To accompany the release of his book Lumière, published by Éditions Allary, Matthieu Ricard is offering a series of blogs on photography. An invitation to share wonder, celebrate the beauty of the world, and continue the quest for light that has guided him throughout his sixty-year journey.
« The light is within each of us. It is up to us to let it shine. » – Nelson Mandela
A smile, a radiant gaze, the infinite love that shines from a wise being. The beauty of the human being calls for celebration and joy, not envy or jealousy. This celebration can be shared through a joyful resonance, without imposing or persuading. Wonder at the goodness of human nature gives rise to trust, opening us to our fellow human beings. Disenchantment, on the contrary, breeds mistrust, to the point where we prefer to keep others at a distance. To become aware of our shared humanity is to intimately perceive this bond with all sentient beings—including other species—that inhabit the vastness of our world.
Painting with light is therefore not limited to capturing the nuances of the sky and the contours of the natural world; it also means revealing the inner light that emanates from eyes, faces, and hearts. Each portrait is a quest to capture not only a person’s appearance, but that intangible light which reflects their deepest nature.
It is almost always the gaze that gives a portrait its strength. “The gaze is the pathway to the heart,” wrote Paul Valéry. In the subtle interplay of shadows and highlights, a gaze can become a universe unto itself. Faces are like living canvases, where light plays with expressions to draw the landscape of emotions. Each wrinkle can be a furrow where light comes to rest; each smile, a ray that illuminates those around it.
To photograph faces is also to open a window onto the past and another onto the future. Buddhism tells us that we are the result of our past and the architects of our future, standing at every moment at a crossroads.
“The light shapes the sculpture of time,” wrote Emily Dickinson. By capturing a moment, a photograph sculpts time with light, giving form and duration to what would otherwise be fleeting and perhaps forgotten.
You can find this entire photographic project in Lumière, published by Éditions Allary.
Matthieu Ricard donates all of his income—royalties from his books, photographs, and lectures—to development projects run by the Karuna-Shechen association, which works to reduce poverty and empower the most vulnerable women, men, and children. In this way, every reader becomes a direct contributor to solidarity through their purchase.