What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
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What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
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Re: What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
#2"There's nothing holy about mindfulness"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri2hA1TqDT4
Re: What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
#3Not much of one. I read the bio too, and got a different picture - Jobs used Buddhism because he had such problems. We'll probably never know what problems specifically, just like we'll never know what his eating issues were (Isaacson says Jobs was urged to see a therapist about it, but refused) - narcissism as one woman speculated? Bi-polar?
To me, the most insightful anecdote was:
> 'Our consumer desires are unhealthy, he told her, and to attain enlightenment you need to develop a life of nonattachment and non-materialism. He even sent her a tape of Kobun Chino, his Zen teacher, lecturing about the problems caused by craving and obtaining things. Egan pushed back. Wasn’t he defying that philosophy, she asked, by making computers and other products that people coveted? “He was irritated by the dichotomy, and we had exuberant debates about it,” Egan recalled.'
Yes, I guess that's one way to describe it...
Re: What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
#4Not much of one. I read the bio too, and got a different picture - Jobs used Buddhism because he had such problems. We'll probably never know what problems specifically, just like we'll never know what his eating issues were (Isaacson says Jobs was urged to see a therapist about it, but refused) - narcissism as one woman speculated? Bi-polar? To me, the most insightful anecdote was: > 'Our consumer desires are unheal…
In retrospect, that biography is quite lacking on a lot of points. It seems like Isaacson was not able to get through to jobs in any other way than Jobs allowed. Maybe this is due to him rushing the book to be released 2 weeks after his death, there is almost no analysis of Jobs.
I also wonder how Jobs, as buddhist as he was, would rationalize his anger. In the book he repeatedly says "that's how I am", which is pretty much what buddhism tries to undo. He definitely was an irrational man.
Re: What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
#5It is none of your business, leave him alone. I think he would be sick of that idolatry.
Re: What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
#6An imperfect one, like the rest of us.
Edit: since I'm getting downvoted into oblivion, let me elaborate: no Buddhist is perfect, if they were perfect, they probably wouldn't see a need to study Buddha's teachings.
It's not like Jobs was out criticizing how people lived their lives in "sin".
Re: What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
#7It is none of your business, leave him alone. I think he would be sick of that idolatry.
Would he? His private life was indeed very private while he was alive. But, the guy sat down for hours of interviews with Isaacson so that a book could be produced about him. If he didn't to be the centre of any kind of attention, he choose strange ways of showing it.
Re: What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
#8It is none of your business, leave him alone. I think he would be sick of that idolatry.
That would seem to contradict Steve Jobs' ad his wife's desire to publish an un-candy-coated (as quoted in the book) biography of the man's life, both his successes and his serious failures.
The man clearly wanted people to know and ponder all of these things.
Re: What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
#9More food for SJ worshippers.
Re: What kind of buddhist was Steve Jobs, really?
#10An imperfect one, like the rest of us. Edit: since I'm getting downvoted into oblivion, let me elaborate: no Buddhist is perfect, if they were perfect, they probably wouldn't see a need to study Buddha's teachings. It's not like Jobs was out criticizing how people lived their lives in "sin".
Steve was perfect as he was, he just needed some improvents.