Matthieu Quotes & Sayings

Enlightenment is eliminating mental confusion, eliminating hatred, jealousy, mental toxins, cravings. That's very simple and straightforward. Whether you can do it or not is another matter. — Matthieu Ricard

Good and evil exist only in terms of the happiness or suffering they create in ourselves and others — Matthieu Ricard

Children, old people, vagabonds laugh easily and heartily: they have nothing to lose and hope for little. In renunciation lies a delicious taste of simplicity and deep peace. — Matthieu Ricard

There is a possibility for change because all emotions are fleeting. — Matthieu Ricard

Let us live simply in the freshness of the present moment, in the clarity of pure awakened mind. — Matthieu Ricard

Worries are pointless. If there's a solution, there's no need to worry. If no solution exists, there's no point to worry. — Matthieu Ricard

We find that the optimists have an undeniable advantage over the pessimists. Many studies show that they do better on exams, in their chosen profession, and in their relationships, live longer and in better health, enjoy a better chance of surviving postoperative shock, and are less prone to depression and suicide. — Matthieu Ricard

Sober, a philosopher of science, has shown through convincing models that isolated, selfless individuals who come into contact with only selfish and violent individuals will be taken advantage of and tend to disappear quickly.4 Conversely, when such altruists group together and cooperate with one another, they have a definite evolutionary advantage over the selfish people, who also fight among themselves and therefore may slowly disappear from the population. — Matthieu Ricard

Soon after we first got to know each other, I asked him a typical traveler's question: How did he deal with jet lag? He looked at me, surprised. "For me a flight is just a brief retreat in the sky," Matthieu said, as if amazed that the idea didn't strike everyone. "There's nothing I can do, so it's really quite liberating. There's nowhere else I can be. So I just sit and watch the clouds and the blue sky. Everything is still and everything is moving. It's beautiful." Clouds and blue sky, of course, are how Buddhists explain the nature of our mind: there may be clouds passing across it, but that doesn't mean a blue sky isn't always there behind the obscurations. All you need is the patience to sit still until the blue shows up again. His — Pico Iyer

Genuine fearlessness arises with the confidence that we will be able to gather the inner resources to deal with any situation that comes our way. — Matthieu Ricard

As long as a sense of self-importance rules your being, you will never know lasting peace. — Matthieu Ricard

We try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the outer world is limited, temporary, and often, illusory. — Matthieu Ricard

Knowledge does not mean mastering a great quantity of different information, but understanding the nature of mind. This knowledge can penetrate each one of our thoughts and illuminate each one of our perceptions. — Matthieu Ricard

If you see the humanity in the world, grains of sand that bring everything to a halt - it's corruption, clashes of egos, human factors more than resources. So, how to avoid that? There's a lack of human maturity. So it's not a vain or futile exercise to perfect yourself to some extent before you serve others, otherwise it's like cutting the wheat when it's still green. And nobody is fed by that. So we need a minimum of readiness to efficiently and wisely be at the service of others. So compassion needs also to be sort of enlightened by wisdom. Otherwise, it's blind. — Matthieu Ricard

Isn't it the mind that translates the outer condition into happiness and suffering? — Matthieu Ricard

Confidence is closely linked to how well our perceptions match reality — Matthieu Ricard

For a few moments, be aware of your potential for change. Whatever your present situation is, evolution and transformation are always possible. At the least, you can change your way of seeing things and then, gradually, your way of being as well. — Matthieu Ricard

No change occurs if we just let our habitual tendencies and automatic patterns of thought perpetuate and even reinforce themselves, thought after thought, day after day, year after year. But those tendencies and patterns can be challenged. — Matthieu Ricard

There is a dilemma, to reconcile three time scales: in the short term, the economy; in the middle range, global well - being generally; and, in the long range, the environment. — Matthieu Ricard

Empathy is the faculty to resonate with the feelings of others. When we meet someone who is joyful, we smile. When we witness someone in pain, we suffer in resonance with his or her suffering. — Matthieu Ricard

What counts is not the enormity of the task, but the size of the courage. — Matthieu Ricard

Imagine a ship that is sinking and needs all the available power to run the pumps to drain out the rising waters. The first class passengers refuse to cooperate because they feel hot and want to use the air-conditioner and other electrical appliances. The second-class passengers spend all their time trying to be upgraded to first-class status. The boat sinks and the passengers all drown. That is where the present approach to climate change is leading. — Matthieu Ricard

In all of us is the design of the world, We have the ability to access and understand the universe. To become other forms. It's tea you drink now, in six hours it becomes you. — Matthieu Ricard

The goal of meditation is precisely to make your mind smooth and manageable so that it can be concentrated or relaxed at will; and especially to free it from the tyranny of mental afflictions and confusion — Matthieu Ricard

Happiness does not come automatically. It is not a gift that good fortune bestows upon us and a reversal of fortune takes back. It depends on us alone. One does not become happy overnight, but with patient labor, day after day. Happiness is constructed, and that requires effort and time. In order to become happy, we have to learn how to change ourselves. LUCA AND FRANCESCO CAVALLI-SFORZA — Matthieu Ricard

Voluntary simplicity is at once joyous and altruistic. Joyous because it is not permanently plagued by the hunger for "more"; altruistic because it does not encourage the disproportionate concentration of resources in the hands of a few, resources which - were they to be spread evenly - would significantly improve the lives of those deprived of basic needs. — Matthieu Ricard

Recognize suffering, Eliminate its source, End it By practicing the path. — Matthieu Ricard

The humble person has nothing to lose and nothing to gain. If she is praised, she feels that it is humility, and not herself, that is being praised. If she is criticized, she feels that bringing her faults to light is a great favor. "Few people are wise enough to prefer useful criticism to treacherous praise," wrote La Rochefoucauld, echoing the Tibetan sages who are pleased to recall that "the best teaching is that which unmasks our hidden faults." Free of hope and fear alike, the humble person remains lighthearted. — Matthieu Ricard

There is no such thing as good and bad in an absolute sense. There is only the good and bad- the harm in terms of happiness and suffering- that our thoughts and our actions do to ourselves and others. — Matthieu Ricard

Happiness is a skill, emotional balance is a skill, compassion and altruism are skills, and like any skill they need to be developed. That's what education is about. — Matthieu Ricard

One is not born wise; one becomes it. — Matthieu Ricard

True freedom means freeing oneself from the dictates of the ego and its accompanying emotions. — Matthieu Ricard

We are very much like birds that have lived too long in a cage to which we return even when we get the chance to fly away. We have grown so accustomed to our faults that we can barely imagine what life would be like without them. The prospect of change makes us dizzy. — Matthieu Ricard

At the collective level, pride is expressed in the conviction of being superior to others as a nation or a race, of being the guardian of the true values of civilization, and of the need to impose this dominant "model" on "ignorant" peoples by any means available. This attitude often serves as a pretext for "developing" the resources of underdeveloped countries. The conquistadors and their bishops burned the vast Mayan and Aztec libraries of Mexico, of which barely a dozen volumes survive. Chinese textbooks and media continue to describe Tibetans as backward barbarians and the Dalai Lama as a monster. It was pride, above all, that allowed the Chinese to ignore the hundreds of thousands of volumes of philosophy housed in Tibetan monasteries before they demolished six thousand of those centers of learning. — Matthieu Ricard

Meditation is not just blissing out under a mango tree. It completely changes your brain and therefore changes what you are. — Matthieu Ricard

It's said that the Buddha's enlightenment is great than that of a traveler setting out, in the same proportion as the heavens are bigger than what can be seen of them through the eye of a needle. But in both cases, what you see is the sky. — Matthieu Ricard

Demanding immediate results is an aspect of unsteadiness of mind or laziness. — Matthieu Ricard

Wisdom and compassion should become the dominating influences that guide our thoughts , our words, and our actions. — Matthieu Ricard

The truth is that even if resentment is triggered by an external object, it is not located anywhere else but in our mind. — Matthieu Ricard

Negative emotions like hatred destroy our peace of mind. — Matthieu Ricard

These general surveys have found that the sense of happiness is higher in countries that ensure their inhabitants' basic resources, greater security, autonomy, and freedom, as well as sufficient educational opportunities and access to information. People are manifestly happier in countries where personal freedoms are guaranteed and democracy secure. This is only to be expected: citizens are happier in a climate of peace. Regardless of economic conditions, those who live under military rule are unhappier. — Matthieu Ricard

It is the only thing we can do. ... Each of us must turn inward and destroy in himself all that he thinks he ought to destroy in others. And remember that every atom of hate added to this world makes it still more inhospitable. - ETTY HILLESUM29 — Matthieu Ricard

Peace is not weak. Standing up to a tank is harder than dropping a suicide bomb — Matthieu Ricard

At each point in our lives, we are at a crossroads. We are the fruit of our past and we are the architects of our future ... If you want to know your past, look at your present circumstances. If you want to know your future, look at what is in your mind. — Matthieu Ricard

Paraphrasing Spinoza, Alexandre adds, "In pity, sadness comes first. I am sad that the other is suffering, but I don't really love him. In compassion, love comes first."23 The — Matthieu Ricard

Another form of laziness is thinking: 'That's not for me; it's beyond my abilities. I'd rather not get involved with it.' In other words, you give up the race before you reach the starting line. — Matthieu Ricard

I think what everyone should be doing, before it's too late, is committing themselves to what they really want to do with their lives. — Matthieu Ricard

The happiest man is he who has no trace of malice in his soul. PLATO — Matthieu Ricard

Being altruistic not only helps us to benefit others, but it is also the most satisfying way to live. — Matthieu Ricard

Our Earth is taking part in a fantastic cosmic ballet. First, it pulls us through space at a speed of nearly twenty miles per second during its annual journey around the Sun. The Sun then drags the Earth with it during its voyage through the Milky Way at a speed of 140 miles per second. The Milky Way is falling in turn at approximately fifty-five miles per second toward Andromeda. And there's more to come. The Local Group that contains our galaxy and Andromeda is falling at about 375 miles per second toward the Virgo cluster of galaxies, which is in turn moving toward a large complex of galaxies called the Great Attractor. — Matthieu Ricard

Envy and jealousy stem from the fundamental inability to rejoice at someone else's happiness or success — Matthieu Ricard

Love is the only thing that doubles every time it's given, said Albert Schweitzer. — Matthieu Ricard

Authentic happiness is not linked to an activity; it is a state of being, a profound emotional balance struck by a subtle understanding of how the mind functions. — Matthieu Ricard

It is not possible to live happily if one does not lead a beautiful, righteous, and wise life, or to lead a beautiful, righteous, and wise life if one is not happy. EPICURUS — Matthieu Ricard

According to the philosopher Andre Comte-Sponville: The wise man has nothing left to expect or to hope for. Because he is entirely happy, he needs nothing. Because he needs nothing, he is entirely happy. — Matthieu Ricard

Nothing goes right on the outside when nothing is going right on the inside. — Matthieu Ricard

We all have the ability to study the causes of suffering and gradually to free ourselves from them ... it is not the magnitude of the task that matters, it's the magnitude of our courage. — Matthieu Ricard

Few of us would regret the years it takes to complete an education or master a crucial skill. So why complain about the perseverance needed to become a well-balanaced and truly compassionate human being? — Matthieu Ricard

Those who seek happiness in pleasure, wealth, glory, power, and heroics are as naive as the child who tries to catch a rainbow and wear it as a coat. DILGO KHYENTSE RINPOCHE — Matthieu Ricard

Altruism is like rings in the water when you toss a pebble. At first the circles are very small, then they get larger, and finally they embrace the entire surface of the ocean. - ALEXANDRE JOLLIEN — Matthieu Ricard

Meditation gives you more inner strength and confidence, and if you don't feel vulnerable, you can put that to the service of others. So it's not just about sitting and cultivating caring mindfulness. It's building up a way of being and then using it for the service of others. — Matthieu Ricard

In the freshness of the present moment, past is gone, future is not yet born, and - if one remains in pure mindfulness and freedom - disturbing thoughts arise and go without leaving a trace. That is basic meditation. — Matthieu Ricard

I have also come to understand that although some people are naturally happier than others, their happiness is still vulnerable and incomplete, and that achieving durable happiness as a way of being is a skill. It requires sustained effort in training the mind and developing a set of human qualities, such as inner peace, mindfulness, and altruistic love. — Matthieu Ricard

Although the optimist may be a little giddy when foreseeing the future, telling himself that it will all work out in the end when that isn't always the case, his attitude is more fruitful since, in the hope of undertaking a hundred projects, followed up by diligent action, the optimist will end up completing fifty. Conversely, in limiting himself to undertake a mere ten, the pessimist might complete five at best and often fewer, since he'll devote little energy to a task he feels to be doomed from the start. — Matthieu Ricard

The basic root of happiness lies in our minds; outer circumstances are nothing more than adverse or favourable. — Matthieu Ricard

If we dedicate a certain amount of time each day to cultivating compassion or any other positive quality, we are likely to attain results, just like when we train the body ... Meditation consists of familiarizing ourselves with a new way of being, of managing our thoughts and the way we perceive the world. Through the recent advances in neuroscience it is now possible to evaluate these methods and to verify their impact on the brain and body. — Matthieu Ricard

Happiness is the result of inner maturity. It depends on us alone, and requires patient work, carried out from day to day. Happiness must be built, and this requires time and effort. In the long term, happiness and unhappiness are therefore a way of being, or a life skill. — Matthieu Ricard

Tibetan poet Shabkar said: One with compassion is kind even when angry; one without compassion will kill even as he smiles. — Matthieu Ricard

We do all kinds of things to remain beautiful yet we spend surprisingly little time taking care of what matters most: the way our mind functions. — Matthieu Ricard

Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things. — Matthieu Ricard

Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time. You could go from love to hate. But you cannot, at the same time - toward the same object, the same person - want to harm and want to do good. — Matthieu Ricard

Happiness is the main object of our aspirations, whatever name we give to it: fulfilment, deep satisfaction, serenity, accomplishment, wisdom, fortune, joy or inner peace, and however we try to seek it: creativity, justice, altruism, striving, completion of a plan or a piece of work. — Matthieu Ricard

I got really involved in science research and the science of meditation. — Matthieu Ricard

It may be true that "expressing ourselves," giving free rein to our "natural" impulses, gives us momentary relief from our inner tensions, but we remain trapped in the endless circle of our usual habits. Such a lax attitude doesn't solve any serious problems, since in being ordinarily oneself, one remains ordinary. As the French philosopher Alain has written, "You don't need to be a sorcerer to cast a spell over yourself by saying 'This is how I am. I can do nothing about it. — Matthieu Ricard

When the mind is full of memories and preoccupied by the future, it misses the freshness of the present moment. In this way, we fail to recognize the luminous simplicity of mind that is always present behind the veils of thought. — Matthieu Ricard

Transform our way of perceiving things, we transform the quality of our lives. — Matthieu Ricard

Repeatedly comparing our situation with that of others is a kind of sickness of the mind that brings much unnecessary discontent and frustration. When we have a new source of enjoyment or a new car, we get excited and feel that we are at the top of our game. But we soon get used to it and our excitement subsides; when a new model comes out we become unhappy with the one we have and feel that we can only be satisfied if we get the new one, especially if other people around us have it. We are caught on the "hedonic treadmill" - a concept coined by P. Brinkman and D. T. Campbell.7 While jogging on a treadmill, we need to keep running simply to remain in the same spot. In this case, we need to keep running toward acquiring more things and new sources of excitement simply to maintain our current level of satisfaction. — Matthieu Ricard

By happiness I mean here a deep sense of flourishing that arises from an exceptionally healthy mind. This is not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion, or a mood, but an optimal state of being. Happiness is also a way of interpreting the world, since while it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it. — Matthieu Ricard

Happiness can't be reduced to a few agreeable sensations. Rather, it is a way of being and of experiencing the world - a profound fulfillment that suffuses every moment and endures despite inevitable setbacks. — Matthieu Ricard

When hearing a door creak, the optimist thinks it's opening and the pessimist thinks it's closing. — Matthieu Ricard

One may be an excellent pianist, mathematician, gardener, or scientist and still be cranky and jealous, but in the West one can be considered a great moralist and yet not live by one's moral principles. We must simply recall here the Buddhist requirement that a person and his or her teachings be compatible. Ethics is not like any ordinary science. It must arise from the deepest understanding of human qualities, and such understanding comes only when one undertakes the journey of discovery personally. An ethic that is built exclusively on intellectual ideas and that is not buttressed at every point by virtue, genuine wisdom, and compassion has no solid foundation. — Matthieu Ricard

He understands that all beings have the power to free themselves from ignorance and unhappiness, but that they don't know it. How — Matthieu Ricard

Some people might think that the smartest way to guarantee their own well-being is to isolate themselves from others and to work hard at their own happiness, without consideration for what other people are experiencing. They probably assume that if everybody did that, we'd all be happy. But the result would be exactly the opposite: instead of being happy, they would be torn between hope and fear, make their own lives miserable, and ruin the lives of the people around them too. — Matthieu Ricard

By breaking down our sense of self-importance, all we lose is a parasite that has long infected our minds. What we gain in return is freedom, openness of mind, spontaneity, simplicity, altruism: all qualities inherent in happiness. — Matthieu Ricard

Simplifying our lives does not mean sinking into idleness, but on the contrary, getting rid of the most subtle aspect of laziness: the one which makes us take on thousands of less important activities. — Matthieu Ricard

On a timeline that shows the 15 billion years of the universe as one year, the first human appears only at 10:30p on December 31 (about 3 million years ago). Stonehenge is built and Egyptian civilization arises at 11:50:54p (about 3,000 years ago). The Buddha appears on the timeline at 11:59:55p (2,500 years ago), and Christ shows up at 11:59:55p (2,000 years ago). The European Renaissance occurs at 11:59:59p (450 years ago), on the last day of the year. — Matthieu Ricard

We deal with our mind from morning till evening and it can be our best friend or our worst enemy. — Matthieu Ricard

We must distinguish between spirituality in general terms, which aims to make us better people, and religion. Adopting a religion remains optional, but becoming a better human being is essential. — Matthieu Ricard

May every moment of my life and of the lives of others be one of wisdom, flourishing, and inner peace! — Matthieu Ricard

Thus, little by little, through training the mind, you can change your habitual way of being. — Matthieu Ricard

It is in learning music that many youthful hearts learn to love. — Matthieu Ricard

Humility does not mean believing oneself to be inferior, but to be freed from self-importance. It is a state of natural simplicity which is in harmony with our true nature and allows us to taste the freshness of the present moment. — Matthieu Ricard

To grant forgiveness to someone who has truly changed is not a way of condoning or forgetting his or her past crimes, but of acknowledging whom he or she has become. — Matthieu Ricard

When difficulties seem insurmountable, optimists react in a more constructive and creative way. They accept the facts with realism, know how to rapidly identify the positive in adversity, draw lessons from it, and come up with an alternative solution or turn to a new project. Pessimists would rather turn away from the problem or adopt escapist strategies - sleep, isolation, drug or alcohol abuse - that diminish their focus on the problem.9 Instead of confronting them with resolve, they prefer to brood over their misfortunes, nurture illusions, dream up "magic" solutions, and accuse the whole world of being against them. They have a hard time drawing lessons from the past, which often leads to the repetition of their problems. They are more fatalistic ("I told you it wouldn't work. It's always the same, no matter what I do") and are quick to see themselves as "mere pawns in the game of life. — Matthieu Ricard

The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed. - GANDHI T — Matthieu Ricard

Anyone who enjoys inner peace is no more broken by failure as he is inflated by success. He is able to fully live his experiences in the context of a vast and profound serenity, since he understands that experiences are ephemeral and that it is useless to cling to them. — Matthieu Ricard

That's what Buddhism has been trying to unravel - the mechanism of happiness and suffering. It is a science of the mind. — Matthieu Ricard

The most striking quality that humans and animals have in common is the capacity to experience suffering. — Matthieu Ricard

Neuroscience has proven that similar areas of the brain are activated both in the person who suffers and in the one who feels empathy. Thus, empathic suffering is a true experience of suffering. — Matthieu Ricard

To love oneself is to love life. It is essential to understand that we make ourselves happy in making others happy. — Matthieu Ricard