You have lived several times in a hermitage. How was it?
Great, beautiful! My longest retreat, initially planned for a year, lasted nine months; it was cut short in order to spend some time with my father who was at …
Read moreArchive du blog pour Matthieu Ricard
The Bigger the Ego, the More Vulnerable We Are – Part 4
What is the best way to react to a “super-ego”?
The only answer it is to develop a different culture, a different mindset.
Is this realistic?
Violence has been decreasing for five centuries. Life in Europe has never been as …
Read moreThe Bigger the Ego, the More Vulnerable We Are – Part 3
What was your new life like when you became a disciple?
Kangyur Rinpoche taught me various practices: meditations, visualizations, reflection exercises on eternity, death, the value of life. He advised me to learn Tibetan. I first focused on the exercises …
Read moreThe Bigger the Ego, the More Vulnerable We Are – Part 2
Buddhism is a training of the mind. Can you explain what this means?
It is about abolishing the origin of suffering. What is the point of teaching if it doesn’t bring relief? A lot of suffering is “mind-made”, created in …
Read moreIt’s Time to Enter the “Age of the Woman”
Until twelve thousand years ago, before humans had developed agriculture and animal husbandry, people lived in small hunter-gatherer societies that displayed equality, reciprocity, and cooperation between the sexes.
A few thousand years later our world, and the place of women …
Read moreThe Bigger the Ego, the More Vulnerable We Are
Kyabje Kangyur Rinpoche (1897-1975), one of the great Tibetan teachers of the twentieth century.
Leaving aside a promising career in molecular biology, Matthieu Ricard chose instead to become a Buddhist monk and has never regretted it. French interpreter to the …
Read moreThe Enlightened Vagabond, The Life and Teachings of Patrul Rinpoche – Part 6: That’s it!
One day, as Patrul Rinpoche and a student close to his heart, Nyoshul Lungtok, were staying in retreat in the forest of Ari Dza, Patrul asked Lungtok, “Do you miss your mother?”
“Not really,” Lungtok replied.
“A-dzi!” said …
Read moreThe Enlightened Vagabond, The Life and Teachings of Patrul Rinpoche – Part 5 : Patrul is Taught His Own Teachings
Patrul had decided to go to Kathok and gather merit by circumambulating the stupas at the Kathok Kumbum (the Hundred Thousand Images of Kathok). A few people noticed this shabby nomad lama stopping at each stupa, sticking his head inside, …
Read moreThe Enlightened Vagabond, The Life and Teachings of Patrul Rinpoche – Part 4: Patrul on Having Things and Patrul and the Widow.
This huge building is entirely made of flat stones engraved with mantras and prayers. Province of Myniak, Eastern Tibet. Photograph by Matthieu Ricard.
Excerpts from The Enlightened Vagabond, the biography of the 19th century hermit and spiritual master Patrul …
Read moreUltimate Truth According to Buddhism
During a teaching that I attended in Nepal given by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche he reminded us that all of the Buddha’s teachings were given so that we may realize, in stages, the ultimate truth. If we limit ourselves to only …
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