Work As a Spiritual Practice :

A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job
by Lewis Richmond

Hardcover - 288 pages (February 2, 1999)
Broadway Books; ISBN: 0767902327

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Synopsis
Lewis Richmond spent fifteen years as a Buddhist priest and meditation teacher, and another fifteen as a corporate executive and software entrepreneur. WORK AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE is a creative and innovative synthesis of these two worlds. It proposes that the workplace can be a place of spiritual opportunity and inner growth, and describes over forty specific practices and techniques, from exercises in breathing and awareness to visualization, non-judgmental listening, generosity, and gratitude, to foster that growth. Dividing workplace experience into four broad categories-Conflict, Stagnation, Inspiration, and Accomplishment-WORK AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE addresses issues of money, power, ambition, and greed, illustrated with numerous real-life stories from people in all walks of life. No matter what your rank and station on the job, Richmond says, you can be in charge of your own state of mind, because you are always "the boss and chief executive of your inner life."

Reviews:

A reader from Tallahassee, FL , July 21, 1999
USEFUL EVERY DAY!
You will find something that applies to whatever kind of work day you are having. I read it as I struggled with a decision to quit or not quit; to compromise my personal beliefs or keep my job. I already knew the answers, but this book was comfortingly reassuring and supportive of the path I knew was correct for me. Now when I go back to reread, and reread sections, I always find something that helps me survive whatever work situation with which I'm dealing.

A reader from Ashland, Oregon , June 2, 1999
All employees and managers should read this book!
This is an excellent book. It was very easy to read, and provided lots of practical advice on all sorts of work problems ranging from stress to stagnation. It accepts the premise that emotions (such as anger) do happen at work, and provides advice on how to diffuse the negative aspects of emotions and harness the positive energy. This book was very helpful to me and probably would be helpful for many people.

A reader from Dayton, Ohio , March 13, 1999
A uniquely excellent treatment of this subject
I read a lot of buddhist and other religious/spiritual/contemplative sorts of books, and I've always been interested in reading about and exploring ways of incorporating spirituality and religious belief into the "secular" world of work. I've read several good books that relate to this (Charlotte Joko Beck's are particularly good), but there's also a lot of fluff and hooey out there on this topic as well. Richmond's book is right up there with Beck's, and really as far as relating to the actual work place it is probably even more directly on target.

The two things I liked the best about the book are these: (1) The buddhist thought has real rigor behind it. Richmond was a Zen priest who, to be brief, knows what he's talking about. (2) The overall tone of the discussion of how spirtuality relates to work is direct and practical (many different sorts of interesting practices and exercises are suggested)but also open-ended enough that I found plenty of "room" for my own experiences and interpretations to come through.

Richmond writes from the perspective of his experience as the head of a start-up software firm in California - a situation designed to challenge (or perhaps to develop) a spiritual, moral sense if there ever was one.

Our work environments need this kind of message in a big way. And individuals, whether they are in very good or very bad (or everything in between) current work situations will find something of value in this book. This is not new age hang-a-crystal-over-your-desk BS - it is an intelligent application of millenia-old religious and philosophical thought to one of the biggest problems we each face in our daily lives.

This ought to be required reading! :)

About the Author
Lewis Richmond is a Buddhist teacher, workshop leader, software entrepreneur, and musician/composer. Formerly Executive Vice President of Smith & Hawken, Ltd., he is the founder and owner of Forerunner Systems, Inc., the leading provider of inventory management software to the catalog industry. Lake of No Shore, his debut solo piano album, was released by Artifex Records in February 1999. An ordained disciple of Buddhist master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Mr. Richmond co-leads Dharma Friends, a meditation group in Mill Valley, California, where he lives.