Matthieu Ricard

Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk, an author, translator, and photographer. He earned a Ph.D. degree in cell genetics at the renowned Institut Pasteur under the Nobel Laureate Francois Jacob. He is a board member of the Mind and Life Institute, an organization dedicated to collaborative research between scientists and Buddhist scholars and meditators. His latest book, L’Art of Meditation has sold over 120,000 copies during its first three months of publication, and has been featured in all the major magazines and television shows in France. He is engaged in the research on the effect of mind training and meditation on the brain at various universities in the USA (Madison, Princeton, and Berkeley) and Europe (Zurich). He received the French National Order of Merit for his humanitarian work in the East. For the last few years, Ricard has dedicated his effort and the royalties of his books to various charitable projects in Asia, that include building and maintaining clinics, schools and orphanages in the region. Since 1989, he has acted as the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama.