WANDERING… BUT NOT LOST

SINGAPORE PREMIERE

USA | 2018 | 88 min | PG

English with no subtitles

Directed by Paul MacGowan

Under cover of darkness and with no word of his plans, much-beloved Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche walked away from his life on the international stage to live that of a wandering yogi.

Unheard of among eminent teachers today, such a practice is rife with hardships. For Mingyur Rinpoche, these challenges—begging, finding food and shelter, illness, and all the attendant risks of wandering incognito from place to place with the barest of possessions—present fertile ground for deepening insight into the true nature of the mind.

WANDERING… BUT NOT LOST is an intimate account of Rinpoche’s four-and-a-half-year retreat interspersed with the master’s own guidance in applying Buddhist wisdom to our daily modern lives.

The story begins in Bodhgaya, India at the monastery of this renowned meditation master and teacher, best-selling author, and abbot of three monasteries worldwide. Recounting the night of his disappearance in detail, the film follows Rinpoche through his first days and weeks, including his near-death experience and the insight he gains as a result.

DIRECTOR’S BIO

In the video production business for over 33 years, Paul MacGowan has brought his well-honed skills to a wide range of film and video projects.

Paul’s other documentary producer/director work includes A Joyful Mind, a film made with Mingyur Rinpoche about what it means to meditate, on what modern science reveals about its benefits, and on how meditation and mindfulness can be used in workplaces and schools.

Paul is a longtime meditator and Buddhist; he attended Naropa University in 1981 and first travelled to Nepal 1983 where he met Mingyur Rinpoche’s brother, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and practiced under his guidance.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Although Rinpoche wouldn’t care for the comparison, this story of the pampered prince leaving the comforts of home to go out into the world and see for himself what’s going on, parallels that of Shakyamuni Buddha. Here is an archetypal story that is retold in different ways but holds a profound message at its core: that we need to shake up our life and, in a sense, turn it upside down in order to see behind the surface of our day-to-day struggles and, from there, to confront and absorb the deepest, most enriching lessons of life.

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Paul MacGowan
Open Mind Media
paul@ajoyfulmind.com