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Page 6 of 6 “Renunciation
is the core of the Buddhist path, so if the primary role of the lama is
to teach others by giving talks, wandering practice helps them to do
that, because it develops their own inner qualities. But lamas can also
teach by way of demonstration, and being an exemplar of the renunciate
lifestyle is a very powerful way to teach people to rethink their
ordinary relationship to their lives and their possessions.”
At the Garrison Institute in July, Sogyal Rinpoche, the author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,
spoke about Mingyur Rinpoche’s retreat as a wandering yogi. “In the
future, Sogyal Rinpoche said, “he’ll be someone we all look toward as a
guide and refuge.” Mingyur
Rinpoche’ s close students knew he aspired to become a wandering yogi.
What they didn’t know was when he would leave. “I think that was very
intentional,” says Cortland Dahl. “Rinpoche obviously wants and wanted
to be on his own. But it would have been next to impossible for him to
do that if he’d actually told anybody when he was leaving. His Tibetan
students—out of a mixture of devotion and caring and fear—would have
forced an attendant on him.” The
reverence accorded to wandering yogis in the Tibetan tradition is often
in the abstract, says Pitkin. In practice, people don’t generally want
their own guru to leave, so the biographies of the wanderers are
peppered with people trying to pin them in place. “It’s great that
Milarepa wandered,” Pitkin jokes, “but it’s much better if my teacher stays here with me.” Mingyur
Rinpoche is expected to wander for three to five years, possibly
longer, and to come back in the same way he left. Without warning. Meanwhile,
Myoshin Kelley believes that Mingyur Rinpoche is spending or will spend
at least part of his time in the mountains. “This is not only for his
love of them,” she says, “but because they are such a conducive
environment for meditation. He has frequently told stories of yogis
coming down from the cave to test their practice in the marketplace.
Maybe he will first head for the mountains and then find his way to the
chaos of a big city. Really, Mingyur Rinpoche could turn up anywhere and
I find this a fun thought. Keep your eyes open and treat everyone as if
they are your guru!”
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