false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1184374128m/1503526.jpg 1503526 1 <I>The Monk and the Philosopher</I> is a collection of father-son dialogues between Jean-François Revel, a French philosopher and journalist famous for his leadership in protests of both Christianity and Communism, and Matthieu Ricard, his son, who gave up a promising career as a scientist to become a Buddhist monk in the Himalayas. The conversations recorded in this book took place during 10 days at an inn in Katmandu. The range of their subjects is immense: What is Buddhism? Why does it have such appeal to many in the West? Why do Buddhists believe in reincarnation? What are the differences between Buddhist and Christian monastic life? How do science and individualism make authentic Buddhist practice difficult for Westerners to achieve? Despite the simplicity of many of these questions, Revel and Ricard never give simplistic answers. Their discussions are rich without being dense, and, even more notably, they take every question very personally. The result is a book perfectly suited as an introduction to the elements of Buddhist religion (with a good bit of Tibetan history thrown in) that is also an excellent description of what it has been like for one man (Ricard) to practice Buddhist faith. However, as Ricard wisely notes at the end of this book, "No dialogue, however enlightening it might be, could ever be a substitute for the silence of personal experience, so indispensable for an understanding of how things really are." The greatest strength of <I>The Monk and the Philosopher</I> may be its power to return readers to careful attention to the way we pass our days. <I>--Michael Joseph Gross</I> 1494987 26 1 1999 The Monk and the Philosopher : A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life total:8|5:3|4:2|3:1|2:2|1:0| 8 30 13 2 0 0 false false Wed Jan 28 07:28:43 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 05:57:20 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Tue May 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 13:27:12 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 07:32:31 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Wed Nov 04 12:38:23 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 12:38:29 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Apr 11 12:44:18 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 12:44:18 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jan 12 11:06:18 -0800 2009 Fri Sep 25 06:49:56 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Nov 06 17:31:14 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 06 17:31:14 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Tue Sep 30 22:27:19 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 30 22:27:19 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed Aug 20 09:51:11 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 09:51:11 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue May 27 07:32:02 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 07:32:02 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sun May 18 17:15:21 -0700 2008 Sun May 18 17:15:21 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sun Nov 25 20:50:11 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 25 20:50:11 -0800 2007 5 0 false false Sat Sep 15 06:33:42 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 15 06:33:42 -0700 2007 2 0 false false Fri Jul 13 17:49:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 13 17:49:00 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1503526