Neuroscience has proven that similar areas of the brain are activated both in the person who suffers and in the one who feels empathy. Thus empathic suffering is a true experience of suffering. Matthieu Ricard More Quotes by Matthieu Ricard More Quotes From Matthieu Ricard 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 doe clouds needs Changing your attitude has a curative effect... Maybe you can go directly to a change of mind, a change of attitude. Matthieu Ricard mind-changing mind attitude 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. Matthieu Ricard suffering-of-others doctors nurse That's what Buddhism has been trying to unravel - the mechanism of happiness and suffering. It is a science of the mind. Matthieu Ricard buddhism suffering mind Meditation is about cultivating constructive emotions, like altruism, compassion. Matthieu Ricard emotion compassion meditation You're not insensitive or indifferent, but you're also not vulnerable to the upheavals that cause emotional stress because you can buffer that... So that's the result of meditation; you could call that emotional balance. Matthieu Ricard stress emotional meditation There is definitely openness to others' suffering that is dealt not with distress but with compassion. Matthieu Ricard openness compassion suffering If contemplation of other people's pain just increases distress, then I think we should see it in another way. If we don't center too much on ourselves, then [we] increase our courage and our determination to remedy the pain, not our distress. If we have unconditional compassion, then it increases our courage. So that's the difference, self-centered motivation versus altruistic motivation. Matthieu Ricard pain motivation determination We try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the outer world is limited, temporary, and often, illusory. Matthieu Ricard temporary trying world We cannot study everything at the same time. Matthieu Ricard study 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 confusion meditation goal You should really stop worrying, develop the real wish to live and with a good motivation, [such as] "I have a better life and I can put that life at the benefit of others." Matthieu Ricard motivation real worry Imagine a ship that is sinking and needs all the available power to run the pumps to drain out the rising waters. The first class passengers refuse to cooperate because they feel hot and want to use the air-conditioner and other electrical appliances. The second-class passengers spend all their time trying to be upgraded to first-class status. The boat sinks and the passengers all drown. That is where the present approach to climate change is leading. Matthieu Ricard air class running [Some of the people I'd met] were wonderful people as human beings, and some people were more difficult. I could not see a correlation between their particular genius in playing chess and music and mathematics, etc. ... with human qualities. Some were really good, wonderful people, and some were difficult characters, but there was no clear correlation. But when I met some spiritual masters, [I thought that] there had to be a correlation, and it turned out to be true. Matthieu Ricard spiritual character people Happiness can’t be reduced to a few agreeable sensations. Rather, it is a way of being and of experiencing the world—a profound fulfillment that suffuses every moment and endures despite inevitable setbacks. Matthieu Ricard profound way world There is a dilemma, to reconcile three time scales: in the short term, the economy; in the middle range, global well-being generally; and, in the long range, the environment. Matthieu Ricard environment three long Peace is not weak. Standing up to a tank is harder than dropping a suicide bomb Matthieu Ricard tanks bombs suicide What counts is not the enormity of the task, but the size of the courage. Matthieu Ricard buddhism tasks suffering If you see the humanity in the world, grains of sand that bring everything to a halt - corruption, clashes of egos, human factors more than resources. So, how to avoid that? There’s a lack of human maturity. So it’s not been a fertile exercise to perfect yourself to some extent before you serve others, otherwise it’s like cutting the wheat when it’s still green. And nobody is fed by that. So we need a minimum of readiness to efficiently and wisely be at the service of others. So compassion needs also to be sort of enlightened by wisdom. Otherwise, it’s blind. Matthieu Ricard maturity cutting exercise A big part of pain is the subjective reaction of trying to revolt against pain. If it's there, it's better to deal with it. Most of it is "I cannot stand it," and that component is enhancing pain so much. Matthieu Ricard reactions pain trying
