Stupa containing the relics of the great spiritual teacher Jamyang Khyentsé Chökyi Lodrö (1893-1959), at the scred site of Tashiding in Sikkim

Yangthang Rinpoche, an 85 year-old Sikkimi lama who lived in Tibet for a long time; in Yuksam, Sikkim, …

Forest near Darjeeling, India

The Kanchenjungna mountain range in the Sikkim reagion rises over 2,600 feet (seen from the village of Pelling, March 2014)

Tyrant Flycatcher on a tree in bloom, Sikkim…

A humble person has nothing to lose or to gain. If he is praised, he thinks it’s for what he has been able to accomplish, not for himself as an individual. If he is criticized, he thinks that bringing his …

Humility is sometimes scorned, regarded as a weakness. The writer Ayn Rand proclaims, ‟Discard the protective rags of that vice which you called a virtue: humility.”* Pride, however, the narcissistic exaggeration of the self, closes the door to all personal …

According to the American sociologist Sherry Turkle, so-called ‟social” media in fact constitute for the individual a way to be alone while still being connected to many people.* A sixteen-year-old boy, an inveterate texter, remarked with some regret: ‟Someday, someday, …

Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche during the Tsechu Celebrations at Shechen Monastery, Nepal, March 25, 2010

Young Buddhist monks at Shechen Monastery, Nepal…

The fact of experiencing joy in working for the good of others, or of coming away with unexpected benefits for oneself, does not, in itself, make an action selfish. Authentic altruism does not require that you suffer from helping others …

A disinterested action is no less so when one is satisfied with carrying it out. One can draw satisfaction from an altruistic gesture without this satisfaction having motivated our action. Moreover, the individual who carries out an altruistic action for …

Seeking selfish happiness seems doomed to failure for several reasons. First of all, from the point of view of personal experience, selfishness, born from an exaggerated sense of self-importance, turns out to be a constant source of torment. Egocentrism and …