ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Between Religion and Materialism – The Seven Figure Monk

Updated on February 6, 2009

His Eminence Dharmacharya Gurudas Śunyatananda

A non theistic Buddhist monk and Franciscan contemplative, Gianmichael has established an order of monks and aims to one day build the Lojong Monastery, where 'One day, the members of the order of Contemplative Monks of the Eightfold Path will be able to return to simple, hidden lives, within the walls of a monastic compound, where they can live according to their spiritual observances, while still serving the marginalised, hurting and poor of the outside world.' Sounds run of the mill monk-ish so far, right?

However things get a little more interesting when one discovers that he is also a highly successful life coach, investment advisor, business mentor amongst other things. Wait, What? Is there such thing as a monk who makes money, and lots of it? Yes. It would seem so.

His Eminence Dharmacharya Gurudas Śunyatananda finds no conflict between living a highly spiritual life and making mountains of money, as he explains: “I've been a Buddhist monk since I was sixteen, and I've been a Franciscan contemplative for over 28 years (including six years as a Catholic priest). During that time, I grew an international sales and marketing team of 358,000 men and women, across 39 countries, in just 18 months. I generated a seven-figure income (for the Order, since I personally took a vow of detachment and own nothing). And at no time did I have to violate the principals of the Dharma in order to succeed. Therefore, I do not believe that the two are at odds, nor do I buy into the myth that money is the root of supposed evil. Good and evil are dualistic concepts that I don't find terribly useful.”

Gianmichael Salvato represents a revolution in the way we view spirituality, religion and the materialistic world. According to him, the biggest mistake 'spiritual' people make when approaching business is “thinking that there is a difference between business and spirituality. Duality is a delusional approach to life.”

So, according to the man referred to by his followers as 'the Punk Monk' we can be rich in spirit as well as bank balance. There's a refreshing perspective for those of us brought up with the idea that skinny camels passing through the eyes of needles would be more likely to enter the proverbial kingdom of heaven than rich men.

Click here for a full interview with His Eminence Dharmacharya Gurudas Śunyatananda, where he answers probing questions such as 'Does God Exist?' 'Does Evil Exist?' and 'If he were starting a business today, WWJD?'

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)