Mingyur Rinpoche

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (born 1975 in Nepal) is one of the most accessible contemporary teachers within Tibetan Buddhism. He holds two lineages at once, Kagyu and Nyingma, and grew up surrounded by prominent meditation masters. He was recognised early on as the reincarnation of an eighteenth-century yogi, but owes his fame in the West mainly to his clear, humorous way of teaching about meditation, emotion and the human brain.

Rinpoche actively contributed to neuroscientific research into the effects of long-term meditation, making him a unique bridge between classical Tibetan contemplative training and modern science. His book The Joy of Living became an international bestseller, introducing thousands of readers to meditation as a practical skill rather than an abstract philosophy.

Notably, between 2011 and 2015, he secretly left his monastery for a years-long wandering retreat as an anonymous mendicant monk through India and Nepal — an experience he later described in In Love with the World. Today he leads Tergar, a worldwide meditation community, and continues to travel and teach, with a strong emphasis on recognising awareness in the midst of ordinary life, including difficult emotions.