In pali canon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathapindika

The scene is now Vimalakīrti's house in Vaiśālī. He is a wealthy merchant householder. He is a husband and a father. However, he is also a powerful bodhisattva with Buddha-like qualities.

Don't need to buy into economics is built on greed. There's many companies which are not greed based. Non-profit organizations for example. One can also share wealth with the employees by having them as automatic share holders of the company, paying the profits to all via dividend.

Can also read some Marxism, Star trek economy without money, https://www.thevenusproject.com/

Corporate social responsibilities, looking towards being green, using profits for good projects. Like so many billionaires are using it to fund space travel. Can use it to end poverty, promote vegan food, plant based meat etc.

And look to Buddhist temples who has staffs too.

The spiritual path is all about totally obliterating all delusions and sense of self/Self and later the subtle knowledge obscurations. For that you need to realise, and if you haven't realise then take steps to realisation, then after realisation there is usually still ongoing practice and two obscurations that are gradually eliminated. Anything that supports that path or at least does not detract one from that, will be supportive. Examples of actions that would not be supportive would be the ten nonvirtues*, or any acts that harms oneself and/or others, disturbs the mind, causes guilt and other unwholesome mental factors which can obscure the clarity and stability of one's mind. The ten unwholesome or nonvirtuous actions themselves arise out of afflictions and self-grasping.

None of those actions you mentioned, in and of themselves, are necessities nor hindrances for awakening but are individual specific. Nobody can tell you what you must do, it must come from one's own intuitive awareness. For example taking responsibility for family - what about monks? Monks don't need to take responsibility for family (other than perhaps in some ways like teaching dharma and so on), but many monks are awakened. But as a lay person if you have a family, then taking responsibility for family is also not in and of itself an obstacle, but what is appropriate for you.

Engagement in activity is not necessarily an obstacle, in fact, when one is actualizing anatta, one is fully engaged in a non-dual manner, from sound and sight and smell and taste and touch and thought... to full engagement in action where the whole universe is exerting in that action/activity. One is only not engaged in the moment of action if there is a sense of self, dissociating, withdrawing, contracting away from the moment of experience or action. Dissociation is the result of sense of self and grasping, thus a cause of suffering. But at the same time if one is attached or grasping while engaging, then one is appropriating things in terms of I, me, and mine, then it becomes an obstacle and a cause for suffering as well. So, the key and quality of spiritual practices does not always lie in 'what' you are doing/not-doing, but more in terms of the quality of how you are relating or experiencing that moment, and more fundamentally whether one is operating from ignorance or wisdom/gnosis.

There is also the teaching of non-action, wu wei, or wei wu wei -- actionless action. In actionless action, the gap between actor and action is refined till none. As John Tan puts it in 2012, "When the gap between actor and action is refined till none, that is non-action and that non-action is total action. Whether this total action is understood as the natural way will depend on whether the insight of anatta has arisen. Anatta is the insight that allows the practitioner to see clearly that this has always been the case." - http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../total-exertion_20.html

Besides the refining the gap of actor and action till none, there are also the qualities of 'action without seeking results', behaving without hopes and fears. Almost like you are doing something for the sake of just doing something, rather than a result in the future. There can moments of planning, a goal, but in that moment of executing there is no attachment to all these, just pure action. And one is not attached to an expected result or outcome either. The means becomes an end to itself. As John Tan said, in his business career, he had to deal with a lot of these, and the key is completely relinquishing all grasping at 'gain' and 'loss' into non-action. This is also a key to non-action and liberation. The relinquishment of grasping towards the eight worldly winds: Gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN8_6.html

Now I speak as if spirituality is only totally 'self immolating' or 'self relinquishment' as if it is a complete opposite of 'self improvement'. That is also not necessarily the case. Improvement is always happening and is usually something positive, but while actualizing it comes from the flow of the total exertion. Like you learn and become good at singing by the full engagement of singing, you learn and become good at tennis by the full engagement of playing tennis. The learning does not come from a 'self' trying to 'know' or 'grasp' or 'learn' or 'become better' at something. Simply let the full engagement of whole body-mind-universe totally exerting itself, improve itself by itself and just lose yourself in that whole process without even grasping or seeking for an outcome, that whole 'self' construct is unnecessary and extra. Then actions can be self-liberated. Otherwise, all actions just become worldly karma or actions, karmic activities, that leave traces resulting and ripening in good and bad experiences in samsara but no liberation.

Total Exertion

Total Exertion

Total Exertion

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When sound arises, fully and completely embraced with sound yet non-attached. Similarly, in life we must be fully engaged yet non-attached” - John Tan/Thusness

“[6:44 PM, 5/1/2019] John Tan: The 8 worldly concerns are the places you practice. That is why I told you engage in situations and events. Karmic propensities will not manifest without conditions. They remain hidden. Therefore last phase is always the market place. If you did not enter the marketplace, realization is not actualized.”

(Note: on practicing in the midst of the eight worldly conditions, refer to Lokavipatti Sutta at https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN8_6.html - in brief; they are gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain)

"There is the self that arises from conceptual reification, seeing through that with anatta insight is entry point.

There is the self that arises in marketplace, in day to day activities, anatta of that is graduation." - John Tan, 2018

“the degree of openess and effortlessness are a matter of wisdom in seeing through... and this seeing through is only actualized in moment to moment engagement.

We do not know how much residue is left until we meet conditions" - John Tan

“Andre posted another good article today about how the 8 worldly concerns in daily engagements relate to agentless-action, dependent origination and emptiness and all these play their inevitable bits in wearing off our obscurations. As the sutra explained, habitual obscurations are exceedingly subtle like scent left behind a container hence there is no short-cut to liberation -- it’s all step by step and bit by bit erosion of the nuances and subtleness of “inherentness” in one’s ignorance.” – John Tan, Connecting dots, authenticating DO

“To me, actualization of one's insights is like a lotus, pure, mature and beautiful wherever is. Peace is not sitting [with] nothing to do [while] appreciating sunrise and sunset … it is entering hellish conditions [while] not being affected like a lotus.” - John Tan, 2019

[12:04 PM, 4/12/2020] John Tan: I hope this pandemic ends quickly, it is world war III in actuality.

[12:05 PM, 4/12/2020] John Tan: But it is extremely touching to see some people showing care to those that needs them. Even hawkers are showing.

[12:05 PM, 4/12/2020] John Tan: ‘I’m losing money, might as well do good’: The hawkers helping the helpless

[12:06 PM, 4/12/2020] John Tan: https://www.cnbc.com/.../told-my-landlord-i-cant-pay-rent...

[12:06 PM, 4/12/2020] John Tan: It is extremely warm to read these kind of stories.

[12:08 PM, 4/12/2020] John Tan: You see, I want you to look into these in practice.

[12:09 PM, 4/12/2020] John Tan: Practice is not just non-dual. But to dirty your hand and still rising above them like the symbol of a lotus. Not disassociating.

“IMO there is no further, it is the depth of how deep and how much the self is released regardless of what path is taken. I am not a teacher, there may be other ways… … Dealing with the mind, energy and awareness is a complex journey. There is the safe way and the dangerous way. The way is quite straightforward but the mind uncontented will look for shortcuts as it wants more. But that is usual… lol. There are those that want others to know about it and wrote about it and there are those that are not into this.

Soh has written a lot and visited many masters that can probably share with you better.

As for me, my path is simple. It is just plainly and simply opening myself in my work, seeing my family and children enjoy… ever tasting these natural expressions. I find them miraculous yet ordinary, others may not and look for more. So I am unable to tell them anything further.” - John Tan, 2019

“Actually there is no forcing. All the 4 aspects in I AMness are fully expressed in anatta as I told you. If aliveness is everywhere, how is one not to engage… it is a natural [tendency] to explore in [various] arena[s] and enjoy in business, family, spiritual practices... I [am] involve[d] in Finance, business, society, nature, spirituality, yoga.... I don't find it efforting… You just don't have to boast about this and that and be non-dual and open.” - John Tan, 2019

“Just met a friend yesterday who recently started meditating. His girlfriend joked that he might be becoming a monk. I told him that besides the daily sitting meditation, practice is mostly and very much in daily life and engagement rather than in some remote region in the mountains, it is about living a life in the marketplace that is spontaneously beneficial for oneself and others around, and joyful, rather than one that is miserable. It is fully engaged and free.

At its deepest, most basic level, Zen—or any spiritual path, for that matter—is much more than a list of what we can get from it. In fact, Zen is the realization of the oneness of life in all its aspects. It’s not just the pure or “spiritual” part of life: it’s the whole thing. It’s flowers, mountains, rivers, streams, and the inner city and homeless children on Forty-second Street. It’s the empty sky and the cloudy sky and the smoggy sky, too. It’s the pigeon flying in the empty sky, the pigeon shitting in the empty sky, and walking through the pigeon droppings on the sidewalk. It’s the rose growing in the garden, the cut rose shining in the vase in the living room, the garbage where we throw away the rose, and the compost where we throw away the garbage. Zen is life—our life. It’s coming to the realization that all things are nothing but expressions of myself. And myself is nothing but the full expression of all things. It’s a life without limits. There are many different metaphors for such a life. But the one that I have found the most useful, and the most meaningful, comes from the kitchen. Zen masters call a life that is lived fully and completely, with nothing held back, “the supreme meal.” And a person who lives such a life—a person who knows how to plan, cook, appreciate, serve, and offer the supreme meal of life, is called a Zen cook.”

“But why does a venerable elder such as yourself waste time doing the hard work of a head cook?” Dogen persisted. “Why don’t you spend your time practicing meditation or studying the words of the masters?” The Zen cook burst out laughing, as if Dogen had said something very funny. “My dear foreign friend,” he said, “it’s clear you do not yet understand what Zen practice is all about. When you get the chance, please come and visit me at my monastery so we can discuss these matters more fully.” And with that, he gathered up his mushrooms and began the long journey back to his monastery. Dogen did eventually visit and study with the Zen cook in his monastery, as well as with many other masters. When he finally returned to Japan, Dogen became a celebrated Zen master. But he never forgot the lessons he learned from the Zen cook in China.”

- Zen Master Bernie Glassman” - Soh, 2019

“In Zen, enlightenment implies full integration into activities. Any lack of such insight is not 'enlightenment in Zen'.” - John Tan, 2010

“My daily activities are not unusual,

I'm just naturally in harmony with them.

Grasping nothing, discarding nothing,

In every place there's no hindrance, no conflict.

Who assigns the ranks of vermilion and purple?

The hills' and mountains' last speck of dust

is extinguished.

[My] supernatural power and marvelous activity—

Drawing water and carrying firewood.” - Layman Pang

For more: ATR Guide - Entering the Marketplace, Actualizing Daily Life