Alex Colao Blog

Matthieu Ricard – Buddhist Monk, Photographer, Scientist, and Happiness Expert
Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk who resides at the Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Nepal. He was born in 1946 in Paris, France. His father, Jean-Francois Revel–born Jean-Francois Ricard–was a renowned French philosopher, and Matthieu grew up among the French personalities and intellectuals of the time.
Ricard first traveled to India in 1967. Then, after completing his doctoral thesis in molecular genetics at the Institut Pasteur in 1972, Ricard decided to forsake his scientific career and concentrate on the practice of Tibetan Buddhism.

Ricard lived in the Himalayas studying with the Kangyur Rinpoche and some other great masters of that tradition and became the close student and attendant of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche until his passing in 1991. Since then, Ricard has dedicated his activities to fulfilling Khyentse Rinpoche’s vision. He has been dubbed the “happiest person in the world” by scientists.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991) was one of the great luminaries of Tibetan Buddhism in the twentieth century. He was a highly realized and accomplished master dedicated to the transmission and preservation of Tibet’s spiritual legacy and a principle teacher of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.