Matthieu and two amazing friends and authors, Psychiatrist Christophe André and Philosopher Alexandre Jollien discuss their advice for how to deal with emotions. Excerpted from the new book, In Search of Wisdom. MATTHIEU • Sharpen your attention in order to become aware of negative emotions the very moment they arise. It is easier to p...

Kangyur Rinpoche. Photo by Matthieu Ricard For the ancient Greeks, the word eudaimonia conveyed the notion of accomplishment, of flourishing, of deep long-term fulfillment. While pleasure corresponds to hedonism, happiness corresponds to eudaimonia. Similarly, in Buddhism, the word soukha refers to an exceptionally healthy state of mi...

One of the most common errors we make is to confuse pleasure for happiness. According to a Hindu proverb: “Pleasure is only the shadow of happiness”. Pleasure is the direct result of hedonistic, pleasurable sensual, esthetic, or intellectual stimuli. This fleeting experience of pleasure is dependent upon circumstances, on a specific locati...

This is an excerpt from my book, In Search of Wisdom: A Monk, a Philosopher, and a Psychiatrist on What Matters Most.* The book is a discussion between three close friends: myself, the philosopher Alexandre Jollien, and psychiatrist Christophe André. In this edited excerpt we share our views on the practicalities and importance of a daily p...

The following is a letter I wrote in Switzerland at the repeated request of Emmanuel Tagnard, a religious journalist from Radio Télévision Suisse, who collected for letters for the Pope from people at different stages of a journey he took by foot from Switzerland to Rome. It was part of a series of seventeen letters to the Pope that he colle...

On the 29th of March, 2018, a joyful celebration, led by Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, was held at Shechen monastery in Nepal to commemorate the completion of the new edition and publication of the 71 volumes of the Rinchen Terdzö Chenmo, The Great Treasury of Rediscovered Teachings. A thanksgiving ceremony was performed to express deep gratitude...

Part of an Ongoing Series on Buddhism Demysitified Science can be defined as a rigorous empirical investigation of reality with the goal of discovering and explaining natural phenomena and predicting how they function. Its field of study covers not only external phenomena, something that physics and biology focus on, but also the way in w...

Buddhism is sometimes accused of being individualistic and indifferent to the needs of others and the world. This criticism is paradoxical if we understand that one of the cornerstones of Buddhism’s approach is to deconstruct the ego, and one of its main goals is to give rise to unconditional compassion for all beings. Such biases stem fro...

In our modern world, we are consumed from morning till night with endless activity. We do not have much time or energy left over to consider the basic causes of our happiness or suffering. If we take an honest look at ourselves, it is easy to see that we are a mixture of light and shadow, of good qualities and defects. The aim of meditation is ...

Derge press in Tibet where precious Buddhist texts are stored and printed The First in a Series of Notes about Buddhism Buddhism is often defined as being a philosophy, religion, art of living, and so on. But what are the key points that define Buddhism according to the Buddha himself and qualified masters whose commentaries illuminate ...