Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche on Find Your Innate Basic Goodness | EP 601

In Episode 601 of the Passion Struck podcast, host John R. Miles sits down with renowned Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, for a conversation that will stay with you long after it ends. Known for his radiant smile, open heart, and profound clarity, Rinpoche shares a perspective on emotional healing and inner peace that turns conventional thinking upside down. Rather than offering a roadmap to “fix yourself,” Rinpoche invites us to explore the idea that we already possess what we need. Drawing from his early life struggles with severe panic attacks, he shares how fear became his greatest teacher—an unlikely but powerful path to awakening. Click here for the full show notes: https://passionstruck.com/yongey-mingyur-rinpoche-why-the-path-is-with-you/Join the Ignition Room! Join the new Passion Struck Community! - The Ignition Room: https://station.page/passionstruckThe conversation explores core themes like:Why pain isn’t the enemy, but a guideThe illusion of needing to "earn" mattering or self-worthHow awareness and compassion are not destinations—but your natural stateThe power of micro-moments to create deep transformationHow to move from “I matter” to “we matter” in a fractured worldAs Rinpoche explains, “Awareness doesn’t mean we get rid of thoughts or pain. It means we learn to hold them with kindness.” It’s a radical reframe—one that reminds us healing is not about becoming someone else, but about coming home to who we’ve always been. For more information on Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche - https://tergar.org/yongey-mingyur-rinpocheSponsors: Factor Meals: http://factormeals.com/factormeals50off and use code “FACTOR MEALS 50 OFF” Rosetta Stone: Unlock 25 languages for life at “ROSETTASTONE.com/passionstruck.” Prolon: Reset your health with 15% off at “ProlonLife.com/passionstruck.” Mint Mobile: Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at “MINT MOBILE dot com slash PASSION.” Hims: Start your journey to regrowing hair with Hims. Visit hims.com/PASSIONSTRUCK for your free online visit. Quince: Discover luxury at affordable prices with Quince. Enjoy free shipping and 365-day returns at quince.com/PASSIONFor more information on advertisers and promo codes, visit Passion Struck Deals. Speaking Engagements & WorkshopsAre you looking to inspire your team, organization, or audience to take intentional action in their lives and careers? I’m available for keynote speaking, workshops, and leadership training on topics such as intentional living, resilience, leadership, and personal growth. Let’s work together to create transformational change. Learn more at johnrmiles.com/speaking. Episode Starter PacksWith over 500 episodes, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. We’ve curated Episode Starter Packs based on key themes like leadership, mental health, and personal growth, making it easier for you to dive into the topics you care about. Check them out at passionstruck.com/starterpacks. Catch More of Passion Struck:My solo episode on The Mattering Mindset in Love – Choose the Love You Deserve

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00John R. Miles?

  Coming up next on Passion Struck.

• 0:02Speaker 01

  At a certain level, I discovered that I have the panic of panic, what I call that aversion to panic, resist, feeling of resistance to the panic attacks. I'm fighting with my panic, actually. And my father said, don't fight, welcome the panic. Then I begin to welcome that a bit. It helps a little bit. And I thought, oh, now I know the new strategy. So if I say welcome, then panic will not come back. It's become a little bit like drug dealing tale, but even that fake welcome helps for me.

• 0:39John R. Miles?

  Welcome to Passion Struck. Hi, I'm your host, John R. Miles, and on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turn their wisdom into practical advice for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long form interviews the rest of the week with guests ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries, and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become passion struck.

• 1:22John R. Miles?

  Welcome to episode 601 of Passion Struck. I'm your host, John Miles, and whether you're joining us for the first time or you've been with us on this journey, I am so glad you're here. This is not just a podcast, it's a movement, one that's redefining how we live, love, lead, and grow. Here we explore what it means to live intentionally, to flourish fully, and to make what truly matters matter most. And now we're creating a space to go even deeper. It's called the Ignition Room, a new community designed to help you put these ideas into action. It's where insights become daily practices and where people come together to build lives of meaning, courage, and contribution. Which brings me to today's conversation. Let me start with a few questions.

• 2:05John R. Miles?

  What if the feeling of emptiness you carry isn't a flaw, but a signpost? What if pain and panic aren't obstacles to peace, but invitations? And what if everything you've been searching for is already within you? Today's guest is one of the most revered meditation masters, Yangge Mingor Rinpoche, a bestselling author, global spiritual teacher, and the embodiment of joyful presence. In this profound conversation, we explore how suffering can become wisdom, how awareness is always with us even when we forget, and why mattering isn't something we earn, but something we uncover. In our conversation, we explore how panic became Rinpoche's greatest teacher, why awe, appreciation, and compassion are portals to our true nature.

• 2:47John R. Miles?

  We go into the difference between feeling like you matter and truly knowing you do. We discuss how to heal the wounds of antimattering and restore connection in divided communities, and why spiritual awakening doesn't require becoming someone new, it requires remembering who you are. If you're struggling with identity loss, or simply trying to feel whole, this episode is for you. And last week, I released a solo episode on serendipity, and how chance encounters and unexpected turns often hold the deepest clues to our own sense of mattering. It's part of a larger conversation I'm bringing in the Ignition Room, how we can reawaken our sense of purpose through small moments that shift everything. I also sat down with Laura and Isabel Hoff, daughters of the Iceman Wim Hof, to explore the intersection of trauma, cult therapy, and transformation.

• 3:31John R. Miles?

  And then, we also unpacked the gut-brain paradox with Dr. Stephen Gundry, who eliminated how what we consume can shape our clarity, mood, and resilience. And if you're just discovering us, check out our episode starter packs at Spotify or passionstruck.com/starterpacks, curated playlists that make it easy to dive into topics like personal growth, emotional mastery, and leadership. And if this work speaks to you, come join us inside the Ignition Room. Links are in the show notes, because transformation happens faster and more meaningfully when we do it together. Now, let's dive into this extraordinary conversation with Yangge Mingor Rinpoche. Thank you for choosing Passion Struck and choosing me to be your host and guide on your journey to creating an intentional life. Now, let that journey begin.

• 4:19John R. Miles?

  I am absolutely thrilled and honored to have Yenge Mingar Rinpoche on Passion Struck. Welcome Rinpoche.

• 4:29Speaker 01

  Thank you. I'm very happy to be here.

• 4:32John R. Miles?

  I am very happy you're here from Nepal as well. And I actually interact with people in Nepal all the time because my whole web development team is based in Nepal. Yes, and some of the most passionate people I have worked with and dedicated. So I'm very happy to call them to be part of what we do here at Passion Struck.

• 4:53Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 4:54John R. Miles?

  So I thought I would open with this question. You often say the world is your meditation teacher. In this time of so much division and disconnection, what is the world trying to teach us?

• 5:07Speaker 01

  So in my tradition, we believe that everybody has wonderful nature. So what we call basic innate goodness. So this basic innate goodness is the fundamental quality of our own mind. Normally, what we call the unity of awareness, love and compassion, and the wisdom. For example, when I was young, I had panic attacks. So when we experience panic attacks, not happy at all. So we think world is a danger, not safe. And I have special anxiety for strangers and the weather.

• 5:51Speaker 01

  And I began to learn meditation with my father when I was nine years old. And my father said, "Yes, I understand you have this panic attacks, but at the same time, you have wonderful nature." And I never believed that at the beginning. And he tried to give me a lot of examples. So one example is in my hometown, I was born in the middle of Himalaya Mountain in Nepal. So we have very nice environment, but not always like that. There's storms, thunderstorm, snowstorm in the winter, sometimes crazy. And he said, "Though there's a lot of storm here, you can watch."

• 6:36Speaker 01

  Will these storms can change the nature of cloud or not? And I look at storm comes, they pass, sky never change. So of course, we have this lot of clashes, what we call suffering clashes and in our mind, in our life, in the world. But at the same time, we have this wonderful quality within ourself. And eventually, I learn a lot from my panic attacks. So now I'm consider my panic attacks is my teacher and best friend. I'm, I rode many bulls. I'm here now talking about this topic because of panic attacks.

• 7:21Speaker 01

  So what we call obstacle may become opportunity. Problem may become solution if we take it as learning process to grow, to transform. So although we said, accept it, let it go, but letting go is not giving up. Don't give up, transform, learn.

• 7:43John R. Miles?

  Thank you for sharing that. And I myself have experienced my own set of anxiety and trauma. So I understand how difficult it can be to overcome those things. When you look at the growing sense of the loneliness epidemics and the hopelessness that's happening globally, what do you believe is at the root of it?

• 8:09Speaker 01

  I think the root is now the world is really become very fast. And one of thing is competitive. So we are comparing all the time compared with our neighbors, our brothers and sisters, colleagues and company at our work. Then we feel like maybe I'm not enough. And then we feel like maybe even though we are in the middle of full of people, but we feel like there's no really connecting. And one way maybe the social, the gadgets might interfere. And also.

• 8:50Speaker 01

  That when we have a lot of competition, we look at the negative aspect. And when we look at a negative aspect, then we feel like, oh, I have this problem. I'm alone.

• 9:02Speaker 01

  We never appreciate.

• 9:04John R. Miles?

  How can someone who might be listening or watching this sit with the pain of feeling that they don't belong without collapsing into despair?

• 9:15Speaker 01

  So for me, one of the very effective practice for me is the appreciation. So sometime we feel like

• 9:27Speaker 01

  I'm alone, there's no friends, no family, nobody understands me, nobody supports me. But

• 9:35Speaker 01

  what normally what we call, when we look at the glass half empty, half full. So which aspect we look at? So one of the important, I write like almost doing journal, gratitude journal, appreciation journal. I will write down just three things. Oh,

• 9:56Speaker 01

  even though I lost everything, but I still have my life. I still sense this. I have eyes, ear, whatever we have. There's a room above me.

• 10:08Speaker 01

  There's

• 10:11Speaker 01

  now I have this chair below me. And even we drink the water, there's so many cause condition. This water on my table is kind care, so many people involved. So when we begin to appreciate that up to certain level, then we feel like some kind of warm and connection that really helps me.

• 10:37John R. Miles?

  Yes, I know unfortunately this year exactly what you mean by having to go through these periods in life. We were hit hard here by a natural disaster in the form of a hurricane and had three feet of water in our house. So we lost everything we owned. And it's amazing that in the face of that adversity, what showed up more than any Were the family and friends who came to our aid to help us through. And so even in periods of grief, like you're saying, it does open up so many other areas that you sometimes don't think about that are truly special elements of your life, like you were just talking about, that we take for granted.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  Normally, I talk about sometime I keep teaching for a long time. And then I drink a lot of water. Then after two hours almost end, I really want to go to the restroom. So sometime I said, oh, now almost finished. Do we have any questions? No question. Okay, then we stop. And suddenly people ask question. What is the meaning of life?

• 11:50Speaker 01

  So then I try to answer very simple and quickly. Sometimes simple answer may lead more questions, but I really want to go to the restroom. So I feel like life is miserable. Oh, I really, I cannot stand even one minute. Then I finished my talk and I said, right, we go to the use restroom. After using restroom, I feel like life is wonderful. And like rebirth. And everything is whatever, even the restroom become very nice.

• 12:30Speaker 01

  Air when I come out from the restroom. So normally, we all have, we don't have emergency like that once in a while. But we have that wonderful life always there with us, but we don't see. We are taking for granted. And then we look at the only things that we, which we don't have.

• 12:53John R. Miles?

  I think to frame this discussion today, it's important to get your definition of mattering. What does it mean for you, Rinpoche, to matter in a community, not as a role, but as a human being?

• 13:07Speaker 01

  For me, one is this wonderful teaching that I learned from when I was nine years old, the teaching of discovering the basic goodness within myself, not only me, I always see this with everybody. And that is really helps my life. Like, I'm now leader. I have more than 30 different projects. And I will not have so much problem with the people normally. 99% of the time, even the difficult people comes, up to certain level, I like them and they like me, and I see the good things within them.

• 13:46Speaker 01

  So for me, this wonderful teaching of discovering awareness, love and compassion within myself is like my journey. I never feel bored. It's like every day something new, aha, or learning more. Sometimes what we call discovering unlimited treasure within myself. So this is really matter for me. And the second important thing is, I love teaching. I share this practice. Now my schedule is very crazy, but I really feel happy. When I teach, I feel relaxed.

• 14:28Speaker 01

  And many people get benefit by this. So I'm very happy to see that many people get benefit. So sometimes I have problem that how much should I teach? And how much should I do my own personal retreat?

• 14:44John R. Miles?

  Yes.

• 14:46Speaker 01

  But that's sometimes struggle. Still, I have to find the balance.

• 14:50John R. Miles?

  I know you love to use metaphors, so I wanted to ask you about this in a metaphorical way. Is mattering a river we enter or something that we carry with us?

• 15:05Speaker 01

  It's with us all the time. We need to recognize it. We need to discover it. What we call, we all have this awareness, love and compassion and the wisdom 24 hours with us. So actually it's there. Sometime I give example, like, what is that? Can you see this one?

• 15:29John R. Miles?

  Yes, watch.

• 15:31Speaker 01

  If you have the best watch in the world, if you're not recognize your own watch, can watch tell us time? Normally, not, right? Watch cannot tell us time, even though it's the best watch in the world. So we still may lost time, then may not be on time, then we may lost our job. If we lost our job, we may lost our home. All this because we don't know our own watch. But if you recognize our own watch, you're on time. Maybe we got promotion. Good job, good home, good life. So watch is same, but what makes it different? The recognition.

• 16:16Speaker 01

  That when we recognize our own watch, the quality of watch manifests for us. When we not recognize our own watch, the quality not manifest for us, although this quality is there.

• 16:33John R. Miles?

  I think that's a great example and it leads me down this track that I was trying to think of before I got on the interview with you. And that is, do we need to feel like we matter in order to awaken spiritually? Or is it the awakening itself that helps us realize we always have?

• 16:53Speaker 01

  The awakened nature is with us all the time and they're calling us. What we call, we all have homesick. What is homesick? Wanting to be happy. Don't want to suffer. That with us all the time. And that is calling from our true nature. The awakened nature within us calling us, come home. Or the feeling of hollowness, empty. Sometime we feel that empty. Even the loneliness, even the feeling of dissatisfaction, incompleteness is also a kind of message, kind of wisdom that calling us come home.

• 17:36Speaker 01

  Why our true nature is what we call free from suffering. It is not incomplete, it is complete. So the awakened nature what we call is with us all the time. We need to connect with that. We need to discover that, we need to recognize.

• 17:59John R. Miles?

  So one of the things that's plaguing so many people, especially in the Western world, is that there are so many of us who feel like we only matter when we perform, when we produce, when we people please. What is your advice to break that conditioning?

• 18:21Speaker 01

  There are two matters. So what I call the innate purpose, innate matters, and the temporary with the cause and condition. So the innate matter is that we have this our true nature always there calling us. That is our true nature. But then of course, look for job. Good job, we think is good. Good relationship is good. Fame, power, money, also we think good. Or whatever we want to do, if we achieve that, we think that's the matters for me. The, that is the outer circumstances, temporary things.

• 19:06Speaker 01

  But up to certain level, if we go away from our true nature, even though there's fame, power, money, whatever we achieve, we still feel the holiness, incompleteness, something missing.

• 19:26Speaker 01

  But then what we call, if you connect more with our innate quality, for example, if you do social work, or if you have good time with your family, or if you help somebody, you feel really happy. That hollowness go away, feeling like you're coming home. Why? Because we are really connecting with the real matter within ourselves. And also with the awareness. Like scientists saying that everybody has some kind of baseline, that happy or not happy, some kind of baseline. And they said that this baseline is very difficult to change.

• 20:11Speaker 01

  Like even you win the lottery, eighty million US dollar, you got it. It's good for a few months only. Then it's come back to the baseline. And the relationship, very good marriage, also few years. And fame, power, money, all this helps a little bit. But then you come back to the baseline. So the only two things help a little bit longer. One is if you get the salary in your community, you are the number one. The amount doesn't matter. But if you get the best salary, you feel a little bit happy for a longer time.

• 20:53Speaker 01

  Another thing is plastic surgery, it helps better. But then there's this study about if somebody watch the breathing, to be aware of the breath, maybe every day five minutes, for thirty days. After thirty days, then there's an enduring benefit. So by this awareness, looks like for me, when I first time learn this awareness meditation, watching my breath, I feel like stupid and boring.

• 21:33Speaker 01

  So when we do that, actually, our baseline can change. So even though when we are not meditating, we feel happier. Why? Because awareness is our true nature. When we connect with the more to the our heart, feel more happy. And of course, the learning, if we really learn, we feel very happy. The wisdom comes, education is very important. So therefore, the real matter is when we connect with our true nature.

• 22:07John R. Miles?

  Thank you for sharing that, Rinpoche, and I'm gonna share a personal story to give a little bit of my perspective on this. I told you before we came on that I was a senior executive for a while in my career and I had reached what many people would have thought the apex. I was a chief information officer at Dell and had a large organization, the dream job I had always wanted. But underneath the surface, I could feel myself unraveling and slowly disappearing from my own life. And it's a really interesting and terrifying experience to go through.

• 22:49John R. Miles?

  And I often say it's what I think Henry David Thoreau was trying to warn us about when he said, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Because we keep searching in the wrong places. And the more I was concerned about the money, the accolades, the titles, the more I lived my life, even though outwardly it was successful, I was living it almost like I was a pinball, where I was bouncing off of things, the wrong things, instead of being intentionally committed to the right things. And so what ended up happening to me, you talked about being hollow, is I felt more hollow.

• 23:36John R. Miles?

  Physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationship wise than I ever had in my entire life. I felt like I was a shell of myself. And when you reach that point, it's very worrisome. I can't even tell you how painful it felt because you've gotten to this bottom of the abyss and you have no idea how to climb out of it. And so what I'm doing now with the podcast is maybe people haven't fallen that far and we can help them before they do. But I think what I am trying to bring is I have lived this. So for me, this

• 24:16John R. Miles?

  is a really painful aspect of my life. And what I am trying to do is to help people, I think, like you are, so that they don't have to suffer like I did. But it really means that you have to shift your whole life and your value system and what you hold sacred to a whole different element, because all the things that I thought were going to bring me success, fulfillment, brought me emptiness. But now that I have really focused on impacting people, trying to end as much suffering as I can, trying to give myself to others,

• 24:58John R. Miles?

  my sense of fulfillment has risen and the other areas of my life has as well. So I think that that is an example of what you were saying with your words.

• 25:08Speaker 01

  Exactly. I think you are such embodied this journey that you go through all this. And now, the problem sometime, many people, they're stuck there. And some people not even realize that, like, in our tradition, what we call dukkha, dukkha, like, we cannot find exact translation. So some people, they translate suffering, sometimes dissatisfaction. But the real meaning dukkha, meaning the sense of hollow, incomplete, something missing, a little bit sad or insecurity. So that sometime, what we call background noise,

• 25:53Speaker 01

  that dukkha. And because of that feeling, then we look, we are very busy.

• 26:02Speaker 01

  Entire life to fulfill that hollow or dissatisfaction or empty. Like when we go with many people, we feel also noise, they talk a lot, I want to be alone. When we come home, up to two, three minutes later, oh, I'm lonely, I need somebody, I need my smartphone. But then when you look at smartphone after certain level or something, never satisfying. So what we call, if we recognize that feeling. And then if we see what we call, sometimes what we call the wisdom. There are three things, right? Awareness, love and compassion, wisdom.

• 26:45Speaker 01

  So what we call wisdom is the biggest paradox.

• 26:50Speaker 01

  That very thing, that feeling of hollow, incomplete dissatisfaction is also wisdom. If you know how to work with that, if you know how to learn from that. If you know how to follow and then actually. We will discover actually there's a awareness, love and compassion, wisdom, sometimes what I call inner sky.

• 27:17Speaker 01

  Then we can discover within ourself. So for me, when I have panic attacks, life feels terrible and of course I feel empty, meaningless. So then I learned meditation, but of course, I was young, I'm lazy boy. I love the idea of meditation, but I don't like the practice of meditation. I just mention you, when I practice breathing meditation, I feel stupid and I feel boring. And I hear my friends are playing, I really want to go there. So it's on and off.

• 27:55Speaker 01

  So then, at a certain level, I discovered that I have the panic of panic, what I call that aversion to panic, resist, feeling of resistance to the panic attacks. I'm fighting with my panic, actually. And my father said, "Don't fight, welcome the panic." Then I begin to welcome that a bit, it helps a little bit. And I thought, "Oh, now I know the new strategy." So if I say "welcome," then panic will not come back. It's become a little bit like drop chasing tail, but even that fake welcome helps for me.

• 28:40Speaker 01

  So then, in the end, it took me five years. So in the end, then panic become my friend, in the end. So for me, it's like, at a certain level, that panic of panic, aversion of panic is gone, but symptoms still there. Tight here, my heart speed up, sweating, all are there, but I feel exciting. Because we have this practice, that I can use my panic as support for awareness, and also love and compassion, and the wisdom. So deeper level, excite, this excitement, "Okay, now panic comes, okay, heartbeat."

• 29:21Speaker 01

  At the beginning, I thought, the panic attacks like, is hurting. So I checked with many doctors, I asked my mom to bring the best doctor. And doctors said, "Your heart is very good." I thought, "Oh, fake doctor, don't understand me." But then later, I know it's not really a heart problem. So that also helps. Then at a certain level, all this feeling, the symptoms, not become painful for me. In fact, it's exciting. So this is why, what I'm saying, the panic become my friend, and my teacher.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  Then after a few months of panic, it's gone, totally gone. So I don't have the real panic attacks since then. But of course, I feel panicked if the tiger comes.

• 30:12John R. Miles?

  I want to switch directions a little bit. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Dacher Keltner. He's a professor at University of California, Berkeley. But he studies compassion, kindness and awe. And I interviewed him a couple of years ago when his book on awe came out. And it was the first time I had heard the term moral beauty. And he was trying to figure out, normally we think of awe as something that we experience with the birth of a child, or we see the Mona Lisa, or maybe the Himalayas in your country. And that's what brings us awe.

• 30:54John R. Miles?

  But he found that the number one source of awe across all cultures is the moral beauty of ordinary people. It's when we perform or witness acts of compassion, of love, of kindness onto another human being. What do you think that reveals about the human heart?

• 31:17Speaker 01

  Yes, that's exactly we discuss in my tradition, that when we feel awe, aha, inside all these things, that when we are more close to our true nature. So love and compassion is our innate quality. So when we connect with that, then it doesn't matter what kind of the manifestation through culture, through behave, through...

• 31:52Speaker 01

  Cultivating meditation practice, it doesn't matter. So what we call deeper level, if something not really connecting with our true nature, it will reject from insight. So therefore, these moral ethics have become really important. Because when they connect with our true nature, then we feel like more happy. We feel like coming home. We like here with ourself. So therefore, yes, what you said and what the doctor mentioned, yes, of course, that's them.

• 32:36Speaker 01

  Very important point.

• 32:38John R. Miles?

  So one of your teachings is that even a single breath can help awaken awareness. Using that analogy, do you see the experience of awe as a doorway into presence or into something even deeper?

• 32:56Speaker 01

  Yes. So now we discuss about the first quality of our mind, the awareness. Sometimes what we call clarity, sometimes what we call luminosity, lucidity, knowingness, conscious. So we have so many names for that.

• 33:15John R. Miles?

  Yes.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  So basically, it's very simple one way. Can you see my hand?

• 33:22John R. Miles?

  I can.

• 33:23Speaker 01

  That's all. Awareness meaning that ability to see, to hear, to experience, to think, to feel. So that ability is what we call like lamp, the candle lamp. The flame is the light. Sometimes what we call self-luminosity. So if we want to see the flame, the candle flame, we don't need to use flashlight because it illuminate itself. But this pen, if you want to see this pen, then we need to use external light.

• 34:07Speaker 01

  So this luminous quality, the knowingness, actually, the mind is self-illuminating. The problem is, it's beyond concept.

• 34:19Speaker 01

  So we cannot really find when we look, we cannot really find through cognitive level, intellectual level, conceptual level. But the good news is what we call, we can experience it. We are experiencing this all the time. So then the land has true clarity or true luminosity, self-luminosity, illuminating others. Because self-luminosity is very difficult to experience at the beginning, but we can connect with other luminosity, meaning breath, could be anything.

• 35:01Speaker 01

  Being with the breath is connecting with the luminous aspect of the mind. Could be sound, could be smell, could be taste, could be thought and emotion. So what we call in the end, everything becomes support for meditation, everything becomes support for lumin- awareness, luminosity. So then what we call, after certain level, obstacle become opportunity, suffering may become base for happiness, when we look at that luminous aspect.

• 35:39John R. Miles?

  So when I hear you talk about this concept, I have a concept myself, and it seems the two dovetail pretty nicely. I believe that there are four different levels of mattering that we go through. There's a feeling that you have to have that you matter, so there's personal mattering. There's a feeling that others feel that you matter and make you feel like you matter. There's the light, helping other people through your influence and your involvement feel like they matter. And then I believe that there's a ripple effect that happens when all those things

• 36:23John R. Miles?

  come into place, that all of a sudden, you can start making community, society, the world matter more. Is that kind of a good way to to think about it?

• 36:34Speaker 01

  Yes, of course, why not? So what we call, all this is what we call independent.

• 36:40John R. Miles?

  Yes.

• 36:44Speaker 01

  All of us connect each other. So sometime what we call the other is half part of you. You is part of other. So the connection is who we are. So actually, what we call when we really identified me or others or reality, actually, we cannot really find the one. So it's always it's changing little bit and then they are depending each other. So what we call is the connection.

• 37:25Speaker 01

  You is full of connection and you and other is also full of connection. Then to the world, to the society. And these connection, how this connection become the positive is based on the matter, purpose, love, compassion. So when we follow that direction, then what we call win situation. You win, others win, everybody win.

• 37:54John R. Miles?

  So I wanted to get your perspective from your traditions and spiritual background of what happens within us when we witness someone's kindness, compassion, or courage, what opens, what heals?

• 38:11Speaker 01

  When we witness compassion from others or ourself, then that, the holiness, incompleteness, dissatisfaction, or sometime sad, lonely, it heals normally. So it will feel, so we feel more complete. We feel more secure. We feel more not hollow. That's what we call confidence. Confidence not based on pride, but contentment. So when we experience this contentment, completeness,

• 38:54Speaker 01

  then there's a purpose, then there's a matter, of course, as you mentioned, that comes. And then we get energy actually. Then we feel happy. That happiness is what we call. What I call the real happiness. So if you drink coffee, we can feel happy. But that happy can be coexist with the hollow. If you win the lottery, it looks like happy. But that happiness also exists with the hollow, the empty. But then now this happiness is the real happiness, the contentment, the joy, like coming back to home, being with who we are.

• 39:38John R. Miles?

  The leading scientist in the world on the science of mattering is a gentleman named Dr. Gordon Flett from Canada. And he has coined this term antimattering. Do you think that the experience of antimattering is a delusion of the ego or a real wound that needs healing?

• 40:00Speaker 01

  So normally, in my tradition, we talk about three sense of self. So the surface level, what we call unhealthy sense of self. Then more deeper level, we have the healthy sense of self. Then the core, the essence, what we call luminous self or self beyond self. So if we give the example, the lamb, maybe lamb, candle lamb, and we can cover that lamb with a glass ball with a very beautiful image, like flowers or rainbows, whatever.

• 40:42Speaker 01

  Then what we see is our room will be full of beautiful image. So that is what we call healthy sense of self. Then we can put another layer with a scary image, maybe spider, poison snake, in the Himalayas, tigers, lepers.

• 41:07Speaker 01

  If we cover that, then what we will see is our room will be full of scary image.

• 41:15Speaker 01

  But all this both layer comes from the center, the luminous self, a self beyond self.

• 41:23Speaker 01

  So what we call the unhealthy sense of self is actually 10% only. But we perceive 90% because we exaggerated. And I discuss this with sometimes some scientists and they talk about if we have 10 qualities within us, one negative, nine positive. Normally, what we see is one negative one. And then we exaggerate that one 90%, ignore the nine good qualities within us. So, as you said, untime matter could be the unhealthy sense of self. It's only 10%, the good.

• 42:10Speaker 01

  And then when we look at the more deeper level, there's a healthy sense of self. So healthy self has a lot of relative with love, compassion, awareness, wisdom. So the self related to that, that is 90%. Then when we look at the really deeper level, the luminous self is 100%, what we call. Because even that unhealthy sense of self is from the light.

• 42:38Speaker 01

  So the purpose of our practice is to really connect with the luminous self in the end.

• 42:46John R. Miles?

  Thank you for sharing that. I wanted to talk more about communities. And one of the things that I've really been trying to study upon is dehumanization and the need to belong. How in so many societies now, we're treating people as the other side. And I have come to believe. And I've studied this spiritually, and I've really studied the work of Kirk Gray and Emile Bruno, who found that if we can start seeing ourselves in the other side, because we're more common than we are different,

• 43:26John R. Miles?

  we can start ending a lot of the world conflicts that we're experiencing. So to me, this gets back to this concept of mattering. It's how do we move from "I matter" to "we matter" without losing the sense of personal dignity and worth that often holds us back from making those concessions to see the other person as a mirror of ourselves? How do you suggest we do that?

• 43:57Speaker 01

  In our tradition, same thing, or back to the basic innate goodness. So, as I mentioned, the Lem has three unity qualities: the light, the warm or heat, and yellow color. They are different aspect, but they are one. So our true nature has awareness, love and compassion, and the wisdom. So now, the second practice, what we call "how to connect with that innate love and compassion." So first time, when I hear this from my father,

• 44:39Speaker 01

  that he said, "Actually, you have love and compassion 24 hours." And I said, "What?" I never believed that at the beginning. I thought, "Oh, my father is doing my father's job." What we call "sweet talk." I thought it's sweet talk. But then he kissed me. So normally, we have first, what we call "view", which is introduction of this innate love and compassion. Then we have practice, the meditation. And number three is what we call "application", then we apply in everyday life. So that he introduced me this feeling that...

• 45:25Speaker 01

  He said, "Do you want to be happy?" I said, "Yes, of course." I have this text, "I want to be happy."

• 45:34Speaker 01

  He said, "That is the love."

• 45:38Speaker 01

  And at the same time, we don't want to suffer. Actually, that is compassion.

• 45:45Speaker 01

  So he said, "Every movement of your body is looking for happiness, don't want to suffer." So sometime I listen to his talk like this. Sometime I bought and become like this, something like this. And he said, "When you do that, if you keep too long, you feel uncomfortable." "I need to change, a little bit happy, relax." But then again, the suffering comes, maybe like this. So each movement, each eyes blink is looking for happiness. If we don't blink our eyes, then feel pain, right? Happiness?

• 46:25Speaker 01

  And even unconscious level, each breath is looking for happiness to avoid the suffering. And he said, "Not only the movement in your body, in your mind, it's a thought process." It's emotion. And of the, and in the end, they're all looking for happiness, don't want to suffer. So he said, "First, we need to recognize this within us." And then we practice self-love and compassion. That may I have happiness, the causes of happiness.

• 47:05Speaker 01

  Then we understand others. Actually, everybody looking for happiness 24 hours, 24/7. Each movement, each breath, each thought process. So we might skin look different, culture look different, tall or short. But the deeper level, everybody looking for happiness and everybody has this wonderful nature. So when we see this with others, just like you, then you feel like...

• 47:36Speaker 01

  Then, not just your friends or family, everybody in the world wanting to be happy, don't want to suffer. So then, in the end, we have this practice of immeasurable love and compassion that we wish that may all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May all beings free from suffering and the causes of suffering. So this way, then we connect with you, others, society, the world.

• 48:10John R. Miles?

  So from your perspective, from a contemplative or Buddhist perspective, what does true inclusion look like? Is it sameness or is it something else entirely?

• 48:23Speaker 01

  What we call unique and the union. Everybody is unique. So we really need to understand, everybody cannot become same. It's impossible. And if you try to make it same, then we are making another problem.

• 48:42Speaker 01

  The uniqueness,

• 48:46Speaker 01

  everybody has different skills, capacity, knowledge, experience, wisdom, different ways. So respecting the uniqueness, but because of uniqueness, we are together. We want to learn each other, grow each other.

• 49:06Speaker 01

  A new idea, new experience, new life, for the purpose of awareness, love and compassion, wisdom, the matter, we get together, work together for the compassion, for the wisdom, for the awareness. So that is the real meaning of how to connect with everybody.

• 49:31John R. Miles?

  Rupesh, if you could give communities one daily practice to help them remember that every person matters, what would that be?

• 49:42Speaker 01

  I think it's for me is the appreciation and gratitude. So maybe you can even write down the journaling.

• 49:52Speaker 01

  Three things to appreciate, maybe. One day about you, one day about others, the other community members. One day about the world, or maybe with the environment. And by doing that, it really helps for the community to become harmony. Not only that, they will see each other's these qualities. I will share you one story. So one time, I was on the teaching tour and somebody, couple, came to me. And they asked me special blessing because they are not happy and they were arguing from morning to evening.

• 50:38Speaker 01

  So the husband said, he love controlling. And the wife is always worry. So then they cannot get along and their marriage is become very unhappy and suffering and they asked me bless, pray for them. So they're expecting maybe I have some magical power and pray and all the problem go away.

• 51:06Speaker 01

  I told them, I don't have that power or capacity. So I cannot help you and they both are a little bit sad. And I told them, though I don't have this capacity of special blessing, but I can teach you something. And they both of themselves, whatever from you, appreciate it. So then I told them that every day, you have to make half hour time to do positive talk. Try to discuss some positive good qualities within each other. And I appreciate that. They said, okay, thank you. And they're gone. After few weeks later, they both came.

• 51:48Speaker 01

  And they both said, oh, this thirty minutes appreciation is too long. And for them, when they begin to discuss like, when I met you first time, you are very kind, but not now. Cannot say now, but they look at the time, time is too long. And then they said, what should we do? And I told them, okay, I can give you discount. So now, not thirty minutes, five minutes only. And they both said, oh, that's easy, they can do it. And they gone. And I haven't met them for one year. After one year later, they both came, they said, thank you so much for your advice. Our life changed.

• 52:31Speaker 01

  I was not expecting like that at the beginning, they were both quite negative. And I asked them, how that help you? And they said, when they begin to do this appreciation practice, and actually, they begin to just realize that actually, they have kind to each other. There's a lot of love there. And they have a lot of good qualities within each other, which is they never see before. And they discuss. And actually, they really like each other eventually. Though, they both has personality. The husband still have this tendency of control. Wife still worries a lot. But then they make humor. So they give each other nickname.

• 53:16Speaker 01

  The husband's name is Control Free. And the wife's name is Worry Free. So sometime, the husband go out and come home. He knock the door and he said, the most powerful person in the world is coming. And the wife said, most worry as a person in the world welcome you. So sometime, we all have problem, mistakes, all these things. Sometime, we cannot change right way, but bring awareness. And be kind with ourself, be kind with our friends or family or others. I think these are really important.

• 53:54John R. Miles?

  Thank you so much for sharing that. And I think the last thing I wanted to explore with you before we get into a quick wrap up questions is, how do we practice compassion, love and kindness in communities where we feel betrayed or misunderstood?

• 54:14Speaker 01

  We have this practice, how to practice loving kindness, compassion with a difficult person. So maybe I will tell one story. So one time, me and my father in Nepal Kathmandu, on the mountain, there's a nunnery. So he was in the nunnery and a group of people came to learn meditation from my father. My father was a great meditation teacher. And there's two men within that group, fighting all the time. Especially in the evenings, sometimes they fight a lot and hitting each other also sometimes.

• 54:48Speaker 01

  So, one day in the evening, me and my father were having soup. Like Tibetan dish, what be called thukpa, thukpa is like soup. And suddenly one man appear in the room and I asked my father, "Please teach me how to control my anger and hatred."

• 55:11Speaker 01

  And my father, while having the soup, asked him, "Why you hate the other person?" He said, "Oh, he beat me, say bad things, that's all, I hate him." And my father said, "Oh, then you should hate the words from him, the stick that he use." And that person said, "I'm not stupid. This stupid logic doesn't help me."

• 55:38Speaker 01

  And my father said, "Oh, why?" He said, "The stick is controlled by him, the word is controlled by him. I hate him, not the stupid, not the stick." And my father said, "Oh, then maybe you should hate the emotion, the clashes within that person. Because that person, when the hatred comes, he cannot control, just like you. You come here, want to control your hatred and anger, but when it comes, you cannot control." He said, "Yeah, that's right."

• 56:20Speaker 01

  So we have this practice that we separate the person and the clashes. And whatever they behave, we are not saying the behave is good. We are not saying the hatred is good, we never follow that. Even sometimes challenged, we should do that. But at the same time, we see the person.

• 56:40Speaker 01

  It's different than their clashes. And we wish that person free from that hatred, that clashes, that ignorant, aversion, craving, all this. And they're connected with awareness, love and compassion, wisdom and change, transform.

• 57:00John R. Miles?

  So I wanted to ask Rupesh, if you could write one sentence on a wall that every community in the world had to see each morning when they first woke up, what would it say?

• 57:15Speaker 01

  I think for me, the most important is the awareness that we all have innate quality, that experience of that though there's a thought, though there's emotion, but that awareness never disturbed, like inner sky, is free. And that awareness has also love and compassion. It has a wisdom. So

• 57:47Speaker 01

  maybe

• 57:49Speaker 01

  awareness, or maybe your basic innate goodness.

• 57:55Speaker 01

  Trust your basic innate goodness.

• 57:59John R. Miles?

  Thank you, and I'm going to end with this question. You've said before in other interviews that the best teacher is not words, but your own example. What legacy do you hope your presence is leaving on others?

• 58:15Speaker 01

  For me, is entire my life, I try my best to practice these teachings. Since childhood, I do a lot of retreats. I, all this practice I use in my life, in my leadership, in my way to communicate with others. And also, I really want to teach.

• 58:40Speaker 01

  And my own practice and the teaching is two things that help many other people.

• 58:48John R. Miles?

  Absolutely, just like you did today. Rinpoche, it was such an honor to have you here today. Thank you so much for giving us the honor of your presence.

• 58:57Speaker 01

  Thank you very much, and I really appreciate that what you're doing also.

• 59:01John R. Miles?

  And that's a wrap. What an incredible gift to share the space with Yangge Mingyur Rinpoche. His wisdom, humor, and vulnerability remind us that transformation isn't about striving, it's about seeing. That pain can be a teacher, not a problem, and that awareness, love, and compassion are not distant goals, but present realities we can reconnect with at any time. Here are a few takeaways I invite you to reflect on. What if your panic or fear isn't a flaw, but an invitation? How can you stop trying to fix yourself and instead start witnessing yourself? What micro-moments of meaning can you create today for yourself or for someone else? And how do we move from "I matter" to "you matter" to "we matter"?

• 59:43John R. Miles?

  If today's conversation sparked something in you, please consider leaving a five-star review. It helps the show reach more people and fuels our mission to bring more intentional insights to the world. And if someone came to mind while listening, share this episode with them. You never know what doors it might open. For links, highlights, and resources, including Rinpoche's books and guided practices, visit the show notes at passionstruck.com. You can also watch the full video interview on my YouTube channel. Just search for John R. Miles and be sure to subscribe while you're there. And don't forget to check out my recent solo episode on Serendipity and Mattering, where I explore how the smallest, unexpected moments can be signs that you already belong and that your life matters more than you may realize. Coming up next on Passion Struck, I'm joined by Dr. Ozilin Chow, author of

• 1:00:28John R. Miles?

  The Doors You Can Open: A New Way to Network, Build Trust, and Use Your Influence to Create a More Inclusive Workspace. We unpack how to navigate power, relationships, and inclusion with integrity, and why creating access for others is one of the most transformative forms of leadership.

• 1:00:42Speaker 02

  To me, mattering is knowing that other people would notice if you were gone. That's something I was thinking a lot more. And so when we sponsor other people, we're essentially saying, the world is better for having this person in it. And if you weren't aware of them, that would be very sad for all of us. And so when you think about people who don't get sponsored, basically, they're not having someone going out and telling other people about how much they matter and how much they should miss them if they were not there.

• 1:01:13John R. Miles?

  And remember, the fee for the show was simple. If you found value, share it. But more importantly, live it. Because knowledge alone doesn't change the world. Action does. Until next time, live life, passion struck.