The Best Advice
A
few years ago, when I was preparing to enter a traditional three-year
retreat, the other retreatants and I had the good fortune of meeting
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. We met him during a weeklong festival, where
many high-ranking rinpoches, lamas, and hundreds of practitioners
gathered to pray for the flourishing of the dharma and for world peace.
I
remember thinking about how approachable he was. There were none of the
hierarchical barriers I’d encountered with other prominent teachers.
Even at this busy gathering, we were able to talk to Mingyur Rinpoche
directly. The other retreatants and I were granted a private audience,
and as we all sat around him, he offered us advice for our retreat.
Contrary
to what you might expect, his advice was not about the elaborate
practices we’d be engaging in or even meditation. His advice was
straightforward and personal; he instructed us to do our best to get
along with each other. While at first glance this might seem too basic, I
think it gets to the essence of who we should aspire to be. It doesn’t
matter how much retreat we’ve done, or how good we are at elaborate
practices and rituals. If those practices don’t translate to being kind
to others, then we are missing the mark.
The new, November 2023 issue of Lion’s Roar
highlights Mingyur Rinpoche’s teachings. Below, you’ll find three
pieces from the issue: an in-depth with him about his personal struggles
with anxiety and panic attacks, a transformational teaching on the
practice of Dzogchen, and a guided practice with step-by-step
instructions to help us experience the true nature of mind.
Mingyur
Rinpoche has inspired many practitioners. His approach to teaching and
his understanding of the dharma reflect the humanity of his experience,
because he talks openly about his own life and practice. Mingyur
Rinpoche is one of those rare teachers who not only embodies the
Buddha’s teachings, but who is also able to communicate them in a clear
and direct manner.
—Mariana Restrepo, Associate Editor, Lion’s Roar
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In this exclusive interview, Mingyur Rinpoche tells Lion’s Roar’s Andrea Miller how he learned to befriend his anxiety. We all have an innate well-being, he says. And we can all experience it.
Andrea Miller: You suffered from anxiety when you were young. What caused your anxiety, and how did you overcome it?
Mingyur Rinpoche: I
grew up in the Himalayas, a wonderful environment with fresh air and
trees, but also a place with extreme weather. The snow doesn’t just come
from above. It comes from every direction (laughs). Winds can be so
strong that they shake the whole house. At those times, I would cling to
a pillar to secure myself. This violent weather was one source of my
fears.
Another
source was strangers. If somebody new came to my village, I’d get
scared. If they came to my home, I’d panic. This was happening to me
when I was around seven or eight. In a panic attack, my neck tightened, I
couldn’t breathe well, and my heart hurt to the point I thought I was
having a heart attack.
The
doctors said my heart was fine, so my mother suggested I learn
meditation from my father. He told me that panic is like a storm in the
Himalayas. The fundamental quality of the mind, what we call awareness
or clarity or luminosity, is like the sky around the mountains. No
matter how intense the storm is, it doesn’t change the nature of the
sky. That’s the view.
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The essence of mind is empty, luminous awareness. Mingyur Rinpoche on the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Dzogchen.
Buddhanature,
this innate well-being, is our true nature. So in Dzogchen, the most
profound meditation form of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism,
practice is a way to peel away the obscurations that stop us from
recognizing our buddhanature. This is Dzogchen’s unique focus — to
recognize that in essence all beings are perfect, whole, and complete.
That we are already buddhas.
Dzogchen
is an experiential path that reveals to us the pure awareness that is
mind’s true nature. In the Dzogchen view, the essence of mind is
understood to be empty, luminous awareness, or knowing, and that is the
very nature of our experience. Once we recognize this, it fundamentally
changes the way we see, experience, and interact with the world. It
liberates us.
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Mingyur Rinpoche shares step-by-step instructions to experience the basic nature of mind.
According
to the Buddha, the basic nature of mind can be directly experienced
simply by allowing the mind to rest as it is. How do we accomplish this?
Let’s
try a brief exercise in resting the mind. This is not a meditation
exercise. In fact, it’s an exercise in “nonmeditation” or open awareness
— a very old Buddhist practice that takes the pressure off thinking you
have to achieve a goal or experience some sort of special state. In
nonmeditation, we simply rest the mind without getting lost in thoughts
or emotions. That is all there is to it.
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