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

Matthieu Ricard

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Matthieu Ricard
Age: 78
Born: 1946
Born: February 15
Bhikkhu
Geneticist
Monk
Philosopher
Photographer
Translator
Writer
Good
Terms
Exist
Create
Term
Suffering
Happiness
Evil
Others

More quotes by Matthieu Ricard

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When hearing a door creak, the optimist thinks it's opening and the pessimist thinks it's closing.
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Placebos are like the lollipop of optimism, but we can do much better by dealing directly with the mind... And it works!
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Transform our way of perceiving things, we transform the quality of our lives.
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When you see those in healthcare who don't get this burn-out, they are very motherly, fatherly, or loving and attentive with the patients. [These] wonderful caretakers, doctors, and nurses don't get as much burn-out as people who are more defensive of the feelings and suffering of others.
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Authentic happiness is not linked to an activity, it is a state of being.
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I don't often get into a bad mood, since it does not help anything and clouds my judgment, but I can certainly see that sometimes things go terribly wrong. We need to understand the reasons for this and work towards building new conditions that will bring about better circumstances.
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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.
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Whatever you train, you change your brain.
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While it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it.
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If there is a remedy or a cure, a solution to a problem or difficulty, why worry?
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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.
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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.
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Peace is not weak. Standing up to a tank is harder than dropping a suicide bomb
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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.
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Negative emotions like hatred destroy our peace of mind.
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The basic root of happiness lies in our minds outer circumstances are nothing more than adverse or favourable.
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Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things.
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It's not the magnitude of the task that matters, it's the magnitude of our courage.
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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.
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There is definitely openness to others' suffering that is dealt not with distress but with compassion.
Matthieu Ricard