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Title: The Monk and the Philosopher : A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life by Jean Francois Revel, Matthieu Ricard ISBN: 0-8052-1103-9 Publisher: Schocken Books Pub. Date: 15 February, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.47 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Atheist, humanist father and Buddhist monk son hold a dialog
Comment: Western scientists and philosophically minded intellectuals often have contempt for religion, and some think it is a justified contempt that religious leaders have brought upon themselves by not living up to their principles - and by being ignorant of science, insisting upon theological premises and conclusions that no"philosopher" could accept.
So a culture at cross-purposes has been built up in the West. At times it has led to spiritual heartsickness and anxiety, the abandonment of hope that life has meaning. What people are left with on the whole is nihilism, the view that nothing exists except phenomena apparent to the senses, and that consciousness is an accidental product of matter, that one's mind does not survive death. Given the barren desert in which the spirit has to dwell, it seems courageous rather than merely materialistic that people just get on with trying to improve their standard of living, and it adds poignancy to the fascination with money and sex and celebrity, the recourse to entertainments and the love of sports.
This book, The Monk and the Philosopher, provides an antidote to the conflict between Western science and philosophy and traditional religion. It illustrates the highest possible vantage point from which to see meaning directly and simply, that is, a principial metaphysical tradition of wisdom, in this case, Buddhism.
The Monk and the Philosopher is a dialogue between a father who is an authority on Western philosophy (one of his books is entitled, From Thales to Kant) and a son who in his twenties took a doctorate in molecular biology at the Institut Pasteur and later became a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition.
From the very first exchange between father and son the book provides a surprising jolt of energy and clarity to the reader. Unnecessary things weighing on the mind fall away and one is welcomed into an invigorating world of essentials. The company of these two first rate minds, narrating the experiences of life that led them to the conclusions they hold - atheist humanism versus the view on the path toward Buddhist enlightenment, raises one's own capacity for "the examined life" that Socrates considered the only kind "worth living," and makes one feel the thrill of the mind working as a powerful instrument capable of cutting through sloth, avoidance and fuzziness to arrive at the threshold of a new awareness. (Like Keats, "Then felt I like some watcher of the skies when a new planet swims into his ken").
These are conversational exchanges, challenging and harmonious, between a western philosophically and scientifically minded father and a son who has come out the other side of the scientific investigation of truth as residing exclusively in the deciphering of matter and has lived for thirty years with Tibetan Lamas, monks, nuns and lay people as an outstanding exponent of the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition. They are fascinating, civilized, candid, wise, funny, deeply tragic about Tibet, serene, and full of loving-kindness. The Frenchness of the two men is perhaps what contributes the "clear ideas", the capacity to express ideas with logical rigor at the same time as one is charming and entertaining one's interlocutor with the elegance and ease of one who knows the world and is able to maintain a healthy detachment from any sort of fanatical insistence upon one's standpoint. It is a family dialogue between a savant and a sage.
Certainly the deep compassion that radiates through the dialogue comes from the effect on both men, to one degree and another, of their privileged encounter with Tibetan Buddhist communities. Therein the experience of the worst that man can inflict upon his neighbor has been met with wisdom and compassion, so that the Tibetans are qualified to be the teachers of a western philosopher and a molecular biologist. What is profoundly admirable about these two brilliant companions in the search for truth is that they are eminently capable of learning from the wisdom and compassion of their Tibetan Buddhist friends
Rating: 4
Summary: An interesting and unique book...
Comment: This book records an extended conversation between a top French philosoper and his son, a former PhD scientist that worked for a Nobel Prize winner who gave that up and became a buddist monk and aide to the Dali Lama. I am not sure why, but I found myself drawn to this book -- and have found it to be quite rewarding. For me at least, the book operates on at least 3-levels: first is that this book provides a good insight to what Tibetan Buddism is all about and how it is taught -- something I had come across before, but not in this detail. The conversation basically contrasts various western philosphies with Tibetan Buddism - but the emphasis is on Buddism and you don't have to be a philosophy student to appreciate it. Reading this book puts me in a calm state of mind -- not unlike reading the bible (there are many paths to Nirvana!).
The second is the father-son angle which is interesting not least because the son has taken on the celibate life of a monk which has implications for father and son, however this is not a big issue in the book; the father clearly loves his son and has accepted his son's path - somewhat grudgingly I suspect.
The third angle is the characters. The father is a larger-than-life big brassy, bold, top French academic, a philospher. [French philophy has itself been criticized in recent year s(particular by a top American scientist) as being overly trendy, pompous and ignorant in trying to adopt modern scientific concepts and apply them to philosophy -- while failing to really understand the original concept. This type of issue is not apparent in this book though]. The son on the other hand was a successful and proficient science student that became disillioned and went in search of a more rewarding life [from other sources it seems to me that France, like Britain became fascinated with Himalayaa. For France the 60's and 70's led were times of TV documentaries and slide shows of Nepal and Tibet, and of course the Dali Lama's flight to Paris would have been a huge in the French news]. The son is able to provide a unique insight having the background of a professional western scientist and a trained Tibetan monk with access to the Dali Lami himself. THe father-son relationship takes that a step further by providing a philosophical perspective. A triangle: science, philosophy and religon/Buddism -- the big picture.
I pick it up, read a few chapters and then leave it until I feel in the mood to read it again. I have almost finished it now. You don't have to be a Buddhist or philosopher to enjoy this -- but it is not a light, fast read, it would be easy glaze over reading this if you were not in a receptive mood.
Rating: 5
Summary: What a Find! -- Intellectual Insight into Buddhism
Comment: It's hard to find a good intellectual book on Buddhism. Many of the books out there are either written in the lighter "self help" style, are tartgeted at more serious practitioners or are a little too Zen for me to grasp without building some context first. For someone like myself, exploring Buddhism as an alternative or supplement to my traditonal protestant upbringing, I've been looking for a book that both (i) presents Buddhist philosophy in a Western context that I can relate to and (ii) keeps the discussion on a more intellectual/philosophical level. This book delievers. Make no mistake, the subject matter is pretty dense. However, the book delighfully readable due largely to it's "dialogue" format. Both father and son and eloquent, thoughtful and respectful communicators and tend to get right into the issues of interest to me just as I begin to wonder if they are going to touch on them. As a result, I felt a definite affinity with the authors. After reading several other books on Buddhism, I finally feel as though I have a foundation for understanding it. I have built my context and now I want to learn more. For that I am grateful and highly recommend this book.
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Title: The Quantum and the Lotus : A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet by Trinh Xuan Thuan, Matthieu Ricard ISBN: 0609608541 Publisher: Crown Pub. Date: 04 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Anti-Americanism by Jean Francois Revel, DIARMID CAMMELL ISBN: 1893554856 Publisher: Encounter Books Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Buddhism and Science by B. Alan Wallace ISBN: 0231123353 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.50 |
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Title: Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama by DANIEL GOLEMAN ISBN: 0553801716 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Chaos and Harmony: Perspectives on Scientific Revolutions of the 20th Century by Xuan Thuan Trinh, Axel Reisinger, Trinh Xuan Thuan ISBN: 0195129172 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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