Jack Ma and Zhang Chaoyang, the story of worshipping Buddha and believing in religion

Perhaps it is the end of the year, and the boards of directors of various companies have begun to get anxious. After Zhang Xiangdong, CEO of Shanda Games, was dismissed due to poor performance, Wang Tao, CEO of Changyou, also announced his resignation due to performance issues. What is interesting is that the reason for Changyou's poor performance this year is directly related to Wang Tao's "excellent operation system" related to India's "Oneness" that he promoted within the company.

In fact, it is not uncommon for industry leaders to "worship God and believe in religion" or for companies to have certain religious colors, but this time the top executives actually fell because of this "unity religion", which is a precedent. Today, Xiao Nei will talk to you about these strange stories of "worshiping God and believing in religion" in the circle, starting from Changyou and "unity religion".

"The Master of Unity" Chang You Wang Tao

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Wang Tao, a veteran in the gaming industry, is now in his prime. He should have led the company to create brilliance, but in the end he was fired. We have to talk about all this from a few years ago. In 2011, Wang Tao was hit hard by the departure of the key personnel of his popular company "The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" and the poor performance of his masterpiece "The Deer and the Cauldron Online". At this time, the "Unification Church" from India entered Wang Tao's world through an introduction. Wang Tao, who was eager for spiritual support, was like a long-awaited rain. Since he began to believe in the "Unification Church", Wang Tao began to let go of the company's business and handed it over to Chen Dewen and others to manage, and he devoted himself to the study. Even under his influence, the "Unification Church" became fanatical within Changyou.

This blind and fanatical worship naturally gave rise to some ridiculous behaviors. For example, some people framed Wang Tao's quotations and hung them in the conference room (comparable to the treatment of Marx, Engels and Lenin), and some people organized employees to study Wang Tao's understanding or speech on the Unity Church. Even a perception of hundreds of words was interpreted into a long article of thousands of words and distributed to all employees. In order to encourage everyone to practice "spiritual cultivation" and achieve "awakening", the company not only covered all the "spiritual cultivation" expenses, but also arranged special KPIs for those who successfully "awakened". "Awakeners" can get faster promotion. Suddenly, many people flocked to it. These people have no interest in business since then, and they are only interested in "spiritual cultivation". Changyou, which once made profits for the entire Sohu, has been performing poorly in recent years and has been living off its past capital.

At this point, Xiao Nei couldn't help but think of a historical figure - Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, who was also obsessed with religion and ignored government affairs, and also lived off his old capital. Changyou's situation here is even more serious because it has caused a frenzy among the entire company.

Zhang Chaoyang, the "Master's Brother"

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As is known to all, Charles Zhang had been in seclusion for a long time between 2012 and 2013. During this period of "no show", Charles, who found that his mental state was problematic, visited numerous psychologists and mental experts and read a lot of related books. Finally, he found the answer in Eastern philosophy Buddhism - fame and fortune, a lot of flattery, nourished his weak arrogance and self-expansion, but he became more lonely and lacked happiness. Through this "seclusion", Charles Zhang believes that he has become more down-to-earth, humble and has a more appropriate view of happiness.

In fact, Zhang Chaoyang has always had a deep connection with Buddhism. Before the retreat, Zhang Chaoyang once said to his younger brother, Master Guoyi of Fahua Temple, "If you hadn't become a monk, it might be me who is here, and maybe one day we would end up in the same place." Master Guoyi later recalled that his brother often played games as a monk when he was a child, and told everyone stories about ascetic monks, such as Tang Monk's journey to the West. After Master Guoyi became a monk, Zhang Chaoyang often visited Fahua Temple and took a lot of Buddhist books to read, expressing his yearning for Buddhism.

It is no wonder that Zhang Chaoyang has always been a vegetarian and is still single. Although he has not "entered the Buddhist monastery", Charles, who has Buddha in his heart, is like Jigong in Xiao Nei's eyes. He can still be keen on various colorful parties and invite beautiful stars to board his "Happy" yacht. In his own words, he "enters the world with a detached attitude."

Jack Ma, who travels between Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism

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It is no longer news that Jack Ma is keen on worshipping masters. He has worshipped Li Yi and Wang Lin, loves to practice fasting and retreat, opened a Zen temple, and likes to practice Tai Chi. These seem to be proof that Jack Ma believes in a certain religion. But if we look closely, the smart Jack Ma is just skimming the surface and stopping at nothing. As for the Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist sects, Jack Ma not only wants to experience them personally, but also brings those ideas that can be used for his own management to Alibaba. We can clearly see that Alibaba's corporate culture is a mixture of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist ideas, and even Mao Zedong Thought and Jack Ma's beloved martial arts spirit. It is clearly a hybrid.

But it is precisely because of Jack Ma's passion for the mystical that Alibaba has become what it is today. There are real believers in Alibaba. Peng Lei, one of the "Eighteen Arhats", is a devout Buddhist. Jack Ma also understands and recognizes her very much. Not only did he allow her to take a few weeks off to meditate/travel when Alibaba's business was busy, he also praised her as "someone who can let go." Therefore, Peng Lei was successively appointed as the CEO of Alipay and Xiaoweijin, and is one of Jack Ma's most capable people. In addition to taking leave from time to time due to religious needs, Peng Lei does have the demeanor of a general, with excellent management execution and first-class business capabilities.

When discussing employee happiness, Peng Lei once used the famous Buddhist country of Bhutan as a counterexample. She said that this place, known as the happiest country in the world, is extremely closed, religion is prevalent, and people live a very simple life, but these are totally undesirable for a company. Unlike Wang Tao, who advocates "unity religion" at Changyou, Peng Lei did not let her personal beliefs have a negative impact on her work.

Chen Tianqiao and Hou Xiaoqiang, "Buddha does not see Buddha"

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At the end of last year, Shanda Literature CEO Hou Xiaoqiang resigned due to health reasons. At that time, there were reports that the reason was "discord between Chen Tianqiao and Hou Xiaoqiang, and the two were disappointed with each other", but Hou Xiaoqiang denied it. Then in January this year, Hou Xiaoqiang once again attracted attention in the industry. He said on Weibo that he had converted to Buddhism and was a lay disciple of Shaolin Temple abbot Shi Yongxin, with the Buddhist name Yanshe. Coincidentally, Chen Tianqiao, who "broke up" with him, also believed in Buddhism. Even when he was a child, the elders in his hometown believed that he had the appearance of a Buddha.

In fact, when Chen Tianqiao and Hou Xiaoqiang first met, they had a spark because of Buddhism. Hou Xiaoqiang once recalled the situation like this: Chen Tianqiao decided to cooperate with him in the third minute of their first communication. During these three minutes, they kept talking about religion and Buddhism. Chen Tianqiao explained that he believed that a person who believed in Buddhism would not be too bad. From then on, Chen Tianqiao would chat with Hou Xiaoqiang from time to time, but 90% of their communication had little to do with work and was still about religion.

But Chen Tianqiao prefers to practice in seclusion. He rarely participates in public forums, rarely interacts with the media, and basically does not respond to various comments from the outside world, nor does he respond to various criticisms from the outside world. These behaviors make Chen Tianqiao incompatible with the openness and sharing concepts advocated by the Internet generation of entrepreneurs. Chen Tianqiao's style of doing things is very different. He will recognize others but not trust them. The end result is that a long list of senior executives have left Shanda in recent years.

Regarding Chen Tianqiao, Xiao Nei also found a historical figure who can be compared with him - Emperor Wu of Liang. In the early period of Emperor Wu of Liang, Southern Liang was prosperous, but in the later period, his enthusiasm for Buddhism finally made Southern Liang fall apart. Fortunately, Hou Xiaoqiang is not Hou Jing, otherwise the situation of Shanda would be even more dangerous. Of course, Chen Tianqiao is not as obsessed as Emperor Wu in choosing to become a monk, but he may be unable to revive Shanda, which is declining.

Finally, we can conclude that no matter which way or which religious belief they choose, these industry leaders are simply seeking spiritual support or inspiration for management and business. Perhaps the farce of those "unified religions" will reappear, and perhaps those "lonely people" will eventually ruin their empires, but we cannot generalize them as superstition. To borrow a sentence from Jack Ma, "Excessive indulgence in faith and loss of faith are both superstition. Today, people are often the latter."