The character arc of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born in Nepal in 1975, the youngest of four brothers in a family of teachers. Between then and now sit meditation taught by his father from the age of nine, monastic study begun at eleven, a traditional three year retreat begun at thirteen, the abbacy of a monastery at twenty, full ordination at twenty three, a bestselling book in 2007, a monastery completed at a place of pilgrimage the same year, a farewell letter and a walk into the night in June 2011, four years wandering with nothing, a near death from illness in the first weeks of it, and a return to the job he had left. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche?
He left a farewell letter, and walked out into the dark.
He was born in Nepal, the youngest of four brothers, into a family where this was the family business: his father was a teacher of the highest rank, his three brothers are teachers, and so are two of his nephews. His father began teaching him meditation when he was nine, and passed on the essential instructions of two of the deepest traditions in Tibetan Buddhism.
At eleven he began study at a monastery in northern India. At thirteen he entered a traditional three year retreat, which is three years and three months of mostly sitting, at an age when most children are starting secondary school. At nineteen he enrolled at an institute and studied Middle Way philosophy and Buddhist logic under a renowned scholar. At twenty he became the functioning abbot of the monastery he had arrived at as a boy. At twenty three he took full monastic ordination.
By his early thirties he had everything a life like that can offer. He wrote The Joy of Living, which became a bestseller in 2007. The same year he completed the construction of Tergar Monastery at Bodhgaya, the place where the Buddha is said to have been enlightened. He oversees an international network of meditation centres.
Then, in June 2011, he left. He walked out of his monastery in the middle of the night, taking nothing at all, leaving a farewell letter behind him, and spent the next four years as a wandering yogi: no money, no title, no bed arranged in advance. Within the first few weeks he came close to death, from what the record describes as a severe form of botulism, probably from eating only the free food he could get after deliberately letting his money run out. He has called that near death one of the most pivotal experiences of his life. He continued the retreat for the full four years, and then went back and picked up the job he had left.
The moments
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche's timeline.
The 1980s
His father teaches him
Milestone, and it changed everything. Nine years old, learning the deepest material there is, from his own father.
A monastery at eleven
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Eleven years old, and sent to another country to study.
Three years, at thirteen
Milestone, and it changed everything. Thirteen years old, and he sat down for three years.
The 1990s
Philosophy and logic
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The hard academic training, after the hard sitting training.
Abbot at twenty
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty years old, running the monastery he had arrived at as a boy.
Fully ordained
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The vows taken in full, at twenty three.
The 2000s
The Joy of Living
Milestone, and it changed everything. A bestseller, and a network of centres around the world.
A monastery at Bodhgaya
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A monastery finished, at the place the whole tradition starts from.
The 2010s
Keep the abbacy, or go
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: walk out with nothing, taken, or stay abbot. He nearly died in the first weeks, stayed out the full four years, and came back to the same job.
He walks out at midnight
Milestone, and it changed everything. Nothing in his hands, a letter on the table, and four years gone.
He nearly dies
Setback, and it changed everything. Weeks in, with no money by choice, the free food nearly killed him.
He goes back to work
Milestone, and it changed everything. Four years a beggar, and then he picked the job back up.
He is back at the monastery, running the network and teaching beginners how to sit for one minute at a time. What he set moving is the most practical form of the teaching there is: a man who had the title, the books and the building put them all down for four years to check that the thing underneath still worked, and it did.
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Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche: frequently asked questions
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Where does this timeline of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche's life come from?
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Sources
- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Tergar Meditation Community records for the monastery completed at Bodhgaya in 2007.
- His own accounts of the 2011 to 2015 wandering retreat, as summarised there.