Matthieu Ricard
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Matthieu Ricard
Nepali:
Religion
Buddhism
School
Vajrayana
Personal
Nationality
Nepalese
Born
15 February 1946 (age 67) Aix-les-Bains, Savoie, France
Religious career
Teacher
Kangyur Rinpoche Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Website
www.matthieuricard.org
Matthieu Ricard (Nepali: born 15 February 1946) is a French Buddhist monkwho resides at Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Nepal. Born in Aix-les-Bains, Savoie, France, he is the son of the late Jean-Franois Revel (born Jean-Franois Ricard), a renowned French philosopher, his mother is the lyrical abstractionist painter Yahne Le Toumelin. Matthieu Ricard grew up among the personalities and ideas of French intellectual circles. [1] He worked for a Ph.D. degree in molecular genetics at the Pasteur Institute under French Nobel Laureate Franois Jacob. After completing his doctoral thesis in 1972, Ricard decided to forsake his scientific career and concentrate on the practice of Tibetan Buddhism. He lived in the Himalayas studying with the Kangyur Rinpoche and some other great masters of that tradition and became the close student and attendant of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche until his death in 1991. Since then, Dr. Ricard has dedicated his activities to fulfilling Khyentse Rinpoches vision. Ricards photographs of the spiritual masters, the landscape, and the people of theHimalayas have appeared in numerous books and magazines. Henri Cartier-Bresson has said of his work, "Matthieus spiritual life and his camera are one, from which springs these images, fleeting and eternal."[citation needed] He is the author and photographer of Tibet, An Inner Journey and Monk Dancers of Tibetand, in collaboration, the photobooks Buddhist Himalayas, Journey to Enlightenment and recently Motionless Journey: From a Hermitage in the Himalayas. He is the translator of numerous Buddhist texts, including The Life of Shabkar. The dialogue with his father, Jean-Francois Revel, The Monk and the Philosopher, was a best seller in Europe and was translated into 21 languages, and The Quantum and the Lotus (coauthored with Trinh Xuan Thuan) reflects his long-standing interest in science and Buddhism. His 2003 book Plaidoyer pour le bonheur (published in English in 2006 asHappiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill)[2] explores the meaning and fulfillment of happiness and was a major best-seller in France. He has been dubbed the "happiest person in the world" by popular media.[3][4][5] Matthieu Ricard was a volunteer subject in a study performed at the University of WisconsinMadison's on happiness, scoring significantly beyond the average obtained after testing hundreds of other volunteers.[4]
He co-authored a study on the brains of long-term meditators, including himself, who had undergone a minimum of three years retreat.[6] A board member of the Mind and Life Institute, which is devoted to meetings and collaborative research between scientists and Buddhist scholars and meditators, his contributions have appeared in Destructive Emotions (edited by Daniel Goleman) and other books of essays. He is engaged in research on the effect of mind training on the brain, at Madison-Wisconsin, Princeton and Berkeley. He received the French National Order of Merit for his humanitarian work in the East. For the last few years, Dr. Ricard has dedicated his effort and the royalties of his books to various charitable projects in Asia, that include building and maintaining clinics, schools and orphanages in the region. Since 1989, he has acted as the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama.[1]
Teaching activities and appearances[edit]
Ricard has been a speaker at the World Happiness Forum conferences held in Sydney, London, San Francisco and Singapore.[7]
References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to: 2012-11-02 2. Jump up^ Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill (9780316057837): Matthieu Ricard: Books, Amazon.com, retrieved 2013-06-25 3. 4. Jump up^ Matthieu Ricard | Frequently Asked Questions ^ Jump up to:
a b a b
Buddhist monk is the world's happiest man, Daily News America, 2012-10-29, retrieved
Chalmers, Robert (2007-02-18), Matthieu Ricard: Meet Mr Happy - Profiles, People, The
Independent, retrieved 2013-06-25 5. Jump up^ The pursuit of happiness - Relationships - Life & Style Home, The Brisbane Times, 2008-05-08, retrieved 2013-06-25 6. Jump up^ Antoine Lutz, Lawrence L. Greischar, Nancy B. Rawlings, Matthieu Ricard, Richard J. Davidson (2004-11-16), "Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice", PNAS 101 (46): 1636973,doi:10.1073/pnas.0407401101, PMC 526201,PMID 15534199 7. Jump up^ World Happiness Forum - speakers, Terrapinn.com, 2011-06-17, retrieved 2013-06-25
External links
