Hinduism and Buddhism philosophy share many characteristics

Events of recent years have left many people in the West equating “business-as-usual” with bad karma. The Wall Street crash of ‘08, the bursting of the housing bubble, and the deaths of over 100 employees in a fire Bangladeshi factory (used by Walmart among others) in 2013, are just a few events that have made “greed is good” mindset distasteful and dangerously outdated.

Although far from embraced by all CEOs, the world of business is beginning to think about its model. “Conscious Capitalism,” “Wisdom 2.0,” and “Solidarity NYC” are just three movements aiming to make compassion and collaboration the cornerstones of economic interaction.

But, with Hindu and Buddhist teachings such as Karma, having become part of the modern Western vernacular, and meditation and yoga having moved from the fringes to become an integral part of American city life, it’s unsurprising that some prominent thinkers and CEOs have begun to look to spirituality for guidelines to ethics and behavior.

Notably, over the last decade or so, several books have been published, encouraging entrepreneurs to adopt and implement the teachings of Buddhism and Hinduism, or Dharma, as it is otherwise known. Among the more high profile books are Ram Nidumolu’s Two Birds in a Tree: Timeless Indian Wisdom for Business Leaders – which is aimed primarily at business leaders in the USA, where Nidumolu resides – and P’arang Geri Larkin’s Building a Business The Buddhist Way, aimed primarily at those starting out on their own.

There are good reasons why businesses might want to get with the Dharma. With the emergence of the World Wide Web, we know a lot more about companies and their practices than we could ever have before. And, it turns out, we like and want to reward ethical behavior. Companies that rip off consumers, exploit workers (especially if they turn out to be children), or harm the environment, are having a difficult time convincing us that we should be buying from, and supporting, them.

“One of the core values of Buddhism is a commitment to honesty. If a company isn’t being honest, then, these days, the death knell happens quickly,” says P’arang Geri Larkin, a Dharma teacher and author of several books on Buddhism, including, most recently, Close to the Ground: Reflections on the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. “Look at Target. When it first admitted that customer credit card information had been leaked, most of us hung in there… but when, months later, the company circled back around to say that the problem was actually much bigger than they initially reported, we left in droves.”

We expect the same standards of behavior from the companies we buy from as our friends. Perhaps not unreasonably, since, if we’re buying – especially online – then we’re trusting corporations large and small with our personal details.

“Businesses are known – and increasingly judged – by our behaviors,” says P’arang. “We’re living in a time where consumers can now find out more and more about how businesses are run, who is in leadership, the make-up of company boards, etc., and this information is having, and will, I believe, increasingly have an impact on the successes of businesses.”

Ram Nidumolu agrees that a shift toward more ethical business models has been prompted by what we now know about the larger corporations in particular, whether it pertains to damage to the environment, corruption, or just “an increasing disillusionment about the nature of work in modern society.” He anticipates Dharmic values becoming essential to business in the twenty-first century. “As the environmental crisis accelerates and many more people wake up to the harm being caused by businesses that are not implementing Dharmic values, there will be great pressure to change business-as-usual. These Dharmic principles will then become ‘must-haves’ for companies to participate in the economy.”

Although certainly known to scholars and the more daring of Western spiritual practitioners even before this, ancient Indian spiritual and cultural teachings first significantly impacted the West more than a century ago, with the Wandervogel movement in Germany. Its members believed in vegetarianism and living in harmony with nature. Some of the movement’s leading lights eventually settled in Los Angeles, where they continued to promote vegetarianism, naturalism, and meditation, paving the way for the 1960s’ “Hippie” generation, which embraced ancient Indian, as well as other types of, spirituality.

Since then, ancient Indian teachings (such as Dharma, Karma, and reincarnation) and practices have become increasingly popular in the West. Sales and business courses, likewise, sometimes promote positive thinking, meditation, and other spiritual ideas and practices. At the same time, though given less attention than China, India is emerging as a global economic giant. And while many of its corporations may be currently emulating their Western counterparts, this is likely to change, especially as Western businesses, both large and small, look to India’s ancient philosophy to help them navigate the realities of the modern business world.

“Ancient Indian values,” says Nidumolu, “will provide a real and inspiring capitalistic alternative to free-market capitalism – the ideology of the West – and state-sponsored capitalism the Chinese model.”

“I call this kind of capitalism ‘being-centered capitalism’, where being capital becomes a vital kind of capital that can guide other forms of capital, such as the financial, material, human, social, natural, etc.”

“The concept of being capital is helpful for everyone, whether an individual, small business or a large corporation. Individuals and small businesses who emphasize being capital emphasize the importance of integrity, trust, long-term orientation, concern for nature and society, and similar qualities. Customers, employees, suppliers and partners instinctively value these qualities, especially in individuals and small companies.”

“I believe,” says Nidumolu, “that the next frontier for business advantage for individuals and small businesses is to cultivate being capital and have a reputation for it. Who doesn’t want to partner with an individual or small firm that is honest, truly cares about its relationship with you, and is trustworthy and transparent?”

P’arang agrees. “long term,” she says, “it will be the internal values of a company that keepw it solvent. Look at the unlikely companies that are making it – Zappos may be an example here. Who ever thought a company willing to pay for returns could survive, let alone thrive.”

About the author:

Angel Millar is an author, writer, and editor. His articles have been published by Eurasia Review, The Journal of Indo-European Studies, and The Calgary Herald, among others.

Ancient India Map

(CHAKRA) Like any other country, the culture of India too is derived from her ancient history, more appropriately called the history of ‘bhAratha’. This culture or tradition is the result of a quest for “cause” unlike the quest for “effect” in most other cultures. This is evident if we take any field of interest, from medicine to judiciary to astronomy to spirituality.

If we take Indian medicine, i.e., ayurveda, it cures the root cause and not the effect. Most of the current medicine techniques do the reverse. And obviously, it never ceases the original cause and thus never “cures” the possibility of future diseases. Moreover, it has its own side effects, adding salt to the injury.

Next let us see the judiciary and handling of crime/evil. If we take the judicial system of present India, we see a lot of crimes happening throughout the map. This can be called as an ‘effect’ here. And what is the ’cause’ for it? There are two factors.

1. The lack of dhArmic moral values.
2. Second, the abundant supply of self degrading commodities such as drugs, alcohol etc which destroy the self-control of a human being; thereby leading to uncontrolled emotions and finally, crime. The latter heavily depend on the former point.

The term ‘dharma’ has no equivalent in English. It may be vaguely translated as a combination of “righteousness + duties + values +……etc”. This rich tradition of dharma is the only reason why most of ancient India could keep crimes at bay.

Now don’t confuse this education as something that is externally induced to you. This sense of dharma is inherent in every being, but needs training to shine forth. This is how dhArmic education works. It never teaches anything new. It only helps you discover what you already have.

The ancient education system was built on this foundation. Today, we are following the Britishers’ remains that they left here. And in that sense, they have succeeded in establishing a society which feels ashamed of its own culture! We, as fools have replaced every tinge of our tradition with what they wanted. The whole of our history was re-written, which we still follow today.

Rather than going deep into that, let’s come to our point of discussion. If we need any improvement, it is this cause that has to be corrected.

This search for “cause” is evident in every level. The same technique was led into the concept of ultimate reality or supreme Brahman as well. When every other tradition/religion assumed an external ‘creator’ that created and maintains the universe, the vEdic India [bhAratha] demanded every being to search for this. Rather than blindly imposing the laws and teachings of a particular man/book, it guides and enables each individual to discover the truth by oneself. Whatever a religion teaches is an ‘effect’ of what its founder discovered. Or what he discovered is the ’cause’ of that religion. Rather that binding to the effect, vEdAnta takes you directly to the cause – the supreme Brahman. This is why it’s called vEdAnta – the ‘anta’ of ‘vEd’ – the end of what a man can know – the rest has to be experienced by oneself. This can be achieved easily by guidance of one who have already experienced, and hence the significance of a ‘guru’.

By Vishnu Prakash Nangath