The Joy Of Living by Yongey Mingur

I have just read the best book on Buddhism and the mind that I have ever read. I highly recommend the book or the audio. Working with neuroscientists at the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, Yongey Mingyur provides clear insights into modern research indicating that systematic training in meditation can enhance activity in areas of the brain associated with happiness and compassion. He has also worked with physicists across the country to develop a fresh, scientifically based interpretation of the Buddhist understanding of the nature of reality.

I think I came away from this book with a basic understand of the human mind like I did not have before I read it. That doesn't mean I have arrived or anything of the sort. Actually, I hope I never arrive because then I arrive there will be no place else to go. There are some teachings of Yongey Mipgur out on the web, some video teachings. You have to dig deeply into google to find them but they are there. Rinpoche does not speak English, but he has a very able interpreter. And, Yongey himeself is very funny. I enjoy his speaking and hope to see him in person sometime during 2009.

Here are some of the things various people have said about Rinpoche's book:

"Here we have that most marvelous spiritual flower: an authentic Tibetan meditation master telling us how it is inside his mind and heart during meditation, backed up by cutting-edge scientific evaluation of those same phenomena. Mingyur Rinoche's unique contribution to this emerging field is an early flowering of the interface of neuroscience and Buddhism, which I believe will keep producing invaluable fruit in the decades to come, helping us to better understand ourselves and reality, and particularly our innate capacity for developing happiness, inner peace and deep wisdom. I heartily recommend this to anyone interested in the healing arts, consciousness studies, and genuine contemplative practice today."

--Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World, founder of the Dzogchen Center in America.

"There is real wisdom here. Fresh and clear. Rinpoche has offered us what may well be an essential link between the Buddha and contemporary neuroscience and physics. He effortlessly makes connections between seemingly disparate and complex disciplines, and makes the journey sparkle. His voice is generous, intimate and refreshingly personal. As he repeatedly reminds us, our experience of ourselves and our world is none other than an interactive projection of our mind. And most importantly, that our minds can change. Our neurons can change structure and function, merely by observing the flow of our mental activity. Through repeated familiarity with positive mind states, such as love and compassion, and by transforming our limiting mental conceptualizing into vast freedom, we can achieve the already present basic mind of clarity and knowing - true happiness. Read this book."

--Richard Gere

Here is a link to some of Rinpoche's teachings:
http://mingyur.org/teachings/index.html

Rinpoche will be touring North America from April 3 - September 8 2009. Here is the link to his teaching schedule:
http://mingyur.org/schedule.html

You can download an MP3 teaching of Rinpoche at the following site:
http://www.newdimensions.org/program.php?id=3201

I have also posted some of Yongey Mingyur Rimpoche's photos on the site.