‘The Joy of Living’ by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is one of my all time favourite books. I just picked up his most recent book called ‘In Love With the World: A Monk’s Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying’ and I recall why I appreciate his perspective and books so much.
When I first started reading about enlightenment in 2010 as a mom struggling with the mortality of her son, enlightenment felt not only unattainable, but impossible. I will ALWAYS be attached to my children thus, no enlightenment, is what I thought. However, in learning and reading further about Buddhism, meditation, and enlightenment over the years, higher levels of peace and enlightenment seem like a human possibility.
In the first pages of his book, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche describes leaving his monastery and revered position. He left a life where he had all of his needs looked after by assistants and suddenly (by choice) was alone among the common people, with no rank, no established respect, or help, on a train. The panic and fear he describes feeling on that train is so relatable. And that is where my ‘a ha’ moment came in: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche has been training in meditation and Buddhism his entire life and he still FREAKS OUT. His emotions STILL take over. He is just like us! Phew. Relief.
While I have been introduced to this idea before, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche describes it in a fresh way that feels deeply connecting and human. I feel enlivened and hopeful at the idea that I am (and we are) not bad or wrong or less enlightened for the intense emotions I (and we) feel. Our emotions, no matter how intense, are human. Normal.
Even for a monk! What is SO cool about reading Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s experience, is watching what he does with those emotions. While intense emotions are “normal,” his training gives him an upper hand in what to do with them. His training allows him to understand, consider, and watch his emotions in a very skillful and inspiring way, without reacting to them. That is where the training for us lies. Not in not having intense emotions. Meditation teaches us to watch our emotions instead of letting them run us. I’m excited to keep reading.
