AS A CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, Hana Ko counseled people every day who carried deep suffering — trauma survivors, individuals on probation, and numerous people contending with mental illness. 

“I saw so many problems — violence, anger. I became cynical, burned out,” Hana said in an interview from the city of Jeju in South Korea. The weight of it all was burdensome. “It felt like humanity was broken.”

Alongside these struggles, Hana carried the relentless pressure of perfectionism. Shaped by Korean culture and the environment in which she was raised, Hana was under immense pressure to avoid mistakes. Even small errors often brought blame.

“I was always afraid of blame from others,” she said. “I tried to be polite and careful, but inside, I was always anxious, always afraid of judgment.”

In recent years, struggling personally and professionally, she found herself sinking further into a darker state of mind.

About four years ago, Hana attended a teaching by Mingyur Rinpoche in South Korea. At that time, however, she said she wasn’t ready for it. “He was talking about bodhichitta — the heart of awakening — but I wasn’t open to it,” she said. “Back then, my focus was only on myself: me, me, me.”

Nevertheless, seeds had been planted. As her suffering deepened, Hana began searching for answers and found a teacher from the Nyingma lineage, Pema Wangyal Rinpoche in Portugal, and Dza Kilung Rinpoche in Korea.

She also came across one of Mingyur Rinpoche’s teachings on YouTube on the bardo — the “in between” or transitional states that apply in our life and death. “I was so afraid of death,” Hana said. “But his teachings were bright and uplifting. They gave me a little bit of hope, a positive perspective.”

Most recently, she attended Tergar’s Five Buddha Wisdom Energies retreat and experienced a profound shift. 

The simplicity of Mingyur Rinpoche’s words struck her deeply: We are all made of the same basic elements: earth, water, fire, wind, and space. While our appearances differ, at the core we are the same.

“That realization opened my mind,” Hana said. “I felt free from separation and difference. It was like my heart widened.”

Then came the most transformative teaching: Every being is a buddha. Mingyur Rinpoche invited participants to reflect on friends, family, and even strangers — seeing beyond the “clouds” that obscure “the sky” — to see each person as a unique expression of awakened qualities.

Rinpoche taught that everybody has this wonderful buddha nature and that the essence of all the destructive emotions and suffering is awareness, love and compassion, and wisdom — all three together in unity. “When we recognize that with us, with all the beings, that is what we call pure perception,” Rinpoche shared.

“His teaching was like a blessing,” Hana said.. “My cynical perspective just… disappeared. Suddenly, I could see the Buddha nature in everyone.”

Since the retreat, she has begun practicing this view in a very practical way. Before meeting clients, she prays and consciously remembers their innate goodness. This small but powerful habit keeps her connected to a positive perspective, even when working with challenging cases.

Additionally, through the teachings, Hana experienced a profound personal transformation. Her perfectionism began to dissolve. “There’s no longer a need to strive for perfection,” she said, smiling. “Because I already possess innate goodness — and so does everyone else.”

“The teachings gave me the courage to live with a positive perspective.”

October 2025

To learn more about Mingyur Rinpoche’s Buddhist Teachings, see Vajrayana Online.