Who is Matthieu Ricard

..then reading Matthieu Ricard is like opening the windows and letting the cool mountain air blow through your brain.

Too much? Ok..then how about, Matthieu is a French Buddhist monk, the son of a well known philosopher Father (Jean-Francois Revel) and feted artist mother (now also a Buddhist nun).

Brought up in a strong Western intellectual and cultural tradition, as a young man he gave up a very promising science career (as a Doctor of molecular biology, studying cellular genetics with the prestigious Pasteur Institute) to travel to India and study with Tibetan spiritual masters. This resulted in his entirely changing the course of his life to become a Buddist monk based in Nepal.

He is, amongst other things, an author, excellent photographer, interpreter and translator, humanitarian and (arguably) still a scientist.

His unusual and unique Western intellectual and scientific background seems to have enhanced rather than impeded his perspective and as such, he comes across as both a very likeable and interesting guy, in possession of all his mental faculties (and probably a few belonging to other people!), combined with integrity, humour and wisdom.

It is evident that he practices what he preaches (rare enough!) and all profits from his published books go to charity projects including building schools, hospitals etc in the region where he lives.

In short, he presents as the type of person who would be equally happy shooting the breeze or discussing the finer detail of buddist meditation.

Ricard maintains that happiness is not necessarily a fleeting emotion, something we experience, but rather, something we CREATE - it is a skill, and as such can be learned, developed, enhanced, and maintained, ...despite the inevitable ups and downs of life.

With this in mind, Ricard has written (amongst other things) a clear and enjoyable book about 'happiness' "lifes most important skill"..what it is, what it is not, and how to achieve it, steeped not surprisingly in the Buddist perspective, but presented in an accessible, 'secularised', but never 'dumbed down' way, and agumented throughout with scientific and psychological evidence and insights to support his arguments.

He seems well qualified for the job..as he actually appears to exudes happiness - not in the superficial, 'smile stuck in place, wonder what kind of impression am I making on these people' kind of way either, but in the genuinely 'lit up with light from within' type of way.

However, i'm in danger of waxing lyrical (which is never good), so the best thing to do is start with his books or videos on youtube to get a sense of the man.

If you enjoy Pema Chodron and writers who strive to make this most practical of philosophies even more accessible then I'd encourage you to learn more, and/or buy one of his books (all his royalties go to charity also).