What is the sound of one parallel processor firing? For a growing number of high-profile tech executives, koans like that are becoming a deep part of their daily rituals - and their business models - through the practice of Zen Buddhism. From Larry Ellison's "samurai" service code to EFF founder Mitch Kapor's current Zen retreat, Buddhism has taken hold as executives, moving away from the strictures of Christianity, are working to master the holy handshake between the yin and the yang.
"There is a tremendous overlap with [technology companies] and Asian thought," says Erik Davis, author of the forthcoming book, Techgnosis, on religion and the Net. "In dealing with capitalistic flow and fragmentation ... Asian strains in language permeate the marketplace."
The meditative practices of Zen have attracted a large following in Silicon Valley, including Silicon Graphics CEO Ed McCraken and former Vivid CFO Peter Christy. Though the technology executives have had a tepid relationship with Christianity (even Bill Gates has said he has better things to do on his Sundays than go to church) Zen offers a spiritual response that seems to echo the flux of their industry itself: Embrace the impermanence.
Anyone familiar with the all-nighter environment of new-media companies will understand the primary activity of Zen: sitting. Working hours "in the zone" before computer screens echoes the "just sitting" method that is the bedrock of Zen, says Vivid systems architect and Zen student Zachary Smith. "If you can work 60 to 80 hours a week sitting all day, you can sit at a Zen retreat."
The traditional resistance to authority in Zen is also well-tailored to technology business (a famous Zen saying is "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him"). By comparison, the hierarchy of Christianity can seem hopelessly constraining, says Smith.
"In the multimedia world ... people by and large feel that Christianity - particularly the Augustinian version - doesn't cut it," Smith says. "Christianity encourages abjection and says you can't do it yourself - that you have to sit around and wait to be saved. That doesn't sit very well with hackers."
The constraint of Judeo-Christian rituals runs counter to the key elements for success in the high-tech industry - individual expression and experimentation, adds Smith. "Augustinian Christianity was a tool ... to bring people in line," says Smith. "But ... the last thing the Buddha said is, "Don't take anybody's word for it - don't put anyone else's head on your own.'"
Fundamentally, the creation of virtual worlds and artificial intelligence creates a guilt of playing "God games" in Christians, says author Jennifer Cobb. Zen practitioners "are not burdened down by Frankenstein myths that Judeo-Christians face," says Cobb, whose book Emergence: Cyberspace and the Sacred is due this fall. "We do it for a while and we make golems, monsters. But in Zen Shinto nature worship ... they don't have guilt."
Zen Buddhism, says Smith, helps those in the technology industry get grounded in the flow. "If you have a healthy attitude toward impermanence," he says, "it helps you with your company going out of business."
Just the same, Zen has also been distorted for profit. On a recent Charlie Rose show, Ellison explained that his "samurai" code of duty called for him to simply shove out more NCs. In addition, executives can dross the exorbitantly long work hours as simple meditative practice. Zen, says Davis, has provided an easy spiritual complement to libertarian business practices, operating as a "religious apology for cutthroat capitalism."
From the Wired News New York Bureau at FEED magazine.
