Name:vvk •
Title: The Science views on Buddhism.(exchange only not convertion) •
Date posted: 07/04/11 3:07
Q: [The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.] Albert Einstein
(If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism. Buddhism requires no revision to keep it up to date with recent scientific finding. Buddhism need no surrender its view to science, becauseit embrances science as well as goes beyond science). Albert Einstein
For a parallel to the lesson of atomic theory...[we must turn] to those kinds of epistemological problems with which already thinkers like the Buddha and Lao Tzu have been confronted, when trying to harmonize our position as spectators and actors in the great drama of existence (Niels Bohr, who developed the Bohr Model of the atom)
[Buddhism begins where science ends
"Science can give no assurance herein. But Buddhism can meet the Atomic Challenge, because the supramundane knowledge of Buddhism begins where science leaves off. And this is clear enough to anyone who has made a study of Buddhism. For, through Buddhist Meditation, the atomic constituents making up matter have been seen and felt, and the sorrow, or unsatisfactoriness (or Dukkha), of their 'arising and passing away' has made itself with what we call a 'soul' or 'atma' - the illusion of Sakkayaditthi, as it is called in the Buddha's teaching." ] Egerton C. Baptist (1915-1983),(Supreme Science of the Buddha)
[If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the same, we must say 'no'; if we ask whether the electron's position changes with time, we must say 'no'; if we ask whether the electron is at rest, we must say 'no'; if we ask whether it is in motion, we must say 'no'. The Buddha has given such answers when interrogated as to the conditions of a man's self after his death; but they are not familiar answers for the tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth century science.]
J Robert Oppenheimer ( 1904-1967)The American physicist
(I have often said, and I shall say again and again, that between Buđhism and modern Science there exists a close intellectual bond.) Sir Edwin Arnold
(..Buddhism is a combination of both speculative and scientific philosophy. It advocates the Scientific method and pursues that to a finality that may be called rationalistic...It takes up where science cannnot lead because of the limitations of the latter's physical instruments.) Nobel-prize winning BERTRAND RUSSELL (Famous philosopher and mathematician):
(If Buddhism appealed to the modern mind it was because it was scientific, empirical and not based on any dogma.) Radhakrishnan Ph. D.
(To read a little Buddhism is to realize that the Buddhists knew, 2,500 years ago, far more about modern problems of psychology than they have been given credit for. They studied these problems long ago and found the answers also. We are now rediscovering the ancient wisdom of the East.) GRAHAM HOWE, Ph. D. (Famous British psychiatrist)
" Over great areas of the world, Buddhism still survives. It is possible that in contact with western science, and inspired by the spirit of history, the original teaching of Gotama, revived and purified, may yet play a large part in the direction of human destiny." H.G.WELLS (Famous scientist and historian)
" As a student of comparative religions, I believe that Buddhism is the most perfect one that the world has ever seen. The philosophy of the Buddha, the theory of Evolution and the law of Karma were far superior to any other creed." KARL GUSTAV JUNG (The world's leading psychologist from Zurich)
" Buddhism is a system which knows no God in the Western sense, which denies a soul to man and counts the belief in immortality a blunder, which refuses any efficacy to prayer and sacrifice, which bids men to look to nothing but their own effort for salvation, which in its original purity knew nothing of the vows of obedience and never sought the aid of secular arm, yet spread over a considerable portion of the world with marvelous rapidity and is still the dominant creed of a large fraction of mankind." THOMAS HUXLEY (Famous British scientist)
(The best recommendation for Buddhism is that, like Confucianism, this belief system has existed for twenty-five centuries without a single Crusade, Inquisition, or imperialist attempt to invade and destroy the culture of another people.) Joseph L. Daleiden (The Final Superstition)paig 424.
Paul Carus, "The Gospel of Buddha"
...etc
The famous scientists, such as Albert Einstein, have recognized the contribution of Buddha ‘s teaching to the knowledge of human life. In addition to the Dependent Origination (law of conditionality) and Karma teachings, Buddha taught Abhidhamma (Buddhist Psychology held in the highest esteem in Theravada tradition) and Vijnanavada teachings (used more in Mahayana tradition). These teachings have explained many psychological areas that Science has not touched, such as the classification of Consciousness (or Mind, Citta in Pali), the relationship between Mind and Body, the Five Aggregates (corporeality or matter, feeling, perception, volitional activities and consciousness). The Buddhists understand that the Dhamma investigation is necessary but it alone cannot purify their mind from defilement, will not bring wisdom. Buddhism is scientific and empirical because we can prove the theory we learnt by our experience in practicing. The Buddhist faith is not the same as faith in other religions, it is based and built by the experience gained in the practice. The Four Noble Truths point out the causes of suffering and show that we must follow the Eightfold Path, practice Morality (Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood), Meditation (Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration) and Wisdom (Right Understanding , Right Thought) to deliver ourselves from Suffering.
Name:vvk •
Date: 07/11/11 5:56
A: Karma
According to Buddhism, our lives and all that occurs in our lives is a result of Karma. Every action creates a new karma, this karma or action is created with our body, our speech or our mind and this action leaves a subtle imprint on our mind which has the potential to ripen as future happiness or future suffering, depending on whether the action was positive or negative.
If we bring happiness to people, we will be happy. If we create suffering, we will experience suffering either in this life or in a future one.
This is called the Law of Karma, or the Law of Cause and Effect. Karmic law will lead the spirit of the dead to be reborn, in realms which are suitable appropriate to their karmic accumulations.
According to His Holiness, the 14 th Dali Lama of Tibet, that to cultivate the good karma, our good actions are an excellent way prepare for our death. Not performing evil deeds, keeping our heart and mind pure, doing no harm, no killing, sexual misconduct or lying, not using drugs or alcohol has very positive merit which enable us to die as we have lived.
The way we pass reflects the way we lived our lives, a good death putting a good stamp on a good life. As Leonardo Da Vinci once wrote in his notebook; “Just as a well spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings a happy death”. If we have lived a life of emotional turmoil, of conflict selfish desire unconcerned for others, our dying will be full of regrets, troubles and pain. It is far better to care for the lives for all around us rather than spending a fortune in prolonging life or seeking ways to extend it for those who can afford it, at the expense of relieving suffering in more practical ways. Improving the moral and spiritual quality of life improves its quality for us all rather than the selfish individualism that benefits the elite few who draw most resources.
The Lord Buddha once told his disciples to recite a gatha when drinking a bowl of water, because there are 84,000 living micro-organisms in it. That gatha has the power to make those living things have a better existence in the next life. Any disciple who forgets to recite that gatha when drinking water would have violated the first precept, refraining from taking life just as if they had eaten the flesh of living things. The World Honoured One likes us to respect these micro-organisms, just as we do to other living things like trees, animals or human beings!
Name:vvk •
Date: 07/17/11 7:08
A: The Buddha told Ananda, "Listen well, and I will explain it for you in detail. The fetus grows in its mother's womb for ten lunar months. What bitterness she goes through while it dwells there! In the first month of pregnancy, the life of the fetus is as precarious as a dewdrop on grass: how likely that it will not last from morning to evening but will evaporate by mid-day!
"During the second lunar month, the embryo congeals like curds. In the third month it is like coagulated blood. During the fourth month of pregnancy the fetus begins to assume a slightly human form. During the fifth month in the womb, the child's five limbs-two legs, two arms, and a head--start to take shape. In the sixth lunar month of pregnancy, the child begins to develop the essences of the six sense faculties: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. During the seventh month, the three hundred sixty bones and joints are formed, and the eighty-four thousand hair pores are also complete. In the eight lunar month of the pregnancy the intellect and the nine apertures are formed. By the ninth month the fetus has learned to assimilate the different nutrients of the foods it eats. For example, it can assimilate the essence of peaches, pears, certain plant roots and the five kinds of grains.
"Inside the mother's body, the solid internal organs, used for storing, hang downward, while the hollow internal organs, used for processing, spiral upward. These can be likened to three mountains which arise from the face of the earth. We can call these mountains Mount Sumeru, Karma Mountain, and Blood Mountain. These analogous mountains come together and form a single range in a pattern of upward peaks and downward valleys. So, too, the coagulation of the mother's blood from her internal organs forms a single substance, which becomes the child's food.
During the tenth month of pregnancy, the body of the fetus is completed and ready to be born. If the child is extremely filial, it will emerge with palms joined together in respect and the birth will be peaceful and auspicious. The mother will remain uninjured by the birth and will not suffer pain. However, if the child is extremely rebellious in nature, to the extent that it is capable of commiting the five rebellious acts, then it will injure its mother's womb, rip apart its mother's heart and liver, or get entangled in its mother's bones. The birth will feel like the slices of a thousand knives or like ten thousand sharp swords stabbing her heart. Those are the agonies involved in the birth of a defiant and rebellious child.
To explain more clearly, there are ten types of kindness bestowed by the mother on the child:
The first is the kindness of providing protection and care while the child is in the womb.
The second is the kindness of bearing suffering during the birth.
The third is the kindness of forgetting all the pain once the child has been born.
The fourth is the kindness of eating the bitter herself and saving the sweet for the child.
The fifth is the kindness of moving the child to a dry place and lying in the wet herself.
The sixth is the kindness of suckling the child at her breast and nourishing and bringing up the child.
The seventh is the kindness of washing away the unclean.
The eighth is the kindness of always thinking of the child when it has travelled far.
The ninth is the kindness of deep care and devotion.
The tenth is the kindness of ultimate pity and sympathy.
1. THE KINDNESS OF PROVIDING PROTECTION AND CARE WHILE THE CHILD IS IN THE WOMB
The causes and conditions from accumulated kalpas grows heavy,
Until in this life the child ends up in its mother's womb.
As the months pass, the five vital organs develop;
Within seven weeks the six sense organs start to grow.
The mother's body becomes as heavy as a mountain;
The stillness and movements of the fetus are like a kalpic wind disaster.
The mother's fine clothes no longer hang properly,
And so her mirror gathers dust.
2. THE KINDNESS OF BEARING SUFFERING DURING BIRTH
The pregnancy lasts for ten lunar months
And culminates in difficult labor at the approach of the birth.
Meanwhile, each morning the mother is seriously ill
And during every day is drowsy and sluggish.
Her fear and agitation are difficult to describe;
Grieving and tears fill her breast.
She painfully tells her family That she is only afraid that death will overtake her.
3. THE KINDNESS OF FORGETTING ALL THE PAIN ONCE THE CHILD HAS BEEN BORN
On the day the compassionate mothers bears the child,
Her five organs all open wide,
Leaving her totally exhausted in body and mind.
The blood flows as from a slaughtered lamb;
Yet, upon hearing that the child is healthy,
She is overcome with redoubling joy,
But after the joy, the grief returns,
And the agony wrenches her very insides,
4. THE KINDNESS OF EATING THE BITTER HERSELF AND SAVING THE SWEET FOR THE CHILD
The kindness of both parents is profound and deep,
Their care and devotion never cease.
Never resting, the mother saves the sweet for the child,
And without complaint she swallows the bitter herself.
Her love is weighty and her emotion difficult to bear;
Her kindness is deep and so is her compassion.
Only wanting the child to get its fill,
The compassionate mother doesn't speak of her own hunger.
5. THE KINDNESS OF MOVING THE CHILD TO A DRY PLACE AND LYING IN THE WET HERSELF
The mother is willing to be wet
So that the child can be dry.
With her two breasts she satisfies its hunger and thirst;
Covering it with her sleeve, she protects it from the wind and cold.
In kindness, her head rarely rests on the pillow,
And yet she does this happily,
So long as the child is comfortable,
The kind mother seeks no solace for herself.
6. THE KINDNESS OF SUCKLING THE CHILD AT HER BREAST AND NOURISHING AND BRINGING UP THE CHILD
The kind mother is like the great earth.
The stern father is like the encompassing heaven
One covers from above' the other supports from below.
The kindness of parents is such that tThey know no hatred or anger toward their offspring,
And are not displeased, even if the child is born crippled.
After the mother carries the child in her womb and gives birth to it,
The parents care for and protect it together until the end of their days.
7. KINDNESS OF WASHING AWAY THE UNCLEAN
Originally she had a pretty face and a beautiful body,
Her spirit was strong and vibrant.
Her eyebrows were like fresh green willows,
And her complexion would have put a red rose to shame.
But her kindness is so deep she will forego a beautiful face.
Although washing away the filth injures her constituion,
The kind mother acts solely for the sake of her sons and daughters
And willingly allows her beauty to fade.
8. THE KINDNESS OF ALWAYS THINKING OF THE CHILD WHEN IT HAS TRAVELLED FAR
The death of loved ones is difficult to endure.
But separation is also painful.
When the child travels afar,
The mother worries in her village.
From morning until night, her heart is with her child,
And a thousand tears fall from her eyes.
Like the monkey weeping silently in love for her child,
Bit-by-bit her heart is broken.
9. THE KINDNESS OF DEEP CARE AND DEVOTION
How heavy is the parents' kindness and emotional concern!
Their kindness is deep and difficult to repay.
Willingly they undergo suffering on their child's behalf.
If the child toils, the parents are uncomfortable.
If they hear that he has travelled afar,
They worry that at night he will have to lie in the cold.
Even a moment's pain suffered by their sons or daughters
Will cause the parents sustained distress.
10. THE KINDNESS OF ULTIMATE PITY AND SYMPATHY
The kindness of parents is profound and important.
Their tender concern never ceases.
From the moment they awake each day,
their thoughts are with their children.
Whether the children are near or far away, the parents think of them often.
Even if a mother lives for a hundred years,
She will constantly worry about her eighty-year-old child!
Do you wish to know when such kindness and love ends?
It doesn't even begin to dissipate until her life is over.
Name:sam •
Date: 07/17/11 17:16
A: Hello VVK,
You said : The Science views on Buddhism.(exchange only not convertion)
You are new to Buddhism,
You do not know much about Buddhism,
You do only cut & copy from what the others Buddhists say !!!,
You try to spread the Buddhism, while you don not know what are the teachings of the other religion, while you try to attack them by spreading lies !!!,
You hate the other because you been told by your priests first when you were Christian , then by your Monks when you became Buddhist !!!.
And when you wrote the following:
To explain more clearly, there are ten types of kindness bestowed by the mother on the child:
First there is nothing new in all what you wrote, because these facts known to all people.
You copy that from someone work. And even you did not bring one verse from the woek of Buddha to prove they are right !!!
In your previous post, you mentioned this site , [ www. quangduc.com]
So I did, and all what I find are the same, Buddhists Scholars trying to prove that Buddha Philosophy are scientific [neve brought one example from Buddha words !!!, and at the end I read what a Buddhist Monk had to come with from garbage.
Buddhist View on Death and Rebirth -By Ven. Thich Nguyen Tang.
He started with :
As a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, working as a Buddhist chaplain .....
after he wrote the followings:
According to Buddhism if a human does not obtain nirvana or enlightenment, as it is known, the person cannot escape the cycle of death and rebirth and are inevitably be reborn into the 6 possible states beyond this our present life, these being in order from the highest to lowest;
{6 possible states beyond this OUR PRESENT LIFE......FROM THE HIGHEST TO THE LOWEST !!!!}
First, no one ever died and came back to tell his after-life stories,
Second, There is no way to prove it scientifically.
Here are the 6 states:
· Heaven. In Buddhism there are 37 different levels of heaven where beings experience peace and long lasting happiness without suffering in the heavenly environment.
[ who is the one who judge the dead and send them to their places in heaven ???]
· Human life. In Buddhism we can be reborn into human life over and over, either wealthy or poor, beautiful or not so
{what a stpid mind to create all that nonsense}
, and every state between and both as it it is served up to us. Anything can happen, as is found in human life and society all around us as we are familiar with in the day to day human world in is myriad of possibilities. What we get is a result of our Karma of what we have dragged with us from previous existences and how it manifests in our temporary present lives.
· Asura. A spiritual state of Demi-Gods but not the happy state experienced by the gods in the heavens above this state. The Demi-Gods are consumed with jealousy
{Gods !!!??? SO MANY...Heaven & hell....vertically above & vertically under ???, Gode with jealousy !!!???
, because unlike humans, they can clearly see the superior situation of the gods in the heavens above them. They constantly compete and struggle with the gods due to their dissatisfaction with their desires from the others.
{Was anyone been with the demi Gods .... somewhere.... and the gods in the heavens above them or saw them and knows all the facts about them !!!!???? . WHAT A CRAZY TEACHING.
· Hungry Ghost.
[WOW, WOW & WOW. Any one saw the gosts and know them !!!]
This spiritual realm of those who committed excessive amounts of evil deeds and who are obsessed with finding food and drink which they cannot experience and thus remain unsatisfied and tortured by the experience. They exhaust themselves in the constant fruitless searching.
· Animals. This realm is visible to humans and it is where spirits of humans are reborn
[ So a HUMAN after his death will turn into ANIMAL (cow, rat, snake, monkey etc.. did those who became animals ever tell the other that the been human befor they became animals !!!???
if they have killed animals or have committed a lot of other evil acts. Animals do not have the freedom that humans would experience due to being a subject constantly hunted by humans, farmed and used in farming, also as beasts for entertainment.
· Hell. This realm is not visible to humans. It is a place where beings born there experience a constant state of searing pain and the various types of hell realms reads like a variety of horrific torture chambers. Those with a great deal of negative Karma can remain in such places for eons of time.
[ BOTH HEAVEN AND HELL ARE NOT VISIBLE TO HUMAN.
This LAST PART the only part that the Jews and the Christians and the Muslims AGREE TO.
Name:vvk •
Date: 07/19/11 6:00
A: Hi Sam
I'm too busy to deal with remodeling right now. but I have some thing like to tell you
1)I did not say I'm new to Buddhist, I said I'm still learning Buddhist
2) You said , I'm try to spread Buddhism, to who? You ? because of only you and me still get in this forum for now, Idie just come occasionally right? You wrong, the last part of my post have something relate to You post about Human born express from Quran. so that why I post those. I did tell You Islam do not allow to leave, why I try to spread
3) I did tell You do not get shock or upset If find out something teaching not the same of Your belief. But All Your question get so rude,
4) This the third time You said, I was Christian,(maybe because I never talk something about Christian teaching...)You wrong .I born in a Buddhist family
5)I hate the other , get teaching from Buddhist monk . You wrong, just go to any official Buddhism website, They never talk bad to any specific religion, I don't think they waste their time for those
6) You are Muslim, You talk about Quran , Allah ..., all the time, It ok , You have right to do that , no one claim You try to spread Islam. I'm happy to read or hear those, I'm Buddhist , I talk about Buddha and his sutra teaching, If it border You We have nothing to exchange.
7)Don't use all the bad term . lie, crazy, stupid , garbage ...etc, to apply to the others teaching, they won't take those.(If You give someone a bad gift, sorry they can't accept it, what would You have to do? the only way bring back home to your family. It's the same thing) You just try to tell me how people should live,you should remind yourself too.
8) I refer quangduc website to You as Your requested, do not go there. If You don't like it.
I'll be back if have time.
Name:sam •
Date: 07/21/11 15:15
A: Hi VVK,
My apology .
You did confuse me, and that is the problem, and I will explain it:
Do Buddhists believe in a god?
No, we do not.
Buddhist View -By Ven. Thich Nguyen TangA spiritual state of Demi-Gods .......The Demi-Gods are consumed with jealousy. {here a Monk believe in GODS. strange}
Buddhist cosmology is well expressed in a category of Buddhist scriptures that explains all
worldly phenomena.
I asked you:
-If you got any more of such teaching, please bring it on , I do find it very interesting.
That is from the teachings of Buddha, not the opinion of the others.
and many time I did aske you to bring verses to support your claims from Buddha teachings.
you gave me this:
"QUANGDUC .COM" ???!!!
I do care about what Buddha said, but I do not care about all what the Buddhists of the world say.
For me Buddha is a great Philosopher and he brought a lot of god idea, but the books which the Buddhists follow are not in total the words of Buddha, many others added a lot to his teachings [the bookd were written after more than four centuries] , and that is fact.
You said:
I will give You some of answer, but remember this, I'm still learning Buddhism so some of my answer might not be the best. or the right one.
VVK ,
- Still learnig ?! - You been writing in this forums for so long, explaining the teaching of Buddhism and trying to prove it right which shows that you have enough knowledge.
No wise man is the one who do all that and at the end say , "NOT THE BEST, OR THE RIGHT ONE' , and then try to discredit the Quran, as if the people who follow that book are stupid and without brain, I hope you understand what I mean.
And that is what You said:
WILL YOU CALL NONSENSE AND NOT SCIENCE or every thing in Holly Quran is foolish teach and talk about things which is not true???
ALL THE TRUTH ARE IN FRONT OF YOU [I gave you many examples] BUT YOU DO NOT WANT TO ACCEPT IT, EVEN WHEN IT BRINGS LOGIC AND COMMON SENSE AND FACTS, and you rather stick to what you believe in even when it is full with MYTHS , CONTRADICTIONS , AND EMPTY TALK WHICH DOEN'T HAVE ANY SCIENTIFIC VALUES.
The Quran said:
Q- 38:88 AND YOU WILL SURELY KNOW THE TRUTH OF ITS INFORMATION AFTER TIME.
That came 1400 years ago. and the Quran gave many examples about things that we only came to know lately And I am not going to repeat these examples which I DID PRESENT TO YOU before.
You kept ignoring the truth , AND YOU CALL THE WORDS OF THE QURAN "NONSENSE" IN A POLITE WAY, and you keep going around to bring Buddha teachings which I prove to you that it is wrong , AND IT IS FULL OF NONSENSE, AND CONTRADICTIONS, AND MYTHS , but it seams that you did not get it, I WONDER WAY? .
The Quran gave example about those who do not believe in God, by describing them as the are in darkness , as the one who is in the deep sea which covered by waves and above it wave so he cannot see anything...
And about those who think they can escape from HIM, by shoing his power as the power of the "Piercing star -the Black Hole", which even the light cannot escape from it.
Here another example from the Quran, and it is about those who question HIS ability to bring them to life after they are dead and they turn into dust :
Q- 75: 1 -4
I swear by the Day of the Resurrection
And I swear by the reproaching soul
Does man think that WE will not assemble his bones?
YES, WE ARE ABLE EVEN TO PROPORTION HIS FINGERTIPS.
God swear twice to prove what HE can do.
God tells us that HE can even bring a man fingertips.
Not from very long when man come to know that EVERY PERSON HAS HIS OWN AND UNIQUE FINGERTIPS .
1400 YEARS AGO GOD USED IN HIS EXAMPLE NOT ANY PART OF THE BODY [head, hands, brain etc.,], BUT THE PART WHICH ARE UNIQUE TO A PERSON, and all that to show HIS power and to tell the people that they will be returned to HIM in full even with the same fingertips.
I do not think that Buddha or any of his follower in the past knew about this unique small part of the man's body.
I do not see any nonsense in all the examples which the Quran came with, specially when it is proven to be true in today sciense.
Please open up your mind , and be fair in judging things.
Mentioning how the universe started, and expanding, and the piercing star, and the fingertips and many others things which we all know today, and they are facts.
but as for :
- In Buddhism we can be reborn into human life over and over, either wealthy or poor, beautiful or not so.
- Animals. This realm is visible to humans and it is where spirits of humans are reborn.
THAT IS A VERY CLEAR NONSENSE, and I wonder how a person live in the 21st century believe in such thing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Name:vvk •
Date: 10/18/11 7:05
A: The spiritual side of Steve Jobs
By Mark Milian, CNN, October 6, 2011
San Francisco, CA (USA) -- It's well known that the secret to Apple's meteoric success in the world of consumer technology was the vision, leadership and creativity of Steve Jobs, the company's celebrity founder.
"Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that -- it is in our DNA," Tim Cook, Jobs' successor, wrote in a staff memo after Jobs resigned from his post as Apple's CEO in August.
What's less talked about is what drove Jobs, who died Wednesday at 56.
As with anyone, Jobs' values were shaped by his upbringing and life experiences. He was born in 1955 in San Francisco and grew up amid the rise of hippie counterculture. Bob Dylan and the Beatles were his two favorite musical acts, and he shared their political leanings, antiestablishment views and, reportedly, youthful experimentation with psychedelic drug usage.
The name of Jobs' company is said to be inspired by the Beatles' Apple Corps, which repeatedly sued the electronics maker for trademark infringement until signing an exclusive digital distribution deal with iTunes. Like the Beatles, Jobs took a spiritual retreat to India and regularly walked around his neighborhood and the office barefoot.
Traversing India sparked Jobs' conversion to Buddhism. Kobun Chino, a monk, presided over his wedding to Laurene Powell, a Stanford University MBA.
'Life is an intelligent thing'
Rebirth is a precept of Buddhism, and Apple experienced rebirth of sorts when Jobs returned, after he was fired, to remake a company that had fallen the verge of bankruptcy.
"I believe life is an intelligent thing, that things aren't random," Jobs said in a 1997 interview with Time, providing a glimpse into his complicated belief system that extends well beyond the Buddhist teachings.
Karma is another principle of the religion, but it didn't appear to be a system Jobs lived by. If he feared karma coming back to bite him, the sentiment wasn't evident in his public statements about competitors and former colleagues, calling them "bozos" lacking taste. Those who worked for Jobs described him as a tyrant they feared meeting in an elevator.
"You'd be surprised how hard people work around here," Jobs said in a 2004 interview with Businessweek. "They work nights and weekends, sometimes not seeing their families for a while. Sometimes people work through Christmas to make sure the tooling is just right at some factory in some corner of the world so our product comes out the best it can be."
Some engineers who worked tirelessly on the original Mac emerged from the project estranged from their spouses and children. Jobs' relentless work ethic may have been shaped by some of his dysfunctional family affairs as well.
'I've done things I'm not proud of'
Jobs was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs, who promised his birth mother, Joanne Simpson (whom Jobs later tracked down with the help of a private investigator), that they would send him to a university. He dropped out of Reed College after one semester, and he reportedly never was willing to talk to his birth father.
Jobs had a daughter, Lisa, out of wedlock with Chrisann Brennan. He denied paternity for many years, swearing in a court document that he was sterile. Later, he had three more kids with Laurene Powell.
"I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, such as getting my girlfriend pregnant when I was 23 and the way I handled that," Jobs said in a statement in 2011 to promote his authorized biography.
That youthful indiscretion came before Jobs turned to Buddhism and karma.
'The core values are the same'
The Buddhist scriptures, according to tradition, were transmitted in secret, as were many of Apple's business dealings and Jobs' personal struggles. Like the paranoid secrecy that surrounded product development at Apple, Jobs spurned most reporters' interview requests, misled them in statements he did give, refused to disclose details of his cancer to investors until undergoing an operation and became shrouded in a scandal involving backdating stock options.
By all accounts, he played by his own rules.
Those who disclosed his secrets or whispered about his company were punished or threatened. Apple sued, and eventually settled with, the anonymous young blogger behind Think Secret, which accurately reported on Apple rumors in the early 2000s.
And then there's the story of a lost iPhone 4 prototype, which was purchased and publicized by the blog Gizmodo.
"When this whole thing with Gizmodo happened, I got a lot of advice from people that said, 'You've got to just let it slide,' " Jobs said onstage at a technology convention in 2010. "I thought deeply about this, and I ended up concluding that the worst thing that could possibly happen as we get big and we get a little more influence in the world is if we change our core values and start letting it slide. I can't do that. I'd rather quit."
That stance was repeated this year, with Jobs still as CEO though on medical leave, when another employee left a prototype iPhone 5 in a bar. Apple enlisted the help of San Francisco police to investigate.
"We have the same values now as we had then," Jobs said at the AllThingsD conference. "We're a little more experienced, certainly beat-up, but the core values are the same."
'We're here to put a dent in the universe'
Perhaps the most salient of those values is, simply, to make an outsize impact on society. Or, as Jobs put it, "We're here to put a dent in the universe." However, Apple and Jobs didn't make much of a dent with philanthropy.
"We do things where we feel we can make a significant contribution," Jobs told Businessweek in 2004. "And our primary goal here is ... not to be the biggest or the richest."
To achieve that goal, Jobs was an obsessive micromanager. Part of the reason Jobs' DNA is so ingrained in Apple is because he forced his hand onto so many parts of it. He personally fielded some customer-service requests sent to him via e-mail; he was active in product design, co-authoring more than 300 patents; and he had a hand in the marketing efforts, including the famous Think Different and Mac vs. PC campaigns.
"What is Apple, after all?" Jobs mused to Time. "Apple is about people who think 'outside the box,' people who want to use computers to help them change the world, to help them create things that make a difference, and not just to get a job done."
'Focus and simplicity'
Jobs famously lured John Sculley, the PepsiCo president, to run Apple by saying: "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?" (They had a permanent falling out when Jobs was booted from Apple.)
"What makes Steve's methodology different from everyone else's is that he always believed the most important decisions you make are not the things you do, but the things you decide not to do," Sculley said in a 2010 interview with Businessweek. "He's a minimalist. I remember going into Steve's house, and he had almost no furniture in it. He just had a picture of Einstein, whom he admired greatly, and he had a Tiffany lamp and a chair and a bed. He just didn't believe in having lots of things around, but he was incredibly careful in what he selected."
Restraint, at least in gadget design and interior decorating, was a primary principle for Jobs. Shortly after his return to Apple, he shuttered several divisions and turned his attention to a few key initiatives. Even today, Apple's product lines and revenue are zeroed in on just a few industries in which the company can dominate.
"That's been one of my mantras: focus and simplicity," Jobs told Businessweek in 1998. "Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."
He elaborated in the interview with the publication six years later: "It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important."
'Stay hungry. Stay foolish.'
Apple's management team members have each adopted parts of this code.
Jonathan Ive, the industrial-design executive, echoes Jobs' simplicity ethic.
Scott Forstall, the mobile software lead, has apparently inherited some of Jobs' enthusiasm and showmanship.
And Cook, the former operations chief and, by some accounts, current workaholic micromanager, runs the company like he manages his private life: shrouded in secrecy.
However, Cook comes out of his shell in order to impart the ethical standards onto new recruits. He, along with other execs, teaches at Apple University.
Apple University ensures that employees are thoroughly educated on the company's principles and that Jobs' ideals live on. Jobs believed people never stop learning and should voraciously open their minds to new ideas.
Put another way, like in his closing statement to Stanford's graduating class in 2005, "Stay hungry. Stay foolish
Name:vvk •
Date: 11/24/11 19:42
A: FEEDING THE HUNGRY FOR 7 YEAR STRAIGHT.
George Lopez honors 2009 CNN Hero Jorge Munoz, who cooks meals and delivers them to New York's homeless every night. "CNN Heroes: Where Are They Now?" airs Thursday at 8 and 10 p.m. ET. WATCH
