Lewis Richmond's Work as a Spiritual Practice shows us another aspect of Buddhism: the active, engaged side that allows us to find creativity, inspiration, and accomplishment in our work lives. With...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767902335
• ISBN13: 9780767902335
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Harmony/Rodale
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Clarifying

This is an excellent book for those seeking to integrate spirituality into their workplace. It covers many common concerns and issues, but also leaves enough flexibility for the reader to adapt the content to their own situation. A good and easy read--I read it during breaks at work!

Emminently Practical

Let's face it, if you study Buddhism you probably have at least a dozen solid theoretical texts lining your bookshelves. And if there is any area in which those texts seem to be weak, it is in their approach to applying Buddhist tenets to the modern workplace. At first glance, Western capitalism and Eastern spirituality appear distinctly at oods. How is it possible to follow Buddha's Right Livelihood tenet and still succeed in the cutthroat workplace?Mr. Richmond has been there and done that. He brings practical advice that is soundly grounded in Buddhist thought and tradition. He doesn't try to pretend that it is realistic to construct an altar at your desk, but provides reasonable ways to extend your spirituality to the workplace. Above all else, this book is a practical set of guidelines for maintaining your spirituality in America's competitive workplace. I've only just read it, but it has helped me immensely to find ways to make my worklife simply an extension of the rest of my life.

USEFUL EVERY DAY!

You will find something that applies to whatever kind of work day you are having. I read it as I struggled with a decision to quit or not quit; to compromise my personal beliefs or keep my job. I already knew the answers, but this book was comfortingly reassuring and supportive of the path I knew was correct for me. Now when I go back to reread, and reread sections, I always find something that helps me survive whatever work situation with which I'm dealing.

All employees and managers should read this book!

This is an excellent book. It was very easy to read, and provided lots of practical advice on all sorts of work problems ranging from stress to stagnation. It accepts the premise that emotions (such as anger) do happen at work, and provides advice on how to diffuse the negative aspects of emotions and harness the positive energy. This book was very helpful to me and probably would be helpful for many people.

A uniquely excellent treatment of this subject

I read a lot of buddhist and other religious/spiritual/contemplative sorts of books, and I've always been interested in reading about and exploring ways of incorporating spirituality and religious belief into the "secular" world of work. I've read several good books that relate to this (Charlotte Joko Beck's are particularly good), but there's also a lot of fluff and hooey out there on this topic as well. Richmond's book is right up there with Beck's, and really as far as relating to the actual work place it is probably even more directly on target.The two things I liked the best about the book are these: (1) The buddhist thought has real rigor behind it. Richmond was a Zen priest who, to be brief, knows what he's talking about. (2) The overall tone of the discussion of how spirtuality relates to work is direct and practical (many different sorts of interesting practices and exercises are suggested)but also open-ended enough that I found plenty of "room" for my own experiences and interpretations to come through. Richmond writes from the perspective of his experience as the head of a start-up software firm in California - a situation designed to challenge (or perhaps to develop) a spiritual, moral sense if there ever was one.Our work environments need this kind of message in a big way. And individuals, whether they are in very good or very bad (or everything in between) current work situations will find something of value in this book. This is not new age hang-a-crystal-over-your-desk BS - it is an intelligent application of millenia-old religious and philosophical thought to one of the biggest problems we each face in our daily lives. This ought to be required reading! :)