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LHASA, TIBET – January 4, 2025

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On that winter morning, seventeen private jets touched down at Lhasa Gonggar Airport, carrying some of the most powerful individuals in global finance and technology.

Their destination? A simple monk from Drepung Monastery named Yongey.

Today, in his first public statement since that historic meeting, Yongey confirms what has since become the subject of international curiosity. This article summarizes the teachings he shared that day in the hopes that it will benefit the people of the world.

Private jets parked at Lhasa Gonggar Airport in January 2023 as prominent figures in finance and technology arrived for a private meeting.

The January 2023 gathering was, by any measure, extraordinary. Seventeen private jets touched down at Lhasa Gonggar Airport, carrying some of the most powerful individuals in global finance and technology. They had come from different industries and different countries, but they shared a common experience — the unsettling sense that despite everything they had built, something essential was slipping away.

Their destination was a simple monk named Yongey at Drepung Monastery. According to Yongey, he was not surprised by their arrival — only by their expectations.

"They came seeking formulas," he recalls. "Techniques for preserving what they had accumulated. Methods for continuing to grow it. They expected me to offer them something rare and difficult to obtain. I had to explain that what they were looking for was neither rare nor difficult — only unfamiliar."

What followed was not the meeting any of them had anticipated. Rather than strategies or secrets, Yongey spoke about the body's energy systems, the nature of the Root Chakra, and why the internal shifts people experience after fifty have direct consequences for how they engage with the world around them. For a group accustomed to solving problems with resources and intellect, it was disorienting and, for many, deeply affecting conversation.

"They arrived looking for more," Yongey says simply. "What I offered them was an explanation for why more had stopped working."

To understand what Yongey told them that day, it helps to consider what so many people quietly experience as they cross into their fifties.

It begins not with illness or crisis, but with a subtle shift — a persistent sense that their energy isn't quite what it was, that the vitality, confidence, and mental sharpness that once felt effortless now requires deliberate effort to maintain.

It's not simply tiredness. It's a feeling of disconnection — from opportunity, from other people, and even from one's own instincts.

Western medicine offers explanations rooted in hormones, metabolism, and the biology of aging. But according to Yongey, these explanations, while useful, miss something important. The shift people feel after fifty isn't only physical — it's energetic.

"Your body's natural energy systems begin shifting around age 50," he explains. "Eastern medicine has long recognized that energy affects not only health but also one's relationship with opportunities and circumstances. When this energy weakens, the world responds differently to you."

The result, he says, is what so many Americans over fifty report: working harder for smaller returns, facing mounting challenges with diminishing resources.

"But today, thousands are discovering what Tibetan tradition has always taught about restoring what naturally diminishes with age," Yongey continues. "They're reporting remarkable shifts — unexpected resolutions to longstanding challenges, renewed energy, opportunities appearing from nowhere."

He emphasizes that this discovery isn't modern medicine or financial planning. "It's an ancient understanding of how energy flows through the human body. And what makes this understanding remarkable is its accessibility."

During the meeting, Yongey shared the legend of Yeshe — a story passed down through generations of Tibetan monks. As the legend tells it, Yeshe was a destitute pig farmer who, fleeing bandits who had killed his wife and threatened his daughter, stumbled on monastery steps and discovered a copper bracelet hidden beneath a loose stone. From there, the story holds, something in him changed. He found clarity where before there had been only fear. He saw an opportunity others had missed, acted on it, and in doing so changed the course of his life entirely.

"People hear this story and think the bracelet caused his fortune," Yongey says. "They miss the deeper truth. The bracelet restored what he had lost — his energy, his instincts, his connection to his own capacities. The fortune that followed came from him, not from the object."

He notes that in the letters he receives today, the same pattern keeps appearing — unexpected windfalls, returning vitality, circumstances shifting in ways that logic struggles to explain. "Are these coincidences? Perhaps. But when the same pattern repeats across centuries and cultures, a wise person pays attention."

The conversation that day turned to a concern several visitors shared: the sense that as they aged, their luck was diminishing. Opportunities that once came easily now seemed to bypass them. Financial breaks that appeared in youth had mysteriously stopped coming.

Yongey addressed this directly, drawing on Tibetan Buddhist understanding of the body's energy systems.

"What you call 'luck' is not random," he explained to the group. "It is the universe's response to your internal energy state. When you feel grounded, secure, and connected to your environment, the universe reflects this back in the form of positive circumstances. When you feel disconnected, anxious, or uncertain, the universe mirrors these feelings as challenges and obstacles."

Tibetan monk gently teaching ancient wisdom inside a Himalayan monastery, explaining how the Root Chakra shapes one’s flow of luck in later life.

"In Tibetan understanding, the Root Chakra governs these feelings of security and connection," Yongey continued. "As the body ages, this energy center naturally weakens—not because of any curse, but simply because all things change. This is why opportunities seem to diminish after fifty. It is not that the world has turned against you. It is that your internal connection to the world has faded."

The visitors listened intently as Yongey explained that this weakening could be addressed — not through force or striving, but through gentle restoration of the body's natural energy flow.

Golden roofs rising over Langmusi Monastery, a center of Tibetan Buddhist study and pilgrimage. Teachings on restoration and renewal describe a three-stage pattern of returning fortune and vitality.

Yongey has observed patterns in the reports he receives. "First come small windfalls," he notes. "An unexpected refund. A small lottery win. A forgotten payment that suddenly arrives. These small blessings are important—they wake us up, remind us that the universe is not closed to us."

"Then come what we might call ancestral blessings. Inheritances. Appreciating investments. Resources from the past that suddenly become available in the present. These remind us that we are connected to something larger than our individual lives."

"Finally, physical vitality returns. Pain diminishes. Energy increases. People report feeling years younger—gardening again, playing with grandchildren, traveling without exhaustion. This is the deepest restoration: not just fortune in the external sense, but the return of life itself."

When one visitor asked directly about the bracelet's material, Yongey uncovered his wrist to reveal a simple copper band.

"This is not gold," he told them. "It is not silver. It is copper — a common material you can find in any household. But copper has a property that makes it special for our purposes."

He explained: "In the physical world, copper conducts electricity. In the spiritual understanding of our tradition, copper conducts something else — the subtle energy that flows between the physical and spiritual dimensions. When worn against the skin, it creates a direct line between your Root Chakra and the universe. It amplifies what is already there. It does not create what is absent."

The visitors looked at one another. They had traveled thousands of miles, spent fortunes on private aviation, disrupted their lives for weeks—all to learn that the object they sought was made of one of the most common materials on earth.

"Copper costs almost nothing," Yongey acknowledged, smiling at their expressions. "You do not need to be rich to afford it. This is the first teaching: what you most need is already available to you. You simply need to know how to use it."

Monk speaking with a young attendee during a private gathering at Drepung Monastery. A copper bracelet was presented as a symbol of intention and responsibility.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Yongey did something that surprised even his fellow monks. He removed the copper bracelet from his own wrist — the one he had worn for years — and walked past the assembled financiers and executives to approach a young woman sitting quietly at the edge of the room.

Her name was Maya, a junior aide to a Silicon Valley founder whose company had come to define the AI boom. She had spent the meeting taking notes, speaking only when spoken to.

But Yongey had noticed something the others hadn't: while her employer's questions had circled around preservation and accumulation, Maya's had been different. She asked not about getting more, but about giving wisely — about how to know when resources were being used well.

"To you, I offer this," he told her, placing the bracelet in her hands. "Not for personal gain, but as a reminder of what you have learned here, and as a support for the good you wish to create in the world."

"She had no power in that room," Yongey recalls. "But she was the only one truly listening. I gave her the bracelet not as a magic talisman, but as a reminder — a physical support for the intention she already carried in her heart."

Tears fell down Maya's cheeks as she accepted it.

"Thank you," she said. "I promise to use it well."

Yongey smiles at the memory. "She understood that the bracelet was not the treasure. The understanding was the treasure. The bracelet was simply a reminder."

In the months following the meeting, Yongey learned that Maya had established a company called Karma Items, dedicated to producing copper bracelets crafted by local Tibetan artisans using traditional methods passed down for generations. A portion of proceeds, he understands, is directed toward charitable causes.

"I have no commercial involvement with this enterprise," Yongey emphasizes. "Drepung Monastery does not sell blessings, artifacts, or spiritual merchandise. That is not our mission. But Maya approached this work with respect for our traditions and a sincere desire to share something beneficial. I appreciate her commitment to generosity — a commitment that reflects the teachings we discussed."

Yongey has also received reports that the bracelets have become widely popular, particularly among people over fifty who report experiencing positive changes after wearing them. He receives letters regularly from individuals describing unexpected windfalls, renewed energy, and a sense of returning fortune.

Among the letters Yongey has received:

"One man wrote that he received an unexpected disability check for $9,000 and an $11,000 tax refund within months of wearing the bracelet," Yongey shares. "Another woman told me she met someone special after years of feeling invisible. A third said she hasn't fallen ill since she began wearing it — a small thing, perhaps, but significant to her."

He smiles gently. "I rejoice in their happiness. Whether these changes come from the bracelet, from a shift in perspective, or simply from the power of hope and belief—the important thing is that suffering decreases and well-being increases. I do not claim to fully understand how these things work. I only know that the mind is powerful, that intentions matter, and that genuine transformation is possible."

Yongey is aware that the recent publicity has resonated particularly strongly with people over fifty — individuals who may feel their fortunes fading, their opportunities diminishing, their best years behind them.

To these individuals, he offers a message that differs fundamentally from promises of quick fixes or magical solutions.

"What you call 'bad luck' as you age is not a curse to be reversed," he says. "It is an invitation. An invitation to turn inward. To discover what is genuinely valuable. To find the peace that does not depend on external circumstances."

The Tibetan Bracelet of Fortune, crafted from copper and inspired by traditional Himalayan design.

Yongey emphasizes that the bracelets produced by Karma Items are made by local Tibetan craftsmen using traditional methods and locally-mined copper.

"These are not factory productions," he notes. "They are made by hand, by people who have inherited this knowledge from their ancestors. There is something in that—the intention of the maker, the continuity of tradition—that cannot be replicated by machines. Whether that matters to the wearer is for each person to decide."

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche speaking at a TED Talk in April 2022 about meditation and cultivating awareness. The video has been viewed more than 3.1 million times.

Regarding the bracelets that now bear his tradition's name, Yongey offers a final reflection:

"If wearing a copper bracelet reminds you that you are connected to something larger than yourself — if it restores your sense of grounding, your confidence, your openness to possibility — then it serves a genuine purpose. But do not mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself. The bracelet points toward something. That something is already within you."

Tibetan Bracelet of Fortune undergoing a traditional blessing ritual at Drepung Monastery. Monks perform an activation ceremony rooted in centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist practice.

Tibetan Bracelet of Fortune undergoing a traditional blessing ritual at Drepung Monastery. Monks perform an activation ceremony rooted in centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist practice.

Two years after the historic gathering, Maya has kept her promise. The company she founded, Karma Items, produces authentic copper Bracelets of Fortune handcrafted by Tibetan artisans using methods passed down through generations. A portion of every sale goes toward charitable causes — the same spirit of giving that caught Yongey's eye in that room full of billionaires.

The bracelets are available exclusively through Karma Items' official website. You won't find them in stores. Maya made that choice deliberately — to keep production small, quality high, and the tradition intact.

As for Yongey, he has returned to his wandering life among these mountains, giving no further interviews and seeking no attention. He leaves the last word to the teaching itself.

"Somewhere, people I will never meet are finding a little more peace, a little more hope, a little more connection to their own capacities. That is enough," he says.

Now that you understand the ancient power behind the Bracelet of Fortune, here is how to get one:

1. Visit the official Karma Items website and place your order.

2. Wear your bracelet and feel the difference as your Root Chakra reawakens — and watch as energy, opportunity, and abundance flow back into your life.

Media Contact:

For authentic information regarding Drepung Monastery, Yongey, or Tibetan Buddhist teachings, members of the media may direct inquiries to the monastery's designated liaison office.

Drepung Monastery maintains its traditional spiritual mission and does not endorse commercial products. This account is provided for informational purposes only.