Steve Jobs and His Zen Master: 3 Spiritual Lessons That Redefine Reality
Introduction: The Guiding Light Behind the Genius
Behind every great person who changes the world, there often stands a profound, yet little-known, mentor who provided oxygen for the soul. For Steve Jobs, that spiritual guide was his Zen master, Kobun Chino Otogawa.
When we talk about Jobs, the focus is usually on his business acumen, his product obsession, and his famously fiery temper. But few ever delve into the deeper force that taught this rebellious, self-centered "outsider" how to integrate minimalism, human intuition, and deep insight into cold technology. The answer lies hidden in the few powerful words of Zen Master Kobun.
Kobun was more than just a meditation teacher; he was the one who, at a crucial moment, dissuaded Jobs from becoming a monk. He didn't want Jobs to abandon the material world; instead, he instructed him to integrate his Zen practice with his passion for computers. This spiritual integration ultimately gave birth to a multi-trillion-dollar empire.
I’ve spent time researching Kobun’s life philosophy, uncovering three fundamental tenets of wisdom that can redefine how we view success and reality itself. These are not merely spiritual teachings; they are essential life-building principles.
1. Your Rareness Is Your Superpower
“The more you sense the rareness and value of your own life, the more you realize that how you use it and manifest it is your responsibility.” — Kobun Chino Otogawa (from Embracing Mind)
We live in an age obsessed with "fitting in" and "standardization." From school grading systems to corporate policies, societal forces constantly attempt to tame us, funneling us down the "institutional path." Jobs knew this intimately; he was the ultimate outsider, an eccentric mind with a rebellious streak.
When Jobs considered renouncing the world for monastic life, Kobun stopped him. The Zen master had the foresight to see that Jobs’ unique perspective and rebellious energy should not be suppressed by traditional form but should be unleashed into the field he loved. Kobun’s wisdom taught Jobs to embrace his "rareness"—the very qualities he might have feared—and use them as his Ace Card.
The profound power of this teaching lies in its simplicity: accept the rare parts of yourself that you might typically reject out of fear of not fitting in.
The resulting fusion—Zen intuition combined with technological passion—was prodigious: Apple, Pixar, the iPhone. When Jobs brought his Zen-inspired focus on simplicity, humanity, and instinct to technology, he created products that resonated deeply within the human spirit.
In a 2001 interview in Japan, Jobs noted:
“Many forces in life tend to funnel us down into the institutional path, and people sometimes forget they are unique. They have very unique feelings and perspectives.”
Unlike competitors who were obsessed with more megahertz and megabytes, Jobs’ business strategy was a digital extension of Kobun’s spiritual philosophy. His goal was to help people express themselves in "richer ways, in their songs, pictures, and movies."
Jobs’ success secret was that his corporate strategy mirrored his spiritual lesson: help people embrace their "rareness" and give them the digital tools to express it creatively. When you stop trying to conform and accept the responsibility to manifest the unique value of your life, its worth becomes immeasurable.
2. Stop Standing in the Way of Success
“The goal becomes a mirror, and what I understand is that this meta-mirror is an exact reflection of oneself.” — Kobun Chino Otogawa
Kobun was a master of Kyudo (Japanese archery). Legend says he could hit a blade of grass at 25 meters. A tribute to the master once described how Kobun stopped his car on a hilltop, took his bow, and shot an arrow into the ocean.
The deeper teaching is this: The process matters, not merely hitting the bull’s-eye.
In Kyudo, whether the arrow hits the mark is the ultimate reflection of the archer’s inner state. The target (the mirror) reflects whether the shooter was corrupted by greed, anxiety, or impatience in the moment of release.
We must stop contaminating the process with excessive intention. When we rush, force, or push things, we dilute the purity of the action with our haste and anxiety.
Jobs eventually learned this hard lesson. While his early career was driven by immense ego and a thirst for instant success, he ultimately shifted his focus from "making money" to "creating a product that didn’t exist."
Apple became what it is only after Jobs’ enormous ego stopped interfering with the flight of his arrows.
The crucial thing in both life and Kyudo is to connect with your inner wisdom through disciplined practice and channel that resultant peace into everything you do. Successes are merely the consequences of our actions when those actions are virtuous. Stop trying so hard; let the arrow fly itself.
3. The Cosmos Resides Within You
“Sitting is the rediscovery of your basic strength and your clarity.” — Kobun Chino Otogawa
This phrase, which I found on the website of Jikoji (a center established by Kobun’s students), struck me immediately: there is a shipwreck full of treasures in the deepest sea of your consciousness.
Kobun believed that by practicing Shikantaza (just sitting Zen meditation), the practitioner ceases all that is untrue—the entire illusion of the world of forms—and is left with pure truth.
The truth is this: We are all a part of the whole (the Universal), and therefore, we carry a piece of that whole within us.
Ergo, wisdom (the truth) IS NOT OUTSIDE. It is inside, within the self.
Jobs knew this. It’s why he dedicated long periods to meditation: he was fishing inside himself for those fragments of the whole, those inner treasures. He built his empire with pieces of this universal wisdom.
The Moral: Your Inner Universe
If this philosophy holds true, then every single one of us possesses a magnificent treasure—a wisdom that is part of the universal whole.
Jobs’ true legacy is not a device; it is the ultimate possibility he demonstrated with his life:
If we learn to sit, to explore our inner seas of consciousness, and to integrate our rareness with relentless practice, we can access this cosmic wisdom and impact the world in a way as unique and meaningful as Steve Jobs did.
Your next "iPhone" might not be a product, but a new way of living, a piece of art, or a philosophy that shifts your community. Whatever it is, its blueprint lies in your undiscovered inner world.
Stop looking outside. Sit down, and dig in.
