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    Zen and the Art of Quality
    Zen and the Art of Quality
    Zen and the Art of Quality
    Ebook113 pages1 hour

    Zen and the Art of Quality

    By Marc Brookhuis

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    About this ebook

    Quality is one of the most often used concepts in our existence. But what are we actually talking about? What exactly do we mean when we speak about quality? This book tries to answer these questions and offers a way to look at quality. For this reason we go deeper in to Zen Buddhism: a philosophy in which quality plays a big part. About what kind of quality are we talking when it comes to Zen? And, what can we learn from this? In short, a research in quality in all its diversities.

    Dutch author Marc Brookhuis has written several books on zen, mindfulness and Eastern philosophy. He works as a zenteacher in The Netherlands and gives many courses like Zen & Archery and Zen & Mindfulness.

    Review:
    “With the book “Zen and the art of quality” author Marc Brookhuis refers directly to the classic book of Robert Pirsig 'Zen and the art of the motorcycle maintenance'. This book from 1974 describes a trip by motorcycle though the United States, but it is in fact a philosophical search for the meaning of quality. Brookhuis’ approach is the same. He looks at the definition of quality through a Zen Buddhistic perspective and asks pertinent questions: What is quality? What would happen if you would subtract quality from the world as a calculation? What is our involvement and our responsibility in delivering quality and good care?

    Zen and the art of quality” gives depth to a concept important in everybody’s life, which too often, under pressure of mercantile and economic principles, loses its true meaning."
    ((Kwinta - The information- and network platform of the Flemish Centre of Quality Care)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMarc Brookhuis
    Release dateJul 28, 2014
    ISBN9781310649912
    Zen and the Art of Quality
    Author

    Marc Brookhuis

    Marc Brookhuis is zen-leraar, mental coach en schrijver van diverse fictie- en nonfictie boeken. Zie ook 4 & 2, zen coaching en advies (www.vierentwee.nl)

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      Book preview

      Zen and the Art of Quality - Marc Brookhuis

      63

      Zen and the Art of Quality

      about attention and good care

      JIKAN

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Content

      Foreword

      Preface

      1 Good

      Interlude: TOYOTA - thinking like the customer

      2 Human quality and good care

      3 An open mind and bubbles

      4 Being blocked and your own wisdom

      Interlude: Creativity

      5 Quality and reality

      6 Solve it

      7 Towards quality

      Interlude: Quality, an interaction

      Afterword

      Extra: The metaphysics of quality

      Annexes

      Annex 1: Buddhism, Taoism and Zen

      Annex 2: Zazen, meditation according to Zen

      Annex 3: The Ten Oxherding Pictures

      Annex 4: East and West

      About the author

      Bibliography

      What is good, and what is not good - Need we ask anyone to tell us these things? ¹

      Foreword

      The use of words is a bit complicated in Zen. Zen is above all about doing something, Let me see your enlightenment, the Zen master says. Enlightenment is not worth anything if it's only about words.

      That does not mean that theories, books or stories are not important. They provide a framework from which we perhaps can understand things in life. That is also what this book attempts. In this case, about the concept of quality and how this concept plays an important role in Zen Buddhism, although it is rarely mentioned this way.

      The title of this book, Zen and the art of quality, is based on the famous 70's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig who borrowed his title from Zen in the art of archery, one of the first books about Zen on the Western market. It is a bit easy, maybe even cheesy, to refer to famous titles such as Pirsig's book. However, this book is not only meant as an introduction to both zen and the understanding of quality, it is also intended as an introduction to the work of Pirsig where many more interesting things on quality can be discovered. If this book provides an extra reason for you to read his books it feels less onerous to reuse the famous title.

      Preface

      Quality ... You know what it is, and yet you do not know what it is. We often use the word, but if we have to clarify it, it suddenly seems vague and uncertain and nobody seems to really have a clue what it is.

      Yet quality seems to be one of the most central concepts in our human existence. It is an important concept as well: It's a kind of yardstick. A yardstick for our own performance, a yardstick for our environment. According to some people it is even the motive of the entire human existence; Quality as the mechanism that helps to advance our existence.

      Quality is a much used concept. It seems to exist everywhere: in products, in work, in relationships. It is used so often that it has almost lost its meaning. Does quality actually exists? Is it as common and as pervasive as often claimed? Or are we talking about a very different quality?

      This book tries to give an answer and provides a way to look at quality. For this reason we will also discuss Zen Buddhism: A religion, although it really isn’t a religion but rather a way of life, in which quality plays a major role. Of what kind of quality is spoken in zen? And what can we learn from this? In a nutshell, this book provides a study of quality in all its diversity.

      1 Good

      When you ask people around you what quality is, there will be many different answers. How different though, probably they all have to do with an idea of good, better, or maybe even the best.

      Apparently, Quality is something positive. But does this mean we really know anything about quality? Do we even know if quality exists?

      The existence of quality

      So, the first and obvious question that must be asked is whether quality actually exists. One answer is to be found in philosophy, in a movement called ‘Realism’: Something exists when a world cannot function normally without it. If you can prove that a world without quality does not function normally, it means quality exists, regardless knowing exactly what it is or how it should be defined.²

      Let us have a look at a world without quality. We subtract quality from the world, as if it were a mathematical calculation. As an example, art. Without a difference in quality, art cannot exist. In that case, a bare wall would suffice as a painting. If we take quality away from food, then the quality of taste would not matter. This means supermarkets would only provide the same kinds of basic foods.

      There are more examples to think of, but the meaning is clear. There is something like quality. What it is, is still uncertain but it seems certain quality exists.

      Quality in everyday life

      If you have a look at everyday life, quality seems to exist everywhere (everyday life is not concerned with philosophical issues :)). Products are touted as the best product, companies present themselves as the best company. This is a product of good quality, the salesman tells us while pointing at a new bike. This definitely is a good bike!

      A salesman touting his product as a good product is not surprising. However, whether this is appropriate, is still questionable. Because, when is a product a good product? What is a product with quality?

      That question can be answered by using the so-called dictionary-technique. You open the dictionary and see if it's of any help. In the dictionary, quality is defined as: the degree to which something is good, nature, capacity. It doesn't seem very specific. The degree to which something is good seems too vague and leads to a circular reasoning. Maybe nature or capacity helps.

      The dictionary about nature: status and property. And capacity, technical properties of a substance and fitness for a particular use. Those are the same words that are used in official definitions like the ISO (standards for quality management systems). ISO 8402, quality: "The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that is important for meeting statutory or implied needs.

      So, let's start with properties. Consider the properties of products such as a car or bicycle. For example, consider the bike the salesman touts as a good bike and ask the question: Is this really a good bike? Or, what makes this bike a good bike? Does this bike have quality?

      So, you take a close look at the properties of

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