Although not everyone has the same spontaneous inclination to benevolence, it is possible to cultivate one’s altruistic potential. Like any other skill or ability, regular training of the mind in empathy and compassion makes their application more frequent, more constant, easier and more sincere.
We all have a potential to express through our thoughts, through our words, through our actions, benevolence, the altruistic wish that beings find happiness and the causes of happiness, and to care for others through compassion wishing them to be delivered from suffering and the causes of suffering.
Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard offers a meditation to develop our altruistic mindset.
Opening your mind to benevolence
In this video, Matthieu Ricard guides us step by step to open our mind to serenity, calm and thus welcome benevolence. To do this, we need to show empathy -that is to say, to enter into resonance with the other person- and then transform the emotion felt into compassion -i.e. to share the suffering of others. By starting to develop it towards our loved ones, we can then spread it to all human beings.
Indeed, according to Matthieu Ricard, true altruism does not exclude anyone from the space of the heart. This meditation therefore encourages us to wish everyone, regardless of past actions or current behavior, to free themselves from feelings of hatred or anger, to develop their benevolence and find peace.
True altruism does not exclude anyone from the space of the heart.
Matthieu Ricard
Contribute to the healing of the suffering of others
Meditation is a process that leads to meaningful actions to increase the well-being of others. Matthieu Ricard concludes this video by urging us not only to wish for the alleviation of others’ suffering, but also to actively participate in alleviating that suffering. It is with this in mind that he created Karuna-Shechen in 2000. Since then, the association has been working alongside disadvantaged communities to fight extreme poverty and put altruism into action.
Extend altruism to
disadvantaged communities
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