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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

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Matthieu Ricard
Age: 78
Born: 1946
Born: February 15
Bhikkhu
Geneticist
Monk
Philosopher
Photographer
Translator
Writer
Humans
Remains
Optional
Must
Terms
Adopting
Make
General
Aims
People
Becoming
Distinguish
Term
Aim
Religion
Spirituality
Better
Essential
Human
Essentials

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The Dalai Lama has been extremely interested in science since his childhood.
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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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Whatever you train, you change your brain.
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To love oneself is to love life. It is essential to understand that we make ourselves happy in making others happy.
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We vastly underestimate the power of transformation of mind.
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Nothing goes right on the outside when nothing is going right on the inside.
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The ultimate reason for meditating is to transform ourselves in order to be better able to transform the world or, to put it another way, to transform ourselves so we can become better human beings in order to serve others in a wiser and more efficient way. It gives your life the noblest possible meaning.
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Good and evil exist only in terms of the happiness or suffering they create in ourselves and others
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You can't be at the same time a spiritual master and someone who is always angry. It doesn't work.
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I got really involved in science research and the science of meditation.
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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.
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There is definitely openness to others' suffering that is dealt not with distress but with compassion.
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Anyone can be happy by simply training their brain.
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Happiness is not the endless pursuit of pleasant experiences - that sounds more like a recipe for exhaustion - but a way of being that results from cultivating a benevolent mind, emotional balance, inner freedom, inner peace, and wisdom. Each of these qualities is a skill that can be enhanced through training the mind.
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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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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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We try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the outer world is limited, temporary, and often, illusory.
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It is in learning music that many youthful hearts learn to love.
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Changing your attitude has a curative effect... Maybe you can go directly to a change of mind, a change of attitude.
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Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things.
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