meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Way Out Is In

Showing Up at Work (Episode #68)

The Way Out Is In

Plum Village

Education, Religion & Spirituality, Buddhism, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

0.00 Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2024

⏱️ 87 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to episode 68 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. In this episode, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach/journalist Jo Confino discuss Right Livelihood in Buddhism. After starting with what this means, they dive more deeply into practical steps and examples. How can we find joy, feel deeply connected, and also make a positive impact on the world through our daily work? The conversation also touches upon ‘bringing our cosmic body to work’; the insight of responsibility; the difference between doing what we love and doing what we’re good at; ego and compassion in the workplace; planning for the future while being in the present; and much more.  The episode ends with a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu. Enjoy and thank you for listening! Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/  With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ List of resources  Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing  Dharma Talks: ‘Right Livelihood and True Love’ https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/right-livelihood-and-true-love  Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path’https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path  Koanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koan  Dharma Talks: ‘Our Cosmic Body’https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/our-cosmic-body  Buddha Mind, Buddha Bodyhttps://www.parallax.org/product/buddha-mind-buddha-body/  Sister True Dedicationhttps://www.instagram.com/sistertruededication/  The Art of Livinghttps://plumvillage.org/books/the-art-of-living Quotes “Each and every one of us has a spiritual dimension inside that we can generate wherever we go, and that is a contribution to what we want to build.”  “By being we do more effectively.” “Don’t just do something, sit there.” “Time is being, time is to be alive.” “When you have anger, it can be a bell of mindfulness that tells us when we see injustice, when we see suffering. And we can be with that anger. And that anger can become a voice for us, to have empathy, to have compassion. Because compassion can come from anger sometimes. It can come from what we’re seeing, because it tells us that this is wrong. But if we allow anger to always be there and not transform, and we don’t channel it into another energy, then we will become one with exactly that outer energy that made us angry in the first place.” “Sometimes silence is the loudest noise.” “Why not be soft? Why not be kinder? That softness and that kindness are very loud in a moment of big aggression. The kindness, the softness becomes a louder action because it shows our humanity; it shows the heart of love.” “Thay emphasized that all of us have a Buddha body. We have [the potential for] awakening inside of us – we just have to cultivate it. And there are moments that we’re not a Buddha. That’s okay. But remember that we have Buddha nature inside of us.”  “Thay had a calligraphy that really informs us about deep interbeing: ‘The piece of bread in your hands is the body of the whole cosmos.’ And that is for us to have a deep understanding that this piece of bread didn’t just come from nowhere, nothing. It’s the whole lifetime of the existence of time and space. And it’s a miracle to have this piece of bread. So be grateful. Hold it with gratitude. Hold it with reverence. Eat it with gratitude. Eat it with reverence.”

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Dear friends, welcome to this latest episode of the podcast series The Way Out is In. I am Joe Cofino working at the intersection of personal transformation and systems evolution.

0:28.0

And I am Brother Fabu, a Zen Buddhist monk student of Zen Master T hand in the plum village tradition.

0:34.0

And brother today we're going to talk about something in Buddhism called Right Livelyhood.

0:41.0

And we're going to look at really how can we in our work but also in the rest of our life find joy and feel deeply connected and also make a positive impact in the world.

0:57.0

The way out is in the skin. Hello everyone. I'm Joe Confino and I'm Brother Fab Who?

1:21.0

So Brother we are doing this at a distance you are in Harvard I'm in Plum Village.

1:28.9

How is your American trip going? The American trip is flowing well. I first arrived at New York City for an event and coming into the concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

1:47.0

I arrive also into a field of energy where it's very, very busy, it is very, very, it can be very stressful

1:59.7

and there was a lot of energies and one of something I picked up and I'm sharing this not to like

2:08.0

Criticize or or or point fingers but because everybody is in a mindset of like doing doing and

2:19.0

so the present mind of the present moment and in the present body is definitely not there

2:27.8

because it just feels like everybody's moving towards the future and in in that spirit, there's a particular attitude

2:36.3

where's like chin up and just look forward,

2:40.1

I don't see you, you're not important and and it was it's a very different culture then in Plum Village where you know we learned to

2:51.1

or not just in Plum Village but but anybody in the Dama, or in a spiritual dimension that we embody,

2:59.2

we learn to have presence, we learn to recognize one another just by the way we look.

3:05.0

And I was catching myself absorbing this particular energy of not seeing each other in the streets of New York or seeing at a cafe.

3:20.0

And a part of me was like, okay, if that is the attitude, I'm gonna do that too.

3:27.9

I won't care about anybody.

3:30.4

And then I caught myself in like, okay, this is why we practice. We have to go against the stream. We have to go against the culture that has become a norm, which is like, do, do, do do I need my coffee I'm out no particular it's not

3:49.0

is the autopilot of saying thank you is there but it's more than that is like recognizing the

3:55.7

kindness of the friends who makes the coffee you know and when I'm giving the

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Plum Village, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Plum Village and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.