Quote

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.

Matthieu Ricard

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Matthieu Ricard
Age: 78
Born: 1946
Born: February 15
Bhikkhu
Geneticist
Monk
Philosopher
Photographer
Translator
Writer
Happiness
Inner
Recipes
Freedom
Skills
Skill
Sound
Training
Qualities
Peace
Balance
Pleasant
Enhanced
Mind
Emotional
Pursuit
Recipe
Way
Results
Sounds
Cultivating
Like
Wisdom
Endless
Exhaustion
Quality
Experiences
Benevolent

More quotes by Matthieu Ricard

Image
Authentic happiness is not linked to an activity, it is a state of being.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
The mind is malleable. Our life can be greatly transformed by even a minimal change in how we manage our thoughts and perceive and interpret the world. Happiness is a skill. It requires effort and time.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
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.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Genuine fearlessness arises with the confidence that we will be able to gather the inner resources to deal with any situation that comes our way.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time. You could go from love to hate. But you cannot, at the same time - toward the same object, the same person - want to harm and want to do good.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
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.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Various studies indicate that with age people gain more wisdom about life and are somehow happier than younger people. This is especially true if, as we age, we learn how to become more generous, altruistic, and peaceful.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Placebos are like the lollipop of optimism, but we can do much better by dealing directly with the mind... And it works!
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Whatever you train, you change your brain.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
I got really involved in science research and the science of meditation.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
When hearing a door creak, the optimist thinks it's opening and the pessimist thinks it's closing.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
While it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Changing your attitude has a curative effect... Maybe you can go directly to a change of mind, a change of attitude.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
The ultimate reason for meditating is to transform ourselves in order to be better able to transform the world.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
The goal of meditation is precisely to make your mind smooth and manageable so that it can be concentrated or relaxed at will and especially to free it from the tyranny of mental afflictions and confusion
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Good and evil exist only in terms of the happiness or suffering they create in ourselves and others
Matthieu Ricard
Image
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.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
Empathy is the faculty to resonate with the feelings of others. When we meet someone who is joyful, we smile. When we witness someone in pain, we suffer in resonance with his or her suffering.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
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.
Matthieu Ricard
Image
We try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the outer world is limited, temporary, and often, illusory.
Matthieu Ricard