310pp., xxi. Stated: "First American Edition 1999" with '1' in number line. Foreword by Jack Miles. Light gray boards with black backstrip and brilliant gilt lettering. 1 page had a 5/8" dog-ear and one page a 1 1/4" dog-ear (now flat), else essentially As New, looking unread. Tight spine (NO cracks); Sharp corners (NO bumps or curls); No rubbing wear; NO remainder mark. Clean text.

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Bibliographic Details

Title

The Monk and the Philosopher : A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life

Publisher

Schocken Books / Random House, New York

Publication Date

1999

Language

English

ISBN 10

0805241620

ISBN 13

9780805241624

Binding

Hardcover

Edition

1st Edition

Condition

Fine

Dust Jacket Condition

As New

Seller catalogs

About this title

Synopsis

Jean Francois-Revel, a pillar of French intellectual life in our time, became world famous for his challenges to both Communism and Christianity. Twenty-seven years ago, his son, Matthieu Ricard, gave up a promising career as a scientist to study Tibetan Buddhism -- not as a detached observer but by immersing himself in its practice under the guidance of its greatest living masters.

Meeting in an inn overlooking Katmandu, these two profoundly thoughtful men explored the questions that have occupied humankind throughout its history. Does life have meaning? What is consciousness? Is man free? What is the value of scientific and material progress? Why is there suffering, war, and hatred? Their conversation is not merely abstract: they ask each other questions about ethics, rights, and responsibilities, about knowledge and belief, and they discuss frankly the differences in the way each has tried to make sense of his life.

Utterly absorbing, inspiring, and accessible, this remarkable dialogue engages East with West, ideas with life, and science with the humanities, providing wisdom on how to enrich the way we live our lives.

About the Author

Jean-Francois Revel, a member of the Academie Francaise, was born in 1924. He studied and taught philosophy but abandoned university teaching to concentrate on writing. He was editor for many years of the influential political weekly L'Express. His books, including the best-seller Without Marx or Jesus and How Democracies Perish, have gained worldwide recognition.

Matthieu Ricard lives in the Shechen Monastery in Nepal. Born in France in 1946, he received his doctorate in molecular biology from the Institut Pasteur in Paris. In 1972 he decided to forsake his scientific career to better concentrate on his Buddhist studies, which he had begun years earlier. He has published Journey to Enlightenment, a book of photographs about his teacher, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (one of the most eminent Tibetan masters of our times and a teacher to The Dalai Lama), as well as translations of many Buddhist texts. He often accompanies The Dalai Lama to France as his personal interpreter.

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Store Description

Retired academic's reference library with specialization in philosophy, religion, science, and mathematics--all scholarly subject areas; Pre-Socratics to contemporary; biographies; some series collections. General stock also, including fiction, poetry, literary criticism, mysteries, some foreign language, children's, history, sociology, psychology, education. Some signed copies.

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Theoria Books
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