Carolyn Chen: “Buddhism has found a new institutional home in the West: the corporation.” – Guernica

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Silicon Valley is the latest player in a history of Western appropriation of Buddhism.

Photo by CroDigTap on Flickr . Once associated in the United States with the alternative spirituality of hippies and beat poets, Buddhism is now ubiquitous in Silicon Valley. In 2016, tech giant Salesforce set up “Mindfulness Zones” at its annual Dreamforce Conference, with pavilions where Buddhist monks from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village monastery taught meditation and mindfulness techniques. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner calls his leadership style “compassionate management,” which he describes as “putting yourself in another person’s shoes and seeing the world through their lens or perspective,”

Carolyn Chen: “Buddhism has found a new institutional home in the West: the corporation.” – Guernica

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