Two weeks ago, I came out of ten days in silence. No phone, no speaking, no writing — just meditation from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m.
It was a Vipassana retreat, a practice in the tradition of the Buddha. Vipassana means “seeing things as they really are.” The technique is simple: sit still, observe your body and mind, and don’t react.
If your leg hurts, you don’t move. If your ear itches, you don’t scratch. You just notice.
Over time you realize something profound: most of our automatic reactions don’t solve problems — they create new ones. The itch comes back, the pain just shifts elsewhere. Peace doesn’t come from fixing every discomfort. Peace comes from observing clearly, without craving or aversion.
And that got me thinking: what if businesses, too, could meditate?
The three poisons of business
Buddhism teaches that our misery comes from three sources: craving, aversion, and ignorance.
Craving is wanting more. In business, that might mean chasing market share or quarterly growth at any cost, even through unethical shortcuts.
Aversion is pushing away what we dislike. A company might obsess over a stronger competitor, or over one bad metric, ignoring the bigger picture.
Ignorance is not seeing clearly. In business this could mean collecting no data, siloing it, or deliberately looking away when things go wrong.
Individually, these poisons create stress. At the organizational level, they create fragility and decline.
The three foundations of health
The antidote in Buddhist practice comes through three pillars: sīla, samādhi, paññā — ethics, concentration, and wisdom.
Ethics (sīla): Not window-dressing but foundation. E.F. Schumacher, in Small Is Beautiful, called this “Buddhist economics.” The goal of work, he argued, isn’t consumption or domination but right livelihood — work that does not harm and creates meaning. Today we’d call it sustainability.
Concentration (samādhi): The business equivalent of focus. Instead of chasing every shiny trend, concentrated organizations stay clear on their purpose. Otto Scharmer, who developed Theory U, calls this “presencing” — the ability to pause, listen, and act from clarity.
Wisdom (paññā): Seeing causality clearly. Vipassana trains meditators to see how sensations spark reactions. Businesses can do the same with data: not reacting to noise, but uncovering what truly drives long-term performance. This is at the heart of my work at Wangari.
From battlefield to ecosystem
In Vipassana, you also see how ego is a trap. The mind constantly wants to prove “I am better.” Businesses fall into the same trap: treating markets as battlefields where rivals must be crushed.
But what if companies saw themselves less as gladiators and more as organisms in an ecosystem?
Buddhist economist Clair Brown argues that the purpose of business is not competition but harmony. Just as meditators sit silently side by side, each deepening their practice, businesses can grow by coexisting, learning, and creating conditions where everyone benefits.
Competition doesn’t vanish — but it changes character. It becomes healthy, like runners spurring each other on, rather than sabotage.
Right livelihood in practice
This isn’t just theory. The Triratna Buddhist community in the UK created “right livelihood businesses” in the 1980s and 90s. They weren’t designed to maximize profit but to create workplaces where employees practiced generosity, honesty, and cooperation while producing real goods and services.
They weren’t perfect — but they proved something important: commerce can embody ethical and spiritual principles.
My own reflection
Coming back from silence, the world feels louder than ever. Markets, competition, uncertainty. But I also see them differently.
Just as an individual meditator learns equanimity — not running after every pleasure, not fighting every pain — businesses, too, can cultivate equanimity.
A happy business is not one that never suffers a bad quarter. It’s one that sees clearly, acts ethically, and responds with wisdom.
That’s my commitment now, both as Ari and as cofounder of Wangari. To choose wholesome actions over knee-jerk reactions. To cultivate harmony, not rivalry. To keep joy alive in the work.
Because whether in meditation or in business, joy is the only fuel that sustains.
Thank you for reading & listening!
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