Читать книгу Business Guide to Japan - Boye Lafayette De Mente - Страница 16

PASS THE ZEN, PLEASE

I DO NOT advocate that foreigners wanting to do business with the Japanese immediately run to a temple and sign up for a course in Zen Buddhism. But I do suggest that familiarity with the concept and precepts of Zen would be of significant value in dealing with the intangible, esoteric, and philosophical facets of the Japanese business system as well as its facade.

In Japan there is almost always a tatemae (tahtay-my), or facade, and a honne (hone-nay)—the reality behind the facade. The universal facade that covers Japan like a blanket is its etiquette system. Other facades include such diverse things as hostess bars in Japan’s famous mizu shobai: the colorful kimono, which women wear as a “face” to present to the public, is a wonderful facade. Looking at many aspects of Japan, one sees a surface that may hide any number of realities.

The same is true in business. What you see, and what the inexperienced foreigner is apt to take at face value, is often far from the truth. The surface harmony that prevails in most Japanese companies, for example, generally masks a morass of underlying friction and discontent, as wa suffers more and more from the strains of changing lifestyles.

Japanese society in general has traditionally been based on presenting a carefully fashioned image to the public and outside world, taking great pains to camouflage reality behind manners, screens, language, and other opaque barriers. The challenge for the outsider is to discern what is real and what is facade, to see beyond the tatemae to the honne, and one of the skills that has traditionally helped the Japanese see beyond their own illusions is the art of Zen.

The first stage of Zen, for all of its own tatemae, is nothing more than being able to distinguish between what appears to be real (or what we would like to be real) and reality itself. The second stage of Zen requires that one develop the ability to eliminate his own self from the duality of what he is and thinks he is to what exists outside of him and, if he wants to go all the way, merge his being into the one reality.

In the Japanese historical context, Zen was traditionally the vehicle by which people gained extraordinary skill in arts, crafts, and other pursuits. By physical discipline and meditation they first got their own selves under control. Then they learned how to discern the essence of what they saw before them, whether it was a rock, tree, sword, or human being. Then by becoming one with the thing before them, they could use its essence in a natural way.

Probably the most illustrious use of Zen was in the training of swordsmen. After years of rigorous physical and mental training, the greatest swordsmen came close to becoming a part of their swords. Straining the analogy, their swords would therefore strike, perfectly, whatever blow they thought of because they and the sword were the same. The greatest of Japan’s sword masters were virtually unbeatable during their peak years. This, of course, represents the Japanese ideal in all things, including business.

The lesson you can take from this facet of the Japanese way is to do your best to separate your emotions and preconceived ideas from any meeting or relationship with a Japanese businessman and attempt to discern the reality behind the visible scenario. This is, of course, just another way of saying determine the facts, the cold, hard facts, before you commit yourself. The idea of taking a Zen-like approach could make it easier, especially with practice.