Journalist Elizabeth Kolbert and Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard each had big books in 2015. Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History—winner of the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction—takes an unflinching look at the history of extinction and the different ways …
Read moreThe Moral Obligation to Treat All Beings with Compassion. An Interview with Matthieu Ricard, by Garrison Institute.
In his most recent book, A Plea for the Animals: The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion, Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard makes a case for ending our exploitation of non-human animals. If we stopped eating …
Read moreWhy I am a Vegetarian
“It just takes just one second to decide to stop. The main reason not to eat meat and fish is to spare others’ life. This is not an extreme perspective. This is a most reasonable and compassionate point of view.”…
Read moreA Plea for the Animals: Dolphins Are Not Toys
The dolphinarium industry is a perfect example of institutionalized selfishness. Money is the driving force that creates and runs them. Their educational, recreational, and environmental facades are covers for the merciless enslavement of species gifted with rare intelligence and who …
Read morePower and Care with His Holiness the Dalai Lama
“One of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites, so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love,” said Martin …
Read moreSacred Dances, by Matthieu Ricard – 3
Inside the main temple, the monks are getting ready to come out in the courtyard of Shechen monastery, in Nepal, to engage in the Tsechu Festival of Sacred dances. (March 29th, 2015)
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Altruism Meets Effective Altruism: Thoughts on Conversations with Peter Singer
In October, I had the honor of participating in a public discussion at Princeton University with philosopher Peter Singer, Professor of Ethics and author of The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically…
Read moreThe Path from Personal Transformation to Societal Change – Part 2
In line with Darwin’s emphasis on the importance of cooperation in nature, new advances in evolutionary theory allow us to envision an extended altruism that transcends the ties of family and tribe, and emphasizes the fact that human beings are …
Read moreKaruna-Shechen, our action to protect the environment
With the COP 21 taking place in Paris, the tragic events that occurred in the French capital should give us even more determination to enhance our altruism and compassion and include the fate of future generations in our compassion.
It …
Read moreEscaping Hell Through Compassion
“No matter who it is you meet, know that they have already walked several times through hell,” writes French poet Christian Bobin. Our Parisian brothers and sisters, those who lost their lives, those who were seriously injured, their relatives and …
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