Work Like a Monk: A Buddhist Guide to Embracing What Matters
by Shoukei Matsumoto
ISBN 13: 979-8217179657
Book description

An engaging exploration of what makes work meaningful, by a popular Buddhist monk and cultural commentator In our hectic days filled with long hours, endless emails, and tedious virtual meetings, it’s hard to stay connected to the higher purpose of work – to see past the grind and embrace what we’re really trying to achieve. In this engaging and illuminating book, Japanese Buddhist monk Shoukei Matsumoto offers a fresh take on what it means to find satisfaction at work. Presented in the form of an imagined conversation between a Western businessperson and a temple priest, this far-ranging exploration covers everything from embracing simplicity and communicating with clarity to the importance of daily rituals, insights on avoiding burnout, and even what it means to be a good ancestor. Along the way, you’ll discover ancient wisdom and contemporary ideas – all thoughtfully presented in the context of modern daily life. Whether you’re a recent graduate or a seasoned professional, this meaningful guide offers a fresh perspective, and more intentional way forward.


Recommended on 1 episode:

This Question Can Change Your Life
I like to start the year with a few episodes on things I’m personally working on. Not resolutions, exactly. More like intentions. Or, even better, practices. One of those practices, strange as it sounds, is repeatedly asking the question: “What is this?” It’s a question I got from a book of the same name, by Stephen and Martine Batchelor. In that book, they are describing an approach to Buddhist meditation built on the cultivation of doubt and wonder. You can see that as a spiritual practice, but it’s also an intellectual and ethical one. It is, for me, a practice that has a lot of bearing on politics and journalism. Stephen Batchelor’s latest book, “Buddha, Socrates, and Us: Ethical Living in Uncertain Times,” explores those dimensions of doubt more fully. And so I wanted to have him on the show to discuss the virtues of both certainty and uncertainty, the difficulty of living both ethically and openly. You can see this as a conversation about our inner lives or our outer lives, but of course they are one. And Batchelor, as you’ll hear, is just lovely to listen to.
Stephen Batchelor Jan. 2, 2026 3 books recommended
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by @zachbellay