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  • So, I guess it is a result of globalization that you can find Coca-Cola tins on top of

  • Everest and a Buddhist monk in Monterey. (Laughter) And so I just came, two days ago, from the

  • Himalayas to your kind invitation. So I would like to invite you, also, for a while, to

  • the Himalayas themselves. And to show the place where meditators, like me, who began

  • with being a molecular biologist in Pasteur Institute, and found their way to the mountains.

  • So these are a few images I was lucky to take and be there. There's the Mount Kailash in

  • Eastern Tibet -- wonderful setting. This is from Marlboro country. (Laughter) This is

  • a turquoise lake. A meditator. This is the hottest day of the year somewhere in Eastern

  • Tibet, on August 1. And the night before, we camped, and my Tibetan friends said, "We

  • are going to sleep outside." And I said, "Why? We have enough space in the tent." They said,

  • "Yes, but it's summertime." (Laughter)

  • So now, we are going to speak of happiness. As a Frenchman, I must say that there are

  • a lot of French intellectuals that think happiness is not at all interesting. (Laughter) I just

  • wrote an essay on happiness, and there was a controversy. And someone wrote an article

  • saying, "Don't impose on us the dirty work of happiness." (Laughter) "We don't care about

  • being happy. We need to live with passion. We like the ups and downs of life. We like

  • our suffering because it's so good when it ceases for a while." (Laughter)

  • This is what I see from the balcony of my hermitage in the Himalayas. It's about two

  • meters by three, and you are all welcome any time. (Laughter)

  • Now, let's come to happiness or well-being. And first of all, you know, despite what the

  • French intellectuals say, it seems that no one wakes up in the morning thinking, "May

  • I suffer the whole day?" (Laughter) Which means that somehow -- consciously or not,

  • directly or indirectly, in the short or the long term, whatever we do, whatever we hope,

  • whatever we dream -- somehow, is related to a deep, profound desire for well-being or

  • happiness. As Pascal said, even the one who hangs himself, somehow, is looking for cessation

  • of suffering -- he finds no other way. But then, if you look in the literature, East

  • and West, you can find incredible diversity of definition of happiness. Some people say,

  • I only believed in remembering the past, imagining the future, never the present. Some people

  • say happiness is right now; it's the quality of the freshness of the present moment. And

  • that led to Henri Bergson, the French philosopher, to say, "All the great thinkers of humanity

  • have left happiness in the vague so that they could define -- each of them could define

  • their own terms."

  • Well, that would be fine if it was just a secondary preoccupation in life. But now,

  • if it is something that is going to determine the quality of every instant of our life,

  • then we better know what it is, have some clearer idea. And probably, the fact that

  • we don't know that is why, so often, although we seek happiness, it seems we turn our back

  • to it. Although we want to avoid suffering, it seems we are running somewhat towards it.

  • And that can also come from some kind of confusions.

  • One of the most common ones is happiness and pleasure. But, if you look at the characteristics

  • of those two, pleasure is contingent upon time, upon its object, upon the place. It

  • is something that -- changes of nature. Beautiful chocolate cake: first serving is delicious,

  • second one not so much, then we feel disgust. (Laughter) That's the nature of things. We

  • get tired. I used to be a fan of Bach. I used to play it on the guitar, you know. I can

  • hear it two, three, five times. If I had to hear it 24 hours, non-stop, it might be very

  • tiring. If you are feeling very cold, you come near a fire, it's so wonderful. Then,

  • after some moments, you just go a little back, and then it starts burning. It sort of uses

  • itself as you experience it. And also, again, it can -- also, it's something that you -- it

  • is not something that is radiating outside. Like, you can feel intense pleasure and some

  • others around you can be suffering a lot.

  • Now, what, then, will be happiness? And happiness, of course, is such a vague word, so let's

  • say well-being. And so, I think the best definition, according to the Buddhist view, is that well-being

  • is not just a mere pleasurable sensation. It is a deep sense of serenity and fulfillment,

  • a state that actually pervades and underlies all emotional states, and all the joys and

  • sorrows that can come one's way. For you, that might be surprising. Can we have this

  • kind of well-being while being sad? In a way, why not? Because we are speaking of a different

  • level.

  • Look at the waves coming here to shore. When you are at the bottom of the wave, you hit

  • the bottom. You hit the solid rock. When you are surfing on the top, you are all elated.

  • So you go from elation to depression -- there's no depth. Now, if you look at the high sea,

  • there might be beautiful, calm ocean, like a mirror. There might be storms, but the depth

  • of the ocean is still there, unchanged. So now, how is that? It can only be a state of

  • being, not just a fleeting emotion, sensation. Even joy -- that can be the spring of happiness.

  • But there's also wicked joy, you can rejoice in someone's suffering.

  • So how do we proceed in our quest for happiness? Very often, we look outside. We think that

  • if we could gather this and that, all the conditions, something that we say, "Everything

  • to be happy -- to have everything to be happy." That very sentence already reveals the doom

  • of destruction of happiness. To have everything. If we miss something, it collapses. And also,

  • when things go wrong, we try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the outer world

  • is limited, temporary, and often, illusory. So now, look at inner conditions. Aren't they

  • stronger? Isn't it the mind that translates the outer condition into happiness and suffering?

  • And isn't that stronger? We know, by experience, that we can be what we call "a little paradise,"

  • and yet, be completely unhappy within.

  • The Dalai Lama was once in Portugal, and there was a lot of construction going on everywhere.

  • So one evening, he said, "Look, you are doing all these things, but isn't it nice, also,

  • to build something within?" And he said, "Unless that -- even you get high-tech flat on the

  • 100th floor of a super-modern and comfortable building, if you are deeply unhappy within,

  • all you are going to look for is a window from which to jump." So now, at the opposite,

  • we know a lot of people who, in very difficult circumstances, manage to keep serenity, inner

  • strength, inner freedom, confidence. So now, if the inner conditions are stronger -- of

  • course, the outer conditions do influence, and it's wonderful to live longer, healthier,

  • to have access to information, education, to be able to travel, to have freedom. It's

  • highly desirable. However, this is not enough. Those are just auxiliary, help conditions.

  • The experience that translates everything is within the mind. So then, when we ask oneself

  • how to nurture the condition for happiness, the inner conditions, and which are those

  • which will undermine happiness. So then, this just needs to have some experience.

  • We have to know from ourselves, there are certain states of mind that are conducive

  • to this flourishing, to this well-being, what the Greeks called eudaimonia, flourishing.

  • There are some which are adverse to this well-being. And so, if we look from our own experience,

  • anger, hatred, jealousy, arrogance, obsessive desire, strong grasping, they don't leave

  • us in such a good state after we have experienced it. And also, they are detrimental to others'

  • happiness. So we may consider that the more those are invading our mind, and, like a chain

  • reaction, the more we feel miserable, we feel tormented. At the opposite, everyone knows

  • deep within that an act of selfless generosity, if from the distance, without anyone knowing

  • anything about it, we could save a child's life, make someone happy. We don't need the

  • recognition. We don't need any gratitude. Just the mere fact of doing that fills such

  • a sense of adequation with our deep nature. And we would like to be like that all the

  • time.

  • So is that possible, to change our way of being, to transform one's mind? Aren't those

  • negative emotions, or destructive emotions, inherent to the nature of mind? Is change

  • possible in our emotions, in our traits, in our moods? For that we have to ask, what is

  • nature of mind? And if we look from the experiential point of view, there is a primary quality

  • of consciousness that's just the mere fact to be cognitive, to be aware. Consciousness

  • is like a mirror that allows all images to rise on it. You can have ugly faces, beautiful

  • faces in the mirror. The mirror allows that, but the mirror is not tainted, is not modified,

  • is not altered by those images. Likewise, behind every single thought there is the bare

  • consciousness, pure awareness. This is the nature. It cannot be tainted intrinsically

  • with hatred or jealousy because, then, if it was always there -- like a dye that would

  • permeate the whole cloth -- then it would be found all the time, somewhere. We know

  • we're not always angry, always jealous, always generous.

  • So, because the basic fabric of consciousness is this pure cognitive quality that differentiates

  • it from a stone, there is a possibility for change because all emotions are fleeting.

  • That is the ground for mind training. Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite

  • mental factors cannot happen at the same time. You could go from love to hate. But you cannot,

  • at the same time, toward the same object, the same person, want to harm and want to

  • do good. You cannot, in the same gesture, shake hand and give a blow. So, there are

  • natural antidotes to emotions that are destructive to our inner well-being. So that's the way

  • to proceed. Rejoicing compared to jealousy. A kind of sense of inner freedom as opposite

  • to intense grasping and obsession. Benevolence, loving kindness against hatred. But, of course,

  • each emotion then would need a particular antidote.

  • Another way is to try to find a general antidote to all emotions, and that's by looking at

  • the very nature. Usually, when we feel annoyed, hatred or upset with someone, or obsessed

  • with something, the mind goes again and again to that object. Each time it goes to the object,

  • it reinforces that obsession or that annoyance. So then, it's a self-perpetuating process.

  • So what we need to look now is, instead of looking outward, we look inward. Look at anger

  • itself. It looks very menacing, like a billowing monsoon cloud or thunderstorm. But we think

  • we could sit on the cloud -- but if you go there, it's just mist. Likewise, if you look

  • at the thought of anger, it will vanish like frost under the morning sun. If you do this

  • again and again, the propensity, the tendencies for anger to arise again will be less and

  • less each time you dissolve it. And, at the end, although it may rise, it will just cross

  • the mind, like a bird crossing the sky without leaving any track. So this is the principal

  • of mind training.

  • Now, it takes time because we -- it took time for all those faults in our mind, the tendencies,

  • to build up, so it will take time to unfold them as well. But that's the only way to go.

  • Mind transformation -- that is the very meaning of meditation. It means familiarization with

  • a new way of being, new way of perceiving things, which is more in adequation with reality,

  • with interdependence, with the stream and continuous transformation, which our being

  • and our consciousness is.

  • So, the interface with cognitive science, since we need to come to that, and it was,

  • I suppose, the subject of -- we have to deal in such a short time with brain plasticity.

  • The brain was thought to be more or less fixed. All the nominal connections, in numbers and

  • quantities, were thought -- until the last 20 years -- thought to be more or less fixed

  • when we reached adult age. Now, recently, it has been found that it can change a lot.

  • A violinist, as we heard, who has done 10,000 hours of violin practice, some area that controls

  • the movements of fingers in the brain change a lot, increasing reinforcement of the synaptic

  • connections. So can we do that with human qualities? With loving kindness, with patience,

  • with openness?

  • So that's what those great meditators have been doing. Some of them who came to the labs,

  • like in Madison, Wisconsin, or in Berkeley, did 20 to 40,000 hours of meditation. They

  • do, like, three years' retreat, where they do meditate 12 hours a day. And then, the

  • rest of their life, they will do that three or four hours a day. They are real Olympic

  • champions of mind training. (Laughter) This is the place where the meditators -- you can

  • see it's kind of inspiring. Now, here with 256 electrodes. (Laughter)

  • So what did they find? Of course, same thing. The scientific embargo -- if ever has been

  • to submitted to "Nature," hopefully, it will be accepted. It deals with the state of compassion,

  • unconditional compassion. We asked meditators, who have been doing that for years and years

  • and years, to put their mind in a state where there's nothing but loving kindness, total

  • availability to sentient being. Of course, during the training, we do that with objects.

  • We think of people suffering, we think of people we love, but at some point, it can

  • be a state which is all pervading. Here is the preliminary result, which I can show because

  • it's already been shown. The bell curve shows 150 controls, and what is being looked at

  • is the difference between the right and the left frontal lobe. In very short, people who

  • have more activity in the right side of the prefrontal cortex are more depressed, withdrawn.

  • They don't describe a lot of positive affect. It's the opposite on the left side: more tendency

  • to altruism, to happiness, to express, and curiosity and so forth. So there's a basic

  • line for people. And also, it can be changed. If you see a comic movie, you go off to the

  • left side. If you are happy about something, you'll go more to the left side. If you have

  • a bout of depression, you'll go to the right side. Here, the -0.5 is the full standard

  • deviation of a meditator who meditated on compassion. It's something that is totally

  • out of the bell curve.

  • So, I've no time to go into all the different scientific results. Hopefully, they will come.

  • But they found that -- this is after three and a half hours in an fMRI, it's like coming

  • out of a space ship. Also, it has been shown in other labs -- for instance, Paul Ekman's

  • labs in Berkeley -- that some meditators are able, also, to control their emotional response

  • more than it could be thought. Like the startle experiments, for example. If you sit a guy

  • on a chair with all this kind of apparatus measuring your physiology, and there's kind

  • of a bomb that goes off, it's so instinctive response that, in 20 years, they never saw

  • anyone who will not jump. Some meditators, without trying to stop it, but simply by being

  • completely open, thinking that that bang is just going to be just a small event like a

  • shooting star, they are able not to move at all.

  • So the whole point of that is not, sort of, to make, like, a circus thing of showing exceptional

  • beings who can jump, or whatever. It's more to say that mind training matters. That this

  • is not just a luxury. This is not a supplementary vitamin for the soul. This is something that's

  • going to determine the quality of every instant of our lives. We are ready to spend 15 years

  • achieving education. We love to do jogging, fitness. We do all kinds of things to remain

  • beautiful. Yet, we spend surprisingly little time taking care of what matters most -- the

  • way our mind functions -- which, again, is the ultimate thing that determines the quality

  • of our experience.

  • Now, our compassion is supposed to be put in action. That's what we try to do in different

  • places. Just this one example is worth a lot of work. This lady with bone TB, left alone

  • in a tent, is going to die with her only daughter. One year later, how she is. Different schools

  • and clinics we've been doing in Tibet.

  • And just, I leave you with the beauty of those looks that tells more about happiness than

  • I could ever say. And jumping monks of Tibet. (Laughter) Flying monks. Thank you very much.

So, I guess it is a result of globalization that you can find Coca-Cola tins on top of

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馬蒂厄-裡卡德--幸福的習慣 (Matthieu Ricard - The habits of Happiness)

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    女人心 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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