In the early 1970s, Zazen began work on their most ambitious product yet: the Interconnector Model 1. This machine would receive special broadcasts on the UHF frequency, which it could display in a split-screen format on a tiny TV screen. The user could tune in different channels on the sub-frequency and juxtapose seemingly unrelated broadcasts next to one another. Through this, the viewer was challenged to consider the interconnected nature of the world.
Unfortunately, an accident during production of the Interconnector resulted in fire at the manufacturing plant, destroying the prototype, the equipment, and years worth of development.
This was a huge blow, both to morale and to the financial security of Zazen, which had leveraged itself significantly to fund the development of the device. The prototype was completely destroyed, melted and fused to the remains of the machine that manufactured it.
The response from Zazen leadership was instructive: the fire would be seen as both good and bad, and neither good nor bad.
From that point on, the melted remains of the prototype hung prominently in the office of the CEO for all to see, a reminder of the Buddhist themes of non-judgment, non-attachment, and impermanence.
A few years ago, I was lucky enough to secure this unique, and beautiful, bit of history. I keep it as a reminder of the first noble truth. Suffering, or dukkha, may be caused when life doesn’t go according to our plans, but how we respond is entirely up to us.
