Being Buddha at Work

“Four Noble Truths”

Based on spiritual – but also pragmatic – principles, Buddhism provides a path for individual enlightenment. Even at the office, it offers a practical way to tackle the “three marks of existence,” which are “frustration, interconnectedness and impermanence.” The road to peace starts with simple awareness or mindfulness. Buddhism posits four “noble truths”: that life is full of suffering, that humans suffer because they’re attached to what they want, that it’s possible to end suffering by ending desire and that the “eightfold path” offers a way to peace. The eight stages on this path to enlightenment are “right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.”

The Buddha – the “Awakened One”– lived 2,500 years ago. He was a prince, then a beggar and finally a spiritual leader who followed the “middle way” of moderation. He taught that anyone can use mindfulness to attain enlightenment and that everyone, essentially, has a “Buddha nature.” Within that nature is a sense of calm and unity with all things – a serenity anyone can achieve by choosing to be mindful. Such peacefulness...