Matthieu Ricard's Blog, page 4

Anecdotes from the life of the great Tibetan master Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme (1295-1369) – III

Another time, when Ngulchu Thogme was about twenty, all the monks of É were leaving for Chöbar when Thogme saw a crippled woman weeping by the main door of the monastery.

He asked her what was wrong. She explained that she was crying because the monks were leaving. As she would be left behind, there would be no one left to give her alms. Thogme told her not to despair. He would return to fetch her, he promised.

He carried his belongings up to Chöbar and rested for a short while before leaving again with a rope. His friends called him from afar, asking where he was going. Thogme said that he was going back to get the crippled woman, but they did not believe him.

When he got back to É, however, he found that he could not carry both the woman and her things. So first he carried her clothes and mat a certain distance, and then came back to carry the woman. In this way, carrying in turn the woman and her belongings, he eventually reached Chöbar.

His friends were astonished. They had thought at first that he’d just gone to collect firewood, they said, but what he had done was something truly marvelous.

From The Heart of Compassion, by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Shambhala Publications

Interview with Vadivu Govind, on how to cultivate happiness - III

From a series of private interviews with Matthieu Ricard conducted by Vadivu Govind in Singapore in September 2012, during which she assumed the role of a wealthy leader and posed some thoughts such a leader may have to Matthieu.

As a boss, my main responsibility is to bring profit to my shareholders, not to look at things like compassion or the happiness of my employees. That’s their personal matter.

That’s a recipe for making your whole company into a hell. Nobody will be happy. Some people will fear you. Some people will hate you.

I met someone in Hong Kong some years ago who said, “Well, you know, when I started, I wanted to have a million US dollars, now I have five after fifteen years, and I feel like I wasted fifteen years of my life.”

Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus also said in the Davos Economic Forum that if the whole purpose of your endeavors and life is to make a profit and is totally devoid of the human dimension, you’re drying up your life.

This is a recipe for sorrow, selfishness, and misery. And when things go wrong and your business doesn’t do well financially, since there’s no human dimension, everybody will abandon you.


However, if there is in your organization, a sense of community, a sense of sharing human values and if on top of that, you have a social component so that you dedicate some of your effort, resources, and skills to benefit a sector of society that the CEO and everyone participates in, then in rough times your company will do better.

It’s like travelling somewhere on a bumpy road. If the destination is somewhere people really want to go and there’s purpose and meaning to the journey, they don’t mind the bumpy road. If it’s just to take you round and round for no reason, they don’t want to undertake the hardships.

Interview conducted by: Vadivu Govind, Director, Joy Works (joyworks.sg) on 13 Sept. 2012, Poh Ming Tse Temple, Singapore. She blogs at happiness.sg. 

Anecdotes from the life story of the great Tibetan master Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme (1295-1369) - II

Once, when Ngulchu Thogme was sixteen, someone who had been giving him some material help asked him to leave for Sakya on an important task and to return the next day.

Halfway to Sakya, in a desert plain, the young Thogme came upon a bitch who was starving to death. She was on the verge of eating her own pups. He felt great pity for her, and wondering what he could do to help, decided to carry them all back to É, his monastery; he would then travel all night to make up for the time lost.

He set off, carrying the dogs on his back. It was very hard. Finally, however, he arrived back at É and finished taking care of them. Before setting off again he thought he had better have a sip of water. It was then that he came upon the man who had sent him on his errand.

Astonished at seeing him there, the man asked, “Hey, didn’t you go?” When Thogme explained what had happened, the man cursed him, and said, “There’s such important business at stake, and here you are with your great compassion!”

Thogme had been rebuked so sternly that he did not dare take his sip of water. He set off again at once, walked all night, and accomplished his task in Sakya early in the morning. Returning immediately, he arrived back at É just before sunset.

Seeing this, the man who had sent him was amazed. He begged Thogme to forgive him for the scolding he had given him. He added, “What you did is wondrous indeed!”

From The Heart of Compassion, by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Shambhala Publications

Anecdotes from the life of the great Tibetan master Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme (1295-1369) - I

The great sage Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme was born in 1295 a few miles to the southwest of Sakya monastery, in Tsang, Central Tibet. As soon as he learnt to speak, it became evident how full of compassion he was. One day, as he sat on his mother’s lap, he saw a leaf whirled up into the air by the wind. He began to cry intensely.


“Why are you crying?” asked his mother.


He pointed a finger at the disappearing leaf and said, “An animal has been carried away into the sky!”

On another occasion, after he had begun to walk, he went outside but returned only a few minutes later, naked—to the great surprise of his mother.


“What have you done with your clothes?” she asked.


“There was someone out there who was feeling cold,” he replied.


She stepped outside to see who it was, and saw that her son had put his clothing over a frost-covered bush. Stones had carefully been placed on the corners to keep the coat from flying off.

When he played games with his friends Gyalse Thogme never minded losing. Indeed, he felt sad if others lost rather than him. Scouting for dry wood with the other children, he would feel glad when they found some, even when he himself came away empty-handed. But if he found wood and the others did not, he would either help them in their search or give them his own wood, for fear that their parents might scold them.

In short, like all great beings, Gyalse Thogme suffered more than others when they themselves suffered, and he felt happier than others when they were happy.

From The Heart of Compassion, by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Shambhala Publications

Interview with Vadivu Govind, on how to cultivate happiness - II

From a series of private interviews with Matthieu Ricard conducted by Vadivu Govind in Singapore in September 2012, during which she assumed the role of a wealthy leader and posed some thoughts such a leader may have to Matthieu.

I have a very stressful and hectic lifestyle. What are some daily practices that you can recommend for me?

Even if you have a very hectic lifestyle, you probably find time to go to a very nice gym in the early morning and exert yourself on a bicycle or treadmill because you are convinced that it’s good for your health and that you will get rid of your tummy and look younger.

Imagine that for 30 minutes a day you can learn how to deal better with your mind and emotions and that this will change the quality of the 23 hours and thirty minutes left in your day.

You can become familiar with your own mind and, through simple methods of mind-training, you can learn how to distinguish between the thoughts and emotions that undermine your wellbeing and those that will nurture it. You can learn how to cultivate inner joy and inner peace. This mind training will diminish stress and bring more serenity. Above all, it will give you the inner resources to deal with the ups and downs of life.

However powerful you may be your control of the world is very limited, temporary, and illusory. Ups and downs in the stock market change your financial situation, or you may lose your job, or you think you are the boss and the next day, you are thrown out.  If you put all your hopes and fears in a situation and you think that if you don’t have that, you cannot be happy, it’s like hoping to win the lottery.

If you look at the inner condition of your mind, no matter what it is, you can keep your serenity, strength of mind, and confidence, because it’s in your mind. Nobody can take that away from you. Nobody. So if you cultivate that, you can be ready for whatever happens. Like a cat: if you throw a cat in the air, it will fall back on its four legs. You will know that no matter what happens, you will have the inner resources to deal with it.

When you are feeling vulnerable or insecure and the insecurity causes you to withdraw into yourself, you will become self-centered or arrogant. If you know that you have the resources to deal with the world, then you don’t have to be insecure. You don’t just depend on your image, what people think of you, your rank, your position, and so on. With inner confidence, you are open to others because you’re not occupied with “me, me, me” all the time. Inner strength naturally opens you to kindness and benevolence, and prepares you to be ready for constructive activity in the world and not just occupied with ceaselessly promoting self-interest.

Interview conducted by: Vadivu Govind, Director, Joy Works (joyworks.sg) on 13 Sept. 2012, Poh Ming Tse Temple, Singapore. She blogs at happiness.sg.

Interview with Vadivu Govind, on how to cultivate happiness - I

From a series of private interviews with Matthieu Ricard conducted by Vadivu Govind in Singapore in September 2012, during which she assumed the role of a wealthy leader and posed some thoughts such a leader may have to Matthieu.

There are different definitions of happiness. Could you describe what it feels like to be truly happy?

Inner peace. Inner peace comes with inner freedom. What is inner freedom? It’s not just doing whatever comes into your head. That is like being a slave of your thoughts. Inner freedom is to be free from constantly ruminating over the past or constantly anticipating the future with hopes and fears, expectations and doubts. It is to be able to remain in the present moment without being disturbed by craving, anger, jealousy, and so forth. It is a state of freedom from mental toxins. Hatred is toxic to happiness. Craving is toxic to happiness. Arrogance is toxic to happiness.

Contrary to what people might think, this is not a dull state. If you got rid of all those afflictive emotions, life will not become boring and colorless. This is the most vivid, luminous, aware state of peace and out of that comes loving kindness and compassion.

In short, genuine happiness is the inner peace of being free from disturbing thoughts and having with some understanding of reality (wisdom). It is pervaded with love and compassion.


It is very different than searching for an endless succession of pleasurable experiences. That is a recipe for exhaustion. That’s what people try to do and then they collapse out of exhaustion. It does not bring happiness.

Interview conducted by: Vadivu Govind, Director, Joy Works (joyworks.sg) on 13 Sept. 2012, Poh Ming Tse Temple, Singapore. She blogs at happiness.sg.

Upper Dolpo, Shey Festival, out of this world - 5

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Upper Dolpo, Shey Festival, out of this world - 4

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Upper Dolpo, Shey Festival, out of this world - 3

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