Tarthang Tulku authored two books on developing values and productivity in work, Skillful Means, and Mastering Successful Work. Though he is a Buddhist master, both of these works are primarily secular in approach, not based on belief or injunction. They discuss values useful for fostering improvement of well-being and realization as well as productivity.
These works help in the ongoing development of a secular morality foreseen by the Dalai Lama, who said, “In the West, religions have lost their dominance. . . . I believe deeply that we must find . . . a new spirituality. . . . This new concept ought to be elaborated alongside the religions . . . . We need a new concept, a lay spirituality. . . . It could lead us to set up what we are all looking for, a secular morality. . . .” (p. 16, p. 104, Violence & Compassion)
The Time, Space, and Knowledge (TSK) vision seems to offer even more in developing and actualizing such a natural, shared morality. Expressed in six volumes authored by Tarthang Tulku from 1977 (Time, Space, and Knowledge) to 1997 (Sacred Dimensions of Time and Space), the vision provides a comprehensive forum for interdisciplinary studies, including a comparison of the values, assumptions, principles, and methods of business, education, psychology, and spiritual and religious disciplines.
Using the principles, and three levels of statements of the vision, it has been possible to derive a detailed description of the cross-cultural core ‘zone’ of peak performance and realization, including its secular values or attributes, as well as two other levels of experience, providing a broad spectrum from greed to goodness to Godness within which different values systems can be compared. These valued facets of enlightened experience are described with detail and precision that is far more granular and operationally useful than typical one-word value descriptions.
General guidelines have been derived to support decision-making in any situation: a counterproductive (or detrimental, vs. beneficial) act (whether ‘inward’ or ‘outward’, presuming that these can be distinguished) is (1) a ‘movement’ that darkens, clouds, or scatters rather than brightens/clarifies/focuses/coheres the energy in a moment-world-view, or (2) that divides or increases the separations within awareness or a focal setting or frame of mind rather than further illuminating awareness or dissolving boundaries within awareness.
In a business environment, [unlike most other values systems,] all this supports the possibility of truly continuous improvement of well-being and productivity for any mission, and during any work process, and even when switching between tasks.
Steve Randall
These works help in the ongoing development of a secular morality foreseen by the Dalai Lama, who said, “In the West, religions have lost their dominance. . . . I believe deeply that we must find . . . a new spirituality. . . . This new concept ought to be elaborated alongside the religions . . . . We need a new concept, a lay spirituality. . . . It could lead us to set up what we are all looking for, a secular morality. . . .” (p. 16, p. 104, Violence & Compassion)
The Time, Space, and Knowledge (TSK) vision seems to offer even more in developing and actualizing such a natural, shared morality. Expressed in six volumes authored by Tarthang Tulku from 1977 (Time, Space, and Knowledge) to 1997 (Sacred Dimensions of Time and Space), the vision provides a comprehensive forum for interdisciplinary studies, including a comparison of the values, assumptions, principles, and methods of business, education, psychology, and spiritual and religious disciplines.
Using the principles, and three levels of statements of the vision, it has been possible to derive a detailed description of the cross-cultural core ‘zone’ of peak performance and realization, including its secular values or attributes, as well as two other levels of experience, providing a broad spectrum from greed to goodness to Godness within which different values systems can be compared. These valued facets of enlightened experience are described with detail and precision that is far more granular and operationally useful than typical one-word value descriptions.
General guidelines have been derived to support decision-making in any situation: a counterproductive (or detrimental, vs. beneficial) act (whether ‘inward’ or ‘outward’, presuming that these can be distinguished) is (1) a ‘movement’ that darkens, clouds, or scatters rather than brightens/clarifies/focuses/coheres the energy in a moment-world-view, or (2) that divides or increases the separations within awareness or a focal setting or frame of mind rather than further illuminating awareness or dissolving boundaries within awareness.
In a business environment, [unlike most other values systems,] all this supports the possibility of truly continuous improvement of well-being and productivity for any mission, and during any work process, and even when switching between tasks.
Steve Randall
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