Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill

by Matthieu Ricard, Daniel Goleman (Other)

Overview

In this groundbreaking book, Matthieu Ricard makes a passionate case for happiness as a goal that deserves as least as much energy as any other in our lives.

Wealth? Fitness? Career success? How can we possibly place these above true and lasting well-being? Drawing from works of fiction and poetry, Western philosophy, Buddhist beliefs, scientific research, and personal experience, Ricard weaves an inspirational and forward-looking account of how we can begin to rethink our realities in a fast-moving modern world. With its revelatory lessons and exercises, Happiness is an eloquent and stimulating guide to a happier life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316167253
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	01/05/2007
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	934,818
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk, an author, translator, and photographer. He has lived, studied, and worked in the Himalayan region for over forty years. The son of French philosopher Jean-François Revel and artist Yahne Le Toumelin, Matthieu was born in France in 1946 and grew up among the personalities and ideas of Paris' intellectual and artistic circles. He earned a Ph.D. degree in cell genetics at the renowned Institut Pasteur under the Nobel Laureate Francois Jacob.

In 1967, he traveled to India to meet great spiritual masters from Tibet. After completing his doctoral thesis in 1972, he decided to concentrate on Buddhist studies and practice. Since then, he has lived in India, Bhutan, and Nepal and studied with some of the greatest teachers of that tradition. He is the author of several books including The Monk and the Philosopher, a dialogue with his father; The Quantum and the Lotus, a dialogue with the astrophysicist Trinh Xuan Thuan; Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill; and Why Meditate? His books have been translated into over twenty languages.

Table of Contents

Foreword     xiii
Introduction     3
Talking About Happiness     17
Is Happiness the Purpose of Life?     26
A Two-Way Mirror: Looking Within, Looking Without     33
False Friends     40
Is Happiness Possible?     49
The Alchemy of Suffering     59
The Veils of the Ego     80
When Our Thoughts Become Our Worst Enemies     97
The River of Emotion     108
Disturbing Emotions: The Remedies     120
Desire     137
Hatred     146
Envy     157
The Great Leap to Freedom     160
A Sociology of Happiness     169
Happiness in the Lab     186
Happiness and Altruism: Does Happiness Make Us Kind or Does Being Kind Make Us Happy?     202
Happiness and Humility     211
Optimism, Pessimism, and Naivete     215
Golden Time, Leaden Time, Wasted Time     227
One with the Flow of Time     233
Ethics as the Science of Happiness     239
Happiness in the Presence of Death     253
A Path     258
Acknowledgments     267
Notes     269

Editorial Reviews

For millennia, philosophers, writers and artists have sought the key to human happiness. A Buddhist monk and former cell biologist, Ricard offers his own musings about the nature of happiness and tips on how to attain it in his sometimes tedious, sometimes dynamic guide. Happiness, for Ricard, cannot be found in fleeting experiences of pleasure-the joy of a sunny day, the refreshing taste of an ice cream cone, the ecstasy of sex-but only in the depths of an individual's being. Happiness is not self-interested, but rather compassionate, seeking the well-being of others. If we are truly happy, writes Ricard, we can change the world because of our compassion for others and our desire to end hatred and bring happiness even to those we don't like. For Ricard, happiness is a deep state of well-being and wisdom that flourishes in every moment of life, despite the inevitability of suffering. Individuals can, however, learn to minimize suffering in life by practicing moderation in all things, as well as meditation. Meditative exercises that individuals can practice to achieve happiness appear in each chapter. Ricard (Tibet: A Compassionate Eye) doesn't have much new to tell us about his subject, but he imbues these reflections with his own deep sense of happiness and verve. (Apr. 12) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Writer and photographer Ricard (coauthor, The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet) trained as a scientist before becoming a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Inspired by his participation in scientific research on the effects of meditation on the brain, Ricard has written a readable, though not succinct, guide for general readers to the Buddhist psychology of happiness. Topics raised in the Dalai Lama's The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living are expanded on here; Ricard, for instance, distinguishes between short-lived pleasure and joy and long-term altruistic happiness. Drawing on insights from Western philosophy, neuroscience, and cognitive, positive, and social psychology, he demonstrates that the Buddhist concept sukha-enduring happiness characterized by mental balance, clarity, and compassion-is attainable through meditation and mental discipline, which can transform negative emotions into positive, altruistic, benevolent views that embrace others. Included are practical exercises on attention, awareness, and emotional control. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Both the subject, happiness, and the author/narrator, an accomplished French scientist who's been a Buddhist monk for 35 years, are endlessly fascinating. Ricard's gorgeous accent and unique use of everyday words are totally beguiling. A translator for the Dalai Lama, he is renowned for his research and practice of cultivating a state of happiness. As he explains how to meditate and accumulate positive moods, his presentation is punctuated with quirky humor. For example, when a man confesses that he’s afraid of what he will see when he looks within, the Dalai Lama observes that there’s nothing more entertaining on TV or film than self-analysis. Just listening to Ricard is soothing and inspiring. This is a great choice for those seeking a calmer inner life. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

AUG/SEP 07 - AudioFile