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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 15
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is
a renowned Tibetan Buddhist You Already Have What
master and meditation teacher,
born in 1975 in Nepal. Recognized You’re Looking For
as the seventh incarnation in
the line of Yongey Rinpoches, he By Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
was trained from a young age
by great masters, including his When I think of the most important searched so hard, for so long, that he
father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. message that the Buddhist teachings was out of options. He finally let go.
Mingyur Rinpoche became a might offer us in the decades to
monk at age 11 and completed come, I naturally think back to the The Buddha discovered everything
a traditional three-year retreat example of the Buddha himself. in that moment of letting go.
by 17. Known for his accessible When he was still a young man, the
Buddha realized that his privileged He’d looked everywhere for
teachings blending Tibetan
life, though filled with pleasure and lasting happiness. He’d studied
tradition with modern science, he
all the advantages of his status, left every philosophy, mastered every
is the author of best-selling books
him feeling incomplete. No amount technique, and pushed his body and
such as The Joy of Living. In 2011, of power and wealth led to lasting mind to the very edge. But the one
he famously left his monastery to contentment. As we all know, he thing that had never occurred to
undertake a solitary wandering eventually left the palace and set out him was that he didn’t need to seek.
retreat across India, deepening to find what was missing. That he already had everything he
his practice and insight. He now was looking for.
teaches worldwide and leads the For six years he sought out the great
Tergar Meditation Community, teachers of his time. He applied The key to this journey is
emphasizing meditation as a path himself to their philosophies and appreciation.
to transforming suffering into subtle meditation techniques. So he finally let go and let himself
wisdom. His teachings focus on He mastered them, yet was still rest, probably for the first time in
awareness, compassion, and the unsatisfied. He had yet to find what years. He remembered a moment
innate potential for joy within he was looking for. he had as a small boy sitting under
a rose apple tree. He was not doing
every individual.
Eventually, he found his way to anything. Not going anywhere. Not
the banks of the Niranjan river waiting for a better experience to
determined to meditate until he arrive. He was simply being.
found the answer. He had come up
empty after six years spent living in In the days and weeks that followed,
forests, fasting for long periods, and the soon-to-be Buddha discovered
meditating night and day. He had his own awakened nature—what
