Lama’s Pyjamas is a team-based right livelihood business in London.
Re-imagining work.
Energy is one of the Seven Awakening Factors in the Buddhist tradition. However, there can be a tendency to associate the spiritual life with being simply calm and inactive - something that we “do” when we are not working.
Most of us spend the majority of our waking lives at work, so it’s important to assess how our work affects our mind and heart. How can work become meaningful? How can it be a support not a hindrance to spiritual practice — a place to deepen our awareness and kindness? Not unlike Zen communities, we emphasize the importance of integration of practice in daily life, and this includes work.
One distinctive feature of Triratna has been team-based right livelihood businesses. Apart from enabling people to earn a living in an ethical way, these were imagined as intense contexts conducive to spiritual practice. Some of these Right Livelihood enterprises have been financially successful and become substantial ventures, raising funds for Dharma teaching and other altruistic projects. One of the pioneers in this area was the now closed windhorse:evolution, a UK-based company which ran a wholesale retail business and a chain of gift shops.
Sangharakshita famously said that ‘Work is the Tantric guru.’ In the Tantric tradition, one of the guru’s roles is to confront the disciple with their own shortcomings, and with the true nature of things.
Listen to explorations of Right Livelihood.