Your Mind Can’t Multitask: Trungram Gyalwa Rinpoche on How Our Minds Work | Meng & Friends Ep 7

by | May 15, 2026 | Buddhism.net Blog, Meng & Friends

We like to think we’re multitasking—replying to messages, listening to someone, planning tomorrow, and somehow being “productive” all at once—until we miss something obvious and still insist we were “paying attention.”

So, what actually happens in the mind before we react? Trungram Gyalwa Rinpoche answers this question in Meng & Friends Episode 7 through a Buddhist teaching on the six minds: the five sense consciousnesses and the thinking mind (Mano-vijñāna).

This conversation takes a closer look at how easily we move through life, assuming we’re fully present, when in reality attention is constantly slipping between seeing, hearing, thinking, and reacting, often without us noticing. Spanning multitasking, meditation, and the “me” vs. “other” Kleśa mind, Rinpoche invites us to understand a way of working with the mind as it moves, not after it has already run ahead.

Chade-Meng Tan

Meng is an award-winning engineer, international bestselling author, movie producer and philanthropist. His work has been nominated eight times for the Nobel Peace Prize. (Read Meng's story)

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