"Power Zen" Posts on ValleyZen

Dr. Peter Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, which awarded a $10 million prize for private spaceflight. Today when I met him and heard him speak about the importance of incentivizing risk (see video clip below), I thought of a Zen maxim from Hagakure, Book of the Samurai…

Check out this video conversation with ValleyZen co-bloggers Drue Kataoka and Bill Fenwick. The video takes place outside and inside the Fenwick & West headquarters. In the video Bill and Drue talk about why ZEN and the Valley go together so well. Highlights include:

• Bill on achieving Zen Calm
• Litigation, Zen & Peace
• Zen and the Valley
• About Bill’s old blog
• Bill’s goals for ValleyZen
• The Power of Zen Silence

The ValleyZen video is here or embedded below.
Checkout this ValleyZen Flickr photoset…

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For Barack Obama’s campaign, the Zen surprise came out of the negative space. In the art of Sumi-e, the negative space (the white space between the brush strokes) is as important as the brush strokes themselves. This is what holds the painting together and makes it take shape and meaning. For the Obama campaign, the ebony-inked brush strokes are Obama himself. The negative space is the countless campaign contributors, supporters and activists who have found meaning and identity in his campaign. They are the ones that have created the surprise…

Episode 4 of Tim Draper VC Samurai is being released today! From machine guns to music, this episode has it all. Tim Draper and Drue get a nerf machine gun demo from DFJ’s Warren Packard. A shootout in the DFJ offices ensues – Duck! Then, Drue performs a shakuhachi improvisation for Tim in his office. And the grand finale –Tim surprises Drue with a Samurai Flip…

There have been discussions about Samurai in the blogosphere recently.

Guy Kawasaki, creator of killer site Alltop & blogger and Ego Jeremiah Owyang have become quite “animated” on the subject.
Here’s the response of the 400 year-old Kataoka Samurai Sword…

Today we are releasing the much-anticipated Episode 3 of Tim Draper VC Samurai. Tim Draper gives us a tour of the Men’s Room at DFJ with his famous sheep painting, a DFJ masterpiece. Follow these links if you’ve missed the trailer and Episode 1 or Episode 2…

Today we are releasing Episode 2 of Tim Draper VC Samurai. Last Monday we posted Episode 1 and a short trailer of this action-packed interview with Tim. In Episode 2, delve deeper into the Zen world of Tim Draper:

Tim’s Samurai Lessons for Entrepreneurs:

• Freedom from life and death
• Approaching life with wild abandon
• Samurai loyalty
• Discipline and asceticism
• Tim’s tips on how to simplify…

Tim Draper, Founder of DFJ, gives us an AMAZING interview. In over 50 minutes of high-energy footage, Tim catapults Drue in the air (literally!), shows his art in DFJ’s Men’s bathroom, and reveals his Zen insights on entrepreneurship, business and life.

For the next 5 weeks, every Monday we will release one of the episodes, about 10 minutes each, of Tim’s irreverent wisdom.

Here is a short trailer, to whet your appetite:

Here is the first episode.

The old football saying goes “Offense wins games. Defense wins championships.” Great dynasties—like the Steelers, the 49ers and the Cowboys, won big games with outstanding defensive plays. I can’t wait to see what will happen today — the Patriots’ offense colliding with the Giants’ defense. Similarly, Aikido—arguably the most Zen among the martial arts, fights through defense, not offense. An interesting aspect of this Zen defense is that aikidokas, without losing their internal balance, redirect the energy of the attacking opponent to their advantage. In the words of Morihei Ueshiba, Founder of Aikido…

Simplicity 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…