In Tibetan, tong means sending or giving, and len means taking. What are we giving and taking? This is such a wonderful practice that we sometimes call self-antidote, self-transformation. We will do taking first, and then we’ll do sending. 

Let’s say you have kleshas, like maybe aversion, hatred, craving, jealousy, ignorance, confusion, or what we normally call suffering, meaning maybe you might feel stressed or depressed, or you might have agitation. When I was young, I had panic attacks, so I used my panic as the subject of my tonglen. Nowadays, we’re having a pandemic around the world, maybe losing loved ones also or getting pain or disease or losing jobs. What we’re going to do here is understand our own problem and be aware of that, and at the same time, we understand others also have suffering. When they have these problems, when they have these kleshas, like hatred, we will never be in peace. Not happy with the panic, of course, not happy with the stress, of course, not happy. You understand about others: whoever is having these kleshas and suffering, they’re not happy. 

So now what are you going to do? Today, this is imaginative labor, of course, and it doesn’t look realistic, but in the imagination, you can do anything. But in a way, it really helps us to develop strength of love and compassion, and it really helps us to build our will to help others. It will develop skills and talents to help others. In a way, it’s helping others. A lot of scientists now say that if we imagine that we are doing physical exercise, we actually grow muscle. Here, we are transforming these kleshas and suffering. Let’s say we’ll do hatred as an example. If we do taking and sending practice with the hatred, then the hatred actually transforms into love and compassion. Without suppressing it, without getting rid of the hatred, poison becomes medicine. Problem becomes solution. It really helps to free your hatred. You will be full of love and compassion. 

We will do this practice together now. First, please keep your spine loosely straight, and please relax the body and the muscles. Be your mind and body together. And as I mentioned in the past again and again, it doesn’t matter whether you are relaxed or not relaxed, peaceful or not peaceful. It doesn’t matter. Just be with whatever is there in your body. Now pause. The feeling of wanting to practice is love. Being with whatever is coming, being with your body is awareness. Accepting whatever good or bad, not rejecting, not controlling, accepting them and being as it is is wisdom. So you have love, you have awareness, you have compassion now in your body. Now, maybe you might have some confusion, hatred, jealousy, panic, depression, whatever you have, some problems that you’re facing. Now, be aware of that problem. First, bring awareness to the kleshas, or the problems in your life now. When you have these kleshas and problems, you’re not in peace, so think about others who are having this problem. They are also not in peace, so develop love and compassion to others. 

Now, when you breathe in slowly, at the same time, take others’ problems into your own kleshas or problems. Let’s say you have hatred. Take others’ hatred or problem into your own hatred. When you breathe in, slowly breathe now and take all the others’ hatred as dark smoke and dissolve it into your own hatred. Now, slowly breathing in, wish that they may be free from hatred. You can do that now according to your own speech. Take others’ hatred in your own hatred and wish that they may be from hatred and the suffering from hatred. 

Not only can you practice this with hatred, but you can practice with any other kleshas: craving, doubt, pride, jealousy, panic, depression, stress. All of this becomes love and compassion. Hatred becomes love and compassion. Panic becomes love and compassion. Stress becomes love and compassion. How nice. When you do that, all of this becomes love and compassion, and in that moment we accumulate virtue. We accumulate merit. We accumulate wisdom. This is wonderful. 

Now, we’re going to focus more on sending. We will send this virtue, the virtue by taking others kleshas and suffering, and we send this virtue to others. So now slowly breathe out, and while you’re breathing out, send this virtue as bright light and dissolve to other beings and wish that they may have happiness and the causes of happiness. Now you can do as your own speech. 

When you send your breath together with your happiness to others, when you breathe in, wish that they may be free from suffering, and when you’re breathing out, send your happiness to others. When you breathe in, wish them to be happy or wish them to be free from suffering. Breathing out, send your happiness, your virtue. Breathing in, wish that they have happiness and are free from suffering. Now, please feel your body and relax your mind and body together. 

This is the practice of taking and sending. The tonglen practice is finished. Can you really take others’ problems and kleshas to you? Actually, this is what we call impossible, and as the Buddha said, “Everybody has their own karma. We cannot change others’ karma.” But if we practice in that way, what happens? We can develop the strength of our love and compassion and, at the same time, accumulate good karma or virtue. That may become causes to help others. So, in a way, we are helping others indirectly. 

♦

Excerpted from a guided meditation for Meditation Month 2022

The post Self-Transformation Through Tonglen appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Nowadays, especially in these modern times, we have low self-esteem. There is a lot of self-criticism, and it can be very strong. It may cause us to lose energy and can become problematic for our lives.

But in Tibetan Buddhism, the first practice is appreciation. Having appreciation for yourself, for the world, and for your life is really important. Why? Because we all have basic innate goodness. Our true nature is wonderful!

How can we discover that true nature? One of the practices we can do is appreciation. When we begin to appreciate, we can make a lot of great discoveries from within ourselves. There are unlimited treasures within ourselves.

One of the simplest practices is what we call “the five self-riches.” We appreciate five things about ourselves. This practice has been really beneficial for me, and it was one of my first practices, so I would like to share it with all of you. The five appreciations practice is very simple! In a way it does not look like anything special, but actually these are the most special.

The first one is what we call mingye—being human. That is a great thing, isn’t it? So first, we appreciate this human life.

The second is “having been born in a central place,” meaning that we have been born with freedom, and especially, with spiritual choices. We can have a lot of spirituality available if we really want to engage in that. So we appreciate that.

The third is having our senses. It is amazing, isn’t it? We have eyes, ears, a nose, a tongue, and a body. All of these are actually amazing!

The fourth is that once we have been born in a spiritual environment, everybody has freedom, right? You can choose your own path, and this freedom is wonderful! Appreciate this freedom.

The last one is having basic innate goodness. Actually, at a deeper level, love and compassion, wisdom, and awareness is our fundamental nature.

These are the five things.

Now we are going to practice appreciation by meditating together. Please keep your spine loosely straight. If you want, you can close your eyes. Relax the muscles in your body. Relax your head, shoulders, back, arms, and legs.

Now, please appreciate having this body. It is amazing that we have this body. Appreciate that I’m alive now, and I am breathing. How wonderful! I was born with spiritual freedom. I can choose. I can choose to practice meditation. This is wonderful! The spiritual path is wonderful! And I have my senses. Whatever senses you have, appreciate them. Appreciate that you have these wonderful eyes; ears so you can hear the teachings; a nose so you can smell things; a tongue that tastes wonderful, delicious food; and bodily sensations also.

Appreciate that I have a path to follow in the world. There are great works that were laid out by great beings, and I can follow that. I can go on the right path if I choose to. Again, this is the freedom to choose your path. Appreciate that. I have wonderful basic innate goodness. Awareness is my true nature, love and compassion are my innate qualities, and I have wisdom. Appreciate your basic innate goodness.

Now, please open your eyes, and you can see the world. It is wonderful!

We need to learn how to appreciate like that. Sometimes we say that if we have ten qualities, and nine are positive and one is negative, normally we ignore the nine positive things in ourselves and exaggerate the one that is negative. We only see the one that is negative, and we exaggerate it. But if you practice appreciation and gratitude in this way, you will discover great qualities within yourself!

♦

Adapted from “Am I Not Enough? How to Work with Self-Criticism” on Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s YouTube channel.

The post The Antidote to Self-Criticism appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Welcome back to the fourth and final week of Meditation Month, our annual challenge to sit all 31 days of January featuring guided meditations from Tibetan Buddhist teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. 

This week, Mingyur Rinpoche leads a guided meditation on tonglen, the Tibetan practice of “sending and receiving.” Tong means sending or giving, and len means taking or receiving. To practice tonglen, you breathe in and receive the suffering of other sentient beings, and then you breathe out and send happiness to others. Mingyur Rinpoche describes the act of sending and receiving as self-transformation. By practicing tonglen, he explains, we develop strength in our own love and compassion and we accumulate virtue through the will to help others become free from suffering.  

We’ll do hatred as an example. If we do [a] taking and sending practice with the hatred, then the hatred actually transforms into love and compassion. Without suppressing it, without getting rid of the hatred, poison becomes medicine. 

Download a transcript of this talk. It has been edited for clarity.

Meditation Month is free for all participants. Tricycle is here to support your journey with helpful articles, a live call on January 31 with meditation teacher Myoshin Kelley, a Facebook discussion group, and other free resources for meditation and Buddhist practice. Visit tricycle.org/mm22 to learn more.

This week’s Meditation Month articles:

• “The Efforts of Others” by Rev. Dr. Kenji Akahoshi
• “The High of New Beginnings—and the Joy of What Comes Next” by Jessica Angima
• “The Power of the Third Moment” by Trungram Gyalwa Rinpoche 
• “The Sound of a Bell, the Seven-Piece Robe” by Guo Gu
• “We Are All This Luminous Mind: The Possibility and Importance of Awakening” by Dosho Port
• “The Simile of the Lump of Foam” by Bhikkhu Bodhi

To keep up with all of our Meditation Month offerings, sign up for our newsletter using the form below.

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The post Meditation Month 2022: Self-Transformation appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Welcome back for week 3 of Tricycle Meditation Month, our annual challenge to sit all 31 days of January with teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. 

If you’re just joining us, Mingyur Rinpoche is a master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and the leader of the Tergar Meditation Community, a global network of Buddhist meditation centers. Mingyur Rinpoche is leading a series of four free guided meditation videos on The Bodhisattva’s Path of Meditation, with teachings inspired by Shantideva’s classic text The Way of the Bodhisattva. Each Monday, we will release a new video that builds on the previous week’s teachings.

In this week’s video, Mingyur Rinpoche explains the concept of bodhicitta—bodhi meaning enlightened and citta meaning mind—or the mind of enlightenment. Building off of the previous weeks’ teachings on happiness and the true causes of happiness, Mingyur Rinpoche leads us in a meditation in which we wish that all beings fully recognize their true nature of innate goodness and be free from suffering. This wish to help others and for all beings to be enlightened, he explains, is known as aspiration bodhicitta. Then, if we integrate this wish to benefit others into our practice and our everyday lives, it becomes the application of bodhicitta.

Download a transcript of this talk. It has been edited for clarity.

Meditation Month is free for all participants. Tricycle is here to support your journey with helpful articles, a live call on January 31 with meditation teacher Myoshin Kelley, a Facebook discussion group, and other free resources for meditation and Buddhist practice. Visit tricycle.org/mm22 to learn more.

This week’s Meditation Month articles:

• “One-Breath Meditation” by Ken McLeod
• “Crossing the Ocean” by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, edited by Douglas John Imbrogno
• “Emptying into Spaciousness” by Jakusho Kwong-roshi
• “Jhana: The Spice Your Meditation Has Been Missing” by Dr. Jay Michaelson
• “The Unbinding” by Vanessa Zuisei Goddard
• “Why Are We So Hard on Ourselves” by Mark Coleman

To keep up with all of our Meditation Month offerings, sign up for our newsletter using the form below.

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The post Meditation Month 2022: Wishing Happiness for All Beings  appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and the leader of the Tergar Meditation Community, a global network of Buddhist meditation centers. Born in Nepal in 1975, Mingyur Rinpoche began to study meditation as a young boy with his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a revered Buddhist teacher. In honor of Tricycle’s Meditation Month 2022, Mingyur Rinpoche’s Dharma Talk explores different approaches to meditation inspired by Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva.

The post The Bodhisattva’s Path of Meditation appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Welcome back for week 2 of Tricycle Meditation Month, our annual challenge to sit all 31 days of January. 

If you’re just joining us, Meditation Month teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is leading a four-part series of free guided meditation videos to aid you in your daily practice. Mingyur Rinpoche is a master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and the leader of the Tergar Meditation Community, a global network of Buddhist meditation centers. For his series, The Bodhisattva’s Path of Meditation, Mingyur Rinpoche will explore Shantideva’s classic text The Way of the Bodhisattva. Each Monday, we will release a new video that builds on the previous week’s teachings.

This week, Mingyur Rinpoche explores the practice of exchanging self and others, in which you imagine or sense that you become another person and, in turn, another person becomes you. Pointing out our tendency to project onto others, Mingyur Rinpoche asks us to practice exchanging ourselves with three types of people: someone you think of as less than you, someone you think of as higher than you, and someone you think of as equal to you. Through this practice, Mingyur Rinpoche explains that we can become free from our perceptions of others when we can recognize that we are all fundamentally the same and looking for happiness. 

Download a transcript of this talk. It has been edited for clarity.

Meditation Month is free for all participants. Tricycle is here to support your journey with helpful articles, a live call on January 31 with meditation teacher Myoshin Kelley, a Facebook discussion group, and other free resources for meditation and Buddhist practice. Visit tricycle.org/mm22 to learn more.

This week’s Meditation Month articles:

• “The Power of Mindful Journaling” by Rev. Grace Song
• “The Sacred Pause: How Poetry, Like Meditation, Can Disrupt the Habitual Momentum of the Mind” by John Brehm
• “A Letter from My Future Self, Encouraging Me to Practice” by Lama Karma
• “The Power of Patience as Forbearance” by Dawn Scott
• “Walk with Thich Nhat Hanh” by Gary Gach
• “An Unbroken Sequence” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Ven. Thubten Chodron

To keep up with all of our Meditation Month offerings, sign up for our newsletter using the form below.

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The post Meditation Month 2022: Switching Seats: Understanding Ourselves and Others appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Happy New Year, and welcome to week 1 of Tricycle Meditation Month. Throughout January, we invite you to take our annual challenge to commit to a daily meditation practice. Anyone can do it, even if you can only set aside a few minutes. Each week, our Meditation Month teacher, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, will lead a free guided meditation video to help you weave your practice into your life while cultivating awareness, compassion, and wisdom. 

Mingyur Rinpoche is a master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and the leader of the Tergar Meditation Community, a global network of Buddhist meditation centers. Born in Nepal in 1975, Mingyur Rinpoche began to study meditation as a young boy with his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a revered Buddhist teacher. For his four-part series, The Bodhisattva’s Path of Meditation, Mingyur Rinpoche will explore Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva. Each video will introduce an approach to meditation inspired by the classic text that builds on the previous weeks’ teachings.

In this first video, Mingyur Rinpoche introduces a practice of equalizing self and others and guides us through a meditation on our desire for happiness and our true nature of innate goodness. He explains how to build a foundation for your practice by focusing on how you share a connection with all other beings and recognizing that we all have a universal wish to be happy and free from suffering. But although we all wish for happiness, we don’t always know its true causes.

Download a transcript of this talk. It has been edited for clarity.

Meditation Month is free for all participants. Tricycle is here to support your journey with helpful articles, a live call on January 31 with meditation teacher Myoshin Kelley, a Facebook discussion group, and other free resources for meditation and Buddhist practice. Visit tricycle.org/mm22 to learn more.

This week’s Meditation Month articles:

• “What We Gain When We Learn to Let Go” by Gil Fronsdal
• “Awakening to Joy” by Pema Düddul
• “A Short Meditation for Caregivers Battling Burnout” by Lama Palden
• “The Art of Slowing Down” by Martin Aylward
• “The Zen of Not Knowing” by Zenkei Blanche Hartman
• “A Practice for Breathing Through Pain” by Radhule Weininger

To keep up with all of our Meditation Month offerings, sign up for our newsletter using the form below.

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The post Meditation Month 2022: A Good Place to Start appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

The greatest love and compassion is wanting to help all beings. Because beings are limitless—immeasurable—our love and compassion become immeasurable. That’s how we develop bodhicitta — bodhi meaning “enlightenment,” and citta meaning “mind.” We all have this enlightened nature, no matter who we are. Even crocodiles, ants, and mosquitoes. All of us have this wonderful enlightened nature. Nature-wise, we are equal and pure. Our fundamental nature is like the sky.

Ignorance creates this world, body, subject and object, grasping, perception, and concepts—all of which becomes like a prison. Then, we become the crocodiles or humans. But, on the fundamental level, everybody has an opportunity or chance, and wishing to help all beings fully connect with their true nature is bodhicitta: the greatest purpose. 

Now I would like to read some verses from the first chapter of The Way of the Bodhisattva, [by Indian Buddhist monk Shantideva]. 

Those who wish to crush the many sorrows of existence,

Who wish to quell the pain of living beings,

Who wish to have experience of a myriad joys

Should never turn away from bodhicitta.

— Shantideva’s chapter 1, verse 8

Shantideva is saying that if we really want to help countless beings to be free from suffering and problems, and if we really want to help other beings connect with happiness and the causes of happiness, then we need bodhicitta. Once we develop bodhicitta—once we set that intention, purpose, or motivation—then all action comes automatically.

In ancient times, there was a saying: “When the king goes, all the retinue goes, too.” Another example: when the sun rises, the sunlight comes along with it. In other words, things come slowly—not right away. But eventually, bodhicitta comes spontaneously. So if we really want to help others, we first help ourselves to develop this great, genuine motivation. Then, after that, whatever we do becomes genuine, and it will have a really deep impact upon others.

Should bodhicitta come to birth

In those who suffer, chained in prisons of samsara,

In that instant they are called the children of the blissful one,

Revered by all the world, by gods and humankind.

— Shantideva’s chapter 1, verse 9

Although you are in samsara, and it looks like you are weak, have a lot of mental afflictions, have karmic imprints, and so many different things, the moment you develop bodhicitta for one second, you become precious. You become the child of all the enlightened ones and a source of respect even for gods, goddesses, and all beings in the world. 

There is a story that Shakyamuni Buddha was, in a previous life, a potter who was born into a family of potters. He saw one buddha, and he was so happy and inspired, he offered that buddha a piece of clay pottery. He really wanted to develop bodhicitta. “I would like to be like you. You are helping many beings. From today on, I really want to help all beings and to help connect all beings to their true nature. Therefore, I am going to follow the path.”

In that instant, the Buddha was developed. Just one second was the cause for enlightenment of  Shakyamuni Buddha. He came into this world because of that instant motivation. Shakyamuni Buddha gave great teachings, which many people followed to achieve liberation. Just one second was the cause of all that. 

For like the supreme substance of the alchemists,

It takes our impure flesh and makes of it

The body of a Buddha, jewel beyond all price.

Such is bodhicitta. Let us grasp it firmly!

— Shantideva’s chapter 1, verse 10

Here, Shantideva is giving the example of alchemy. This comes from an ancient story of a special potion or magic, perhaps liquid. Whenever this liquid touches iron, the iron becomes gold. If we had that now, it would be good, no? I am just kidding. But we can use any example. Similarly, bodhicitta is almost like alchemy. Once we have bodhicitta, even actions that are neither positive nor negative, but neutral, become meaningful. Even when we sleep or are just wandering here and there, virtue continues to develop because of bodhicitta.

This is true even though we are born with this flesh and blood body, with suffering, crazy monkey mind, and sometimes diseases. Life is up and down, like the waves of the ocean—or like the stock market. We all make mistakes. But if we develop bodhicitta, then we are on a great journey—a great, meaningful path. Eventually, bodhicitta will transform our lives, minds, and bodies, like alchemy.

Since the boundless wisdom of the only guide of beings

Perfectly examined and perceived its priceless worth,

Those who wish to leave this state of wandering

Should hold well to this precious bodhicitta.

– Shantideva’s chapter 1, verse 11

Here, the meaning is that once you develop bodhicitta, you become the helper of beings, the servant of beings, or the leader to help other beings. Whatever you call it, the meaning is the same. What you need is the motivation of bodhicitta. Once you hold this bodhicitta, then your benefit to other beings comes spontaneously. Once a person has bodhicitta, then whoever sees that person feels the impact. What we learn from words is only seven percent, right? The other 93 percent is nonverbal. That is when the connection comes. That is when positive influence and genuine transformation comes. 

All other virtues, like the plantain tree,

Produce their fruit, but then their force is spent.

Alone the marvelous tree of bodhicitta

Constantly bears fruit and grows unceasingly.

– Shantideva’s chapter 1, verse 12

Whatever virtuous deeds we do without bodhicitta—even generosity, social work, or meditation—the benefit is limited. That is because you have set your mind to a meaning that has limitations. Normally, people think, “I just want to help, that is all.” Or, “I want to help just to free myself from samsara.” Or, “I want to help because it is a good thing to do.” Or “I want to help because I see there is some problem. Maybe I will just help remove that problem, and that is all.” But if you help others through bodhicitta, that helping of others becomes a wheel of accumulating virtue that purifies negativity, and gives us greater and greater karma that can enable us to help more genuinely and powerfully in the future.

Therefore, once we develop bodhicitta, the results never cease. They come back here and there, again and again. That is because you have set the motivation: “I want to help all beings until they fully recognize their true nature and are freed from suffering completely.” 

If you want to go somewhere, you may think, “Okay, I want to go from here to there in one hour.” You have to set that goal or motivation. Then the action is finished. After one hour, you will finish the journey. If you set a goal of one thousand miles, then you will keep going because of that motivation. You will look for solutions, have courage even though there will be obstacles, and you might think of different ways you can travel that one thousand miles. But if you do not have the motivation in the first place, even if you have a good car, maybe a jet flight, maybe even a rocket, you will not reach that place. Likewise, the motivation of bodhicitta is really important.

Now we will do a simple meditation practice.

Please keep your spine loosely straight. Feel your body, and relax your mind and body together. Appreciate that “I am going to learn bodhicitta — love, compassion, and bodhicitta. This is wonderful.

The post Reading <i>The Way of the Bodhisattva</i> with Mingyur Rinpoche appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Welcome to Tricycle Meditation Month, our annual challenge to commit to a daily practice throughout January. Whether you’re new to meditating or a longtime practitioner, our free 31-day challenge is a great way to kickstart your practice and set aside more time for calm and clarity in your life. We’ll be supporting you along the way with an array of meditations, tips, inspiration, and resources. Our free offerings throughout the month include:

• A new guided meditation video each week from our Meditation Month teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. This year’s theme is The Bodhisattva’s Path of Meditation. (See here to learn more about Mingyur Rinpoche and his online immersion course, “The Way of the Bodhisattva.”)
• A live call at 1 pm ET on January 31 with meditation teacher Myoshin Kelley to ask any question you have about your practice. Register here.
• A steady stream of helpful articles on Trike Daily, including classic and contemporary Buddhist teachings
• A Facebook discussion group where you can share your experience and connect with practitioners from all over the world
• An interactive group on Insight Timer, a free meditation app
• A weekly newsletter to keep you up to date on everything going on
• A video interview with Mingyur Rinpoche by Tricycle’s founder Helen Tworkov
• Our evergreen meditation section of Buddhism for Beginners

Historically, Meditation Month has been in March, but this year we’ve moved it to January. 

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The Bodhisattva’s Path of Meditation with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Mingyur Rinpoche is a master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and the leader of the Tergar Meditation Community, a global network of Buddhist meditation centers. Born in Nepal in 1975, Mingyur Rinpoche began to study meditation as a young boy with his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a revered Buddhist teacher.

Starting on Monday, January 3, Mingyur Rinpoche will lead a series of four guided meditation videos on this year’s theme, The Bodhisattva’s Path of Meditation. Each video will introduce an approach to meditation inspired by the classic text The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva. New videos will be posted every Monday, building on the previous weeks’ teachings.

The schedule so far is:

• January 3: A Good Place to Start
• January 10: Switching Seats: Understanding Ourselves and Others
• January 17: Wishing Happiness for All Beings
• January 24: Self-Transformation

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The post Meditation Month 2022 appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Where did you grow up? I was born in the border region between Nepal and Tibet, high in the Himalayas. When I was 11, I moved to northern India.

When did you become a Buddhist and why? I was born into a Buddhist family, with the distinguished teacher Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche as my father and many other great practitioners as my relatives. I guess I would say that I formally became a Buddhist when I was 9. I was having panic attacks, and I felt that Buddhist practices would help. In the end, the panic attacks brought me deeper into Buddhism.

What’s your favorite breakfast on retreat? Tsampa, a roasted barley flour that you can mix with things like fresh butter, dried fruit, nuts, and milk.

What’s your daily practice? I reserve the first few hours of the morning for formal meditation and try to have moments of recognition of my experience throughout my day.

Favorite aphorism? “You’re perfect. Right now, right here.” This phrase comes from my father and stays with me during everything I do.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without meditating? How do you get back on track? When I travel, I sometimes don’t have time to do formal meditation for weeks. When the traveling is over, I make it a point to create time for formal meditation as soon as possible.

Book on your nightstand? I have two books with me at all times—one is on Mahamudra, the other one is on Dzogchen. I used to have paper copies, but now I’ve downloaded them on my phone.

What do you like to do in your free time? Physical exercise, like hiking and walking. During the pandemic, I also took up gardening.

Coffee or tea? Coffee, especially black coffee.

Most used emoji? 🙏

What would you do if you weren’t a Buddhist teacher? I might have become a scientist.

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Join Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche this January for Tricycle’s Meditation Month. Sign up at tricycle.org/mm22 for a free 31-day meditation challenge featuring weekly guided practices.

The post Visiting Teacher: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.