Initially intended as a means to manage the 1929 economic crisis, The GDP can be used to measure only one aspect of the quality of life. The combined scientific, technological, and industrial revolution, which has grown since the 19th century, has led to an improvement of living conditions (a considerable increase in life expectancy, improved...

To accomplish this task, we must begin by calming our turbulent mind. Our mind behaves like a captive monkey who, in his agitation, becomes more and more entangled in his bonds. Out of the vortex of our thoughts, first emotions arise, and then moods and behaviors, and finally habits and traits of character. What arises spontaneously does...

Is it not education's first mission to give children the opportunity to actualize what is best in them? Several studies have shown that young children who are encouraged to cooperate with others in school achieve better academic results and engage more often in ‟pro-social” behavior, in other words, conduct that brings about positive resu...

The way we deal with thoughts in meditation is not to block them or feed them indefinitely, but to let them arise and dissolve by themselves in the field of mindfulness. In this way, they do not take over our minds. Beyond that, meditation consists in cultivating a way of being that is not subject to the patterns of habitual thinking. It ofte...

The object of meditation is the mind. For the moment, it is simultaneously confused, agitated, rebellious, and subject to innumerable conditioned and automatic patterns. The goal of meditation is not to shut down the mind or anesthetize it, but rather to make it free, lucid, and balanced. According to Buddhism, the mind is not an entity b...

We have all, to varying degrees, had the experience of profound altruistic love, of a feeling of all-encompassing benevolence, of intense compassion for those who are suffering. Some people are naturally more altruistic than others, at times to the point of heroism. Others are more focused on themselves and find it hard to consider the welfar...

On August 9 in Massachusetts, I had the opportunity to participate in the first ‟symposium on socially engaged Buddhism,” organized by Bernie Glassman, where I spoke on the subject of ‟compassion in action.” Bernie is a remarkably warmhearted man, gifted with indefatigable diligence to serve those most in need. In the 1990s he founded ‟Z...

The Dalai Lama often describes Buddhism as being, above all, a science of the mind. That is not surprising, because the Buddhist texts put particular emphasis on the fact that all spiritual practices—mental, physical and oral—are directly or indirectly intended to transform the mind. Nevertheless, as the meditation master Mingyur Rinpoche wri...

A few days ago, in Portland in the USA, Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche, a 17 year old Tibetan lama whom I am accompanying in his travels, put back to the sea over one thousand lobsters who were destined to be boiled alive and eaten by gourmets. In June, the same lama, while visiting eastern Tibet, similarly saved over 2000 yaks from being s...

In voting to ban bullfights, Catalan Parliamentarians have launched a national debate in Spain. Those who support bullfights put forward two arguments: bullfighting is a cultural tradition as well as an art. However, to kill is not an art, and torture is not culture. Let us consider this by going through the stages involved in bullfighting. ...