Zen Perspiration, not Inspiration

02.01.08 | Category: Power Zen, Simplicity, Zen Search

Bamboo Startup Painting by Drue KataokaSimplicity is a key Zen tenet. However, a common misperception about Zen is that it comes naturally without training and that it is simplistic. Being simple is far from being simplistic.

Simplicity in Zen disciplines like Sumi-e comes through years of training, says Zen authority Daisetz Suzuki. Quoting Georges Duthuit, Suzuki says:

“Draw bamboos for ten years, become a bamboo, then forget all about bamboos when you are drawing. In possession of an infallible technique, the individual places himself at the mercy of inspiration.”

I think that the same holds for learning how to be a great technologist.

The media, enamored with child prodigies in the technology space, love to mythologize the creation and growth of great companies—everything comes as a result of one great idea. They rarely write about the unglamorous long hours of training and hard work behind the idea and its execution.

One of the pervasive media myths is that Brin and Page at Stanford developed the idea of PageRank, and this somehow magically created a great search engine. However, less well understood is that PageRank is only one element of a complex algorithm based on link analysis, matrix algebra, machine learning, semantic technologies, other information retrieval techniques, distributed computing architecture and probably many other elements that we are less aware of.

Same thing about the myth of how Newton discovered the law of gravity after being hit on the head by an apple, or how Einstein was bad in Math and just came to the realization E=MC2.

I think that myth-building is counter-productive. There are no shortcuts in coming up with great ideas: be it in Zen art forms or technology. These myths are a disservice to young people who are interested in pursuing these fields. They are unjust to the practitioners of these subjects who have dedicated a lifetime of learning to master them.

What do you think?

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8 Comments so far

  1. Elena Danielson 02.01.08 at 9:24 am

    Drue’s fluid bamboo painting and a meditation on the complexity of achieving simplicity: the perfect New Year’s gift.

  2. Tim Draper 02.01.08 at 6:02 pm

    This website is much needed in the Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs and leaders in particular should heed the word of Valley Zen. The site brings my chi, my kwan, and my yin/yang into harmony. It focuses the mind, body and spirit. I love it.

  3. Drue 02.01.08 at 7:13 pm

    From Tim Draper, the RISKMASTER himsef—–Someone who has made such major contributions to building the identity of Silicon Valley and so many of its great companies —

    This comment sets the tone of what we hope to achieve.

  4. Drue 02.01.08 at 7:24 pm

    Elena— I agree that this could be a visual meditation for Silicon Valley companies at the Lunar New Year.

    In my paintings, I reimagine the bamboo as iconically Silicon Valley —-Bamboo’s rapid asymmetrical growth, way of gracefully bending but not breaking under pressure, and sustainable earth friendly qualities make it VALLEY ZEN.

  5. Amanda 02.02.08 at 2:33 pm

    Drue, I couldn’t agree with you more that the media is myth building when it comes to start-ups. The few companies that have had the good fortune to become a household name are rare among the hundreds that have invested blood, sweat, and tears (not to mention sacrificed salaries) only to run out of funding and give up on a dream. The hours, the risk, the stress that go into being a founder is rarely discussed. Which is truly unfortunate, because that is as much a part of the Silicon Valley and the “miricle” of technology as anything else.

  6. Dick Gould 02.02.08 at 5:41 pm

    “Zen” I know nothing about. However, the ability to simplify and “cut to the chase” is just an enormous key aspect of effective teaching/coaching!Go for it . . .
    Dick Gould

  7. Drue 02.02.08 at 6:42 pm

    Coach Gould,
    You are Master of the Game
    Holding Court
    You built a tennis dynasty
    Your single word is transformed into
    the winning stroke–
    the Championship point

  8. Rich Randolph 02.17.08 at 12:00 am

    The term “mythologize” is aptly put. It also reflects the lethal misconception underlying too much of our Legislator’s educational shortsightedness. Current trends in both in funding and curriculum, replacing long term, strategic, integrative, aka honoring liberal arts, with short term, aka expedient solutions inevitably do deeper economic harm in the long term than is argued to justify any savings.

    Q.E.D. Silicon Valley’s well established leadership as an innovation incubator. I hope the perspiration inherent in California’a artistic and technological creativity will be emulated by the political decision makers, and articulated clearly, simply, “Zen-thusiastically” in the dialoges ensuing in our budget dilemma.

    The timeless proof positive of the synergy between human and economic capital is no better documented than in the recent release of “Silicon Valley 110 Year Renaissance”. The Bay Area’s resilience is due less to its meteorologic atmosphere than its creative climate: Perspiration generated from within will always eclipse the sweat from the thermometer.

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