Hartanto Gunawan
I had the pleasure of meeting Hartanto Gunawan on my second day backpacking across South East Asia. Getting to talk to him and hear his incredible life story was eye opening. He was one of the more interesting people I have met on any of my travels and had tons of great insight into life and the mind. From CEO, to being dropped off on an island, to becoming a monk, Gunawan has an incredible story. Here it is!
Gunawan the CEO
Hartanto Gunawan was a successful businessman in his home country of Indonesia. By his early middle ages, Gunawan had risen the ranks to become the CEO of his company. For most CEO’s their life story would revolve around how they were able to rise to the top and all the struggles that it took to get there. For Hartanto Gunawan however, his story actually starts here.
As a CEO Gunawan was a busy man. He got very few hours of sleep a day, had blood pressure readings in the high 100’s and had little time for his family. Gunawan had his lifestyle flaws but then again he was a CEO, this was expected. For many, Gunawan’s luxurious and successful life would be one to be proud of, but Gunawan wasn’t so sure himself. He began to question whether it was all worth it. He questioned if he was utilizing his life to the fullest by focusing on profits as opposed to impacting society. He deeply regretted the stress, anger, and impatience he had developed over the years in the corporate wold. On top of it all, quite possibly his biggest regret was the fact that he felt that he had not been a great son to his mom. It was this regret more than any other that changed Gunawan’s life forever.
The Island Life
Gunawan’s mom had a dream that one of her sons would be a monk for some portion of their life. Up until now, no one had fulfilled this wish of hers. Gunawan decided he would make amends to his mom by making her wish come true. He left everything behind and found a teacher to help him learn the practices and disciplines of a monk. He didn’t know what to expect when starting this journey, but he certainly never could have guessed what came next.
His next step involved his teacher taking him on a boat and dropping him on a deserted island with nothing on it besides animals (snakes scorpions, birds, and much more). Apart from food and Buddhist scriptures/books, Gunawan had nothing. No electronics, no house, no people to to talk to, and no idea how long he would be here. 30 days went by and according to Gunawan they were the hardest 30 days of his life. ” I cried every single day” he told me.
After 30 days and still no clue how long he would be there, Gunawan started focusing on controlling his emotions through meditation. Meditation helped him get through the fear, loneliness, and regret of leaving his luxurious life. For the next two years, Gunawan was left on the island and spent each day learning more about the mind through the teachings and books he had. Apart from that, he spent most of his day meditating and learning more and more about how his brain worked. What started as a miserable and scary experience, soon turned into a life-changing one for Gunawan. He had total more control of his mind and emotions than he ever had before.
Spreading His Knowledge
Gunawan completed 2 years on the island before finally being told he could leave by his teacher. He chose to settle in Bangkok, Thailand where he now faced the tough challenge of assimilating back into society. After a few months, Gunawan felt himself returning to his old instincts. “I could feel myself starting to lose my temper again,” He told me. It was one day after snapping at an elder monk that he realized continuing his meditation routine was a must. He wanted the peace he felt back on the island. He promised never to let that happen again, and continued to make meditation a big portion of his life.
Apart from just using it for himself, Gunawan had a dream of opening a learning center where he could help others achieve the happiness he had felt through meditation. He had lost most of his initial wealth but this was not going to deter him. Having no work experience for the past two years, Gunawan had to take a job as a driver. Yes, he went from a CEO to driver; Something that on the surface would seem like a failure. For Gunawan though, this did not phase him as he had bigger life plans. After some years of saving he was able to open up his own center inside the Wat Arun temple.
Research Meditation
The center grew as Gunawan began teaching about Buddhism and meditation. His big point of emphasis was research meditation. Research meditation revolves around understanding the steps your mind takes before an action/reaction. It is about understanding how a simple sensory feeling or observation can lead to an action that has a multitude of consequences
Take for example a situation where someone punches you. It starts with a negative sensation to your body, nothing more nothing less. That negative sensation connects with your mind as pain and pain connects with unhappiness. That unhappiness causes you to be angry and that anger causes you to react and punch back. Before you know it you are in a fight.
Gunawan claims that most meditation is taught to help keep you in the moment which is not a bad goal; However, he adds that being in the moment helps you at the current moment but it does not help you control negative behaviors or emotions in the long term. To him, meditation has two facets, the first being the goal of staying in the moment but the second being the goal of understanding your brain from an outside view. Seeing the steps your mind takes when it does get angry, mad, sad, etc allows you to break the chain of events and stop it from doing so. Understanding how a punch to you resulted in a punch back can stop you from repeating this kind of consequential behavior.
“Understand the mind” he would tell me, “and you understand everyone”. This is the ultimate tool for doing good in life and succeeding wherever and whatever you do in the world.
Gunawan's Life Now
At the time of his departure as CEO, some may have looked at Gunawan as someone who left too much on the table. Fast forward many challenging years later and Gunawan can now be seen as an even more successful and important human being than before. Not only did he build his center, but he has been taking in kids from the slums as well as elder girls who were victims of human trafficking, and changing their lives through meditation.
Companies have lined up to hire the girls from Gunawan’s school as they state they are mentally stronger than the rest. Gunawan has found a job for every girl who has been brought in. Pretty amazing to think about when consider how mentally challenging it must be for girls to simply get over something like trafficking.
Gunawan now spends most of his time taking care of his students as well as looking to get people into meditation. He gave up everything he had for this and does not regret it at all. Though he does not preach a 2 year island retreat, he does plead that everyone find some time in their day to strengthen their most important asset. “People don’t have time anymore” he would say when I asked him why more people don’t meditate. “But if you think of it as important as shower or brushing, you will find the time and still be able to accomplish whatever you want” He added.
He concludes his pitch for everyone to meditate with this:
“The world is only going to have more problems with global warming and other rising issues. The world will never not have problems. The question is will your mind be able to handle it the right way or not. Research your mind understand it, stay in the moment you will be best equipped to handle all future issues in life”
Excellent article and lesson from a great monk. Similar to life of Buddha
Hartanto is a visionary. If only there were not more Hartantos all over the world. The world needs to understand “research meditation”. Without this essential aspect of meditation we wont learn the importance of developing and maintaining a clean, resilient and wise mind that understands ones’ own actions, emotions and words always create consequences, good and bad ones. Thank you Hartanto.
Does Hartanto Gunawan get contributions from people in the USA via a charity?
I can ask him. Feel free to email my (contact page) if you are interested in donating to his school, and I can try and reach out to him!