Wisdom in the Marketplace

MonkInTheCity spoke to Zen Master Genpo Roshi about money. The Monk: It’s bonus time in the City, and I’m a Zen monk. No one wants to believe they are greedy. But to be honest, I’ve thought about it a lot. It pays the bills, the mortgage, and allows me to give some to family, friends and a little charity. There’s a lot of fear in the financial markets right now with people losing their jobs all over the place. They are losing their savings, their retirement, and their assets. Part of the instinct in a time of economic trouble like now is to adopt the attitude of 'every man for himself'. Genpo Roshi: That’s all coming out of fear. When people can get beyond fear they can start thinking with wisdom again. You can’t see the bigger picture when you are stuck in fear. I think the shift has already begun - more of us on the planet are already discovering our interconnectedness, that we are one world, and that some can’t prosper while others do not. Some people get a little stuck in the marketplace mind, and some get stuck in the spiritual mind, in being enlightened conscious beings. I think we can get stuck in either of these seemingly opposite aspects of our nature, and there’s something to be gained from both sides by looking at them as two sides of the base of the triangle, as if from the apex of the triangle. When you are stuck in the marketplace mind and wrapped up in being competitive, ruthless, not acting with integrity, you probably won’t be a very happy well-adjusted person. Opening up to the spiritual, to what I refer to as Big Mind, Big Heart, empowers people be to feel more content and satisfied in every aspect of their lives. In Zen we have the Ten Oxherding Pictures, which illustrate the stages of the spiritual path. The tenth picture is 'returning to the marketplace', or 'in the world'. Often those of us in Zen (i.e., spiritual people) don’t really get what that means. It doesn’t just mean you work in the world. Everybody lives and works in the world. In my understanding, the tenth picture is really about owning the marketplace mind completely. Instead of disowning it and having all these negative ideas about 'the world' and being in the marketplace, one actually becomes the master and owns this state of mind. When we disown either the spiritual or the marketplace mind, we are operating from a more limited capacity, not living up to our potential as fully actualized human beings. When the spiritual and the marketplace mind are no longer disowned, we see them as two corners of the triangle, rather than as opposites, embracing them both from the apex. Then we enter the marketplace with what we may call 'gift-bestowing hands'. We are 'full' and complete, coming from abundance and not scarcity, with generosity and passion, and without needless fear. We function in the world with wisdom and compassion. We recognize that our own happiness and prosperity are incomplete without the happiness and prosperity of others. Zen Master Genpo Roshi founded the Kanzeon Sangha, an international Zen community in 1984, with groups and centers throughout Europe and the U.S., and is abbot of Big Mind Western Zen Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, which he founded in 1993. He discovered the Big Mind process in 1999. His newest book is Big Mind Big Heart: Finding Your Way. For more info. visit: www.bigmind.org