Lama Ole Nydahl | |
---|---|
Born | Copenhagen, Denmark | 19 March 1941
Nationality | Danish |
Organization | Diamond Way Buddhism |
Title | Lama |
Spouses | Alexandra Munoz Barboza (m. 2014;div. 2017)Anne Behrend (m. 2019) |
Partner(s) | Caty Hartung (1990-2004) |
Children | 3, including Freya |
Website | lama-ole-nydahl |
Ole Nydahl (born 19 March 1941), also known as Lama Ole, is a lama providing Mahamudra teachings [1] in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Since the early 1970s, Nydahl has toured the world giving lectures and meditation courses. With his wife, Hannah Nydahl (1946-2007), he founded Diamond Way Buddhism, a worldwide Karma Kagyu Buddhist organization with over 600 centers for lay practitioners.
Nydahl is the author of more than twenty books (in German and English) about Diamond Way Vajrayana Buddhism, with translations into multiple languages. Titles include The Great Seal: Mahamudra View of Diamond Way Buddhism,The Way Things Are, Entering the Diamond Way, Buddha and Love and Fearless Death.
Ole Nydahl was born north of Copenhagen into an academic family. Growing up in Denmark during the second world war, Nydahl witnessed his parents working in the Danish resistance movement, helping transport Jews to neutral Sweden. [2] [3] In the early 1960s, he served briefly in the Danish Army, [4] then studied philosophy, English, and German at the University of Copenhagen, where he completed the examen philosophicum with the best possible grade. [4] He began but did not finish a doctoral thesis on Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception . [5] As a young man, Nydahl was involved in boxing, motorcycles, race car driving and also travelled overland from Denmark to Nepal several times. As described in his autobiography Entering the Diamond Way, his travels were financed through smuggling, for which he was once arrested and detained in Denmark. He used this time in pre-trial detention for meditation and read "Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrine" by Walter Evans-Wentz. [4]
In 1968, Ole Nydahl and his wife Hannah travelled to Nepal on their honeymoon. In Nepal they met their first Buddhist teacher, the Drukpa Kagyu master Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche. [6] In December 1969, the Nydahls met Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage. Nine years after the British woman Freda Bedi became the first Western student of the 16th Karmapa, the Nydahls took refuge and became students of the Karmapa. [7] They studied and meditated in the Himalayas, where they completed the Ngöndro or preliminary practices in six months, and had explanations and empowerments for 8th Karmapa guru yoga meditation practice and other methods. [8] During this time the Nydahls also became students of Mipham Chokyi Lodro, the fourteenth Shamarpa, the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul, and Kalu Rinpoche in Sonada. From the Karmapa, the Nydahls learned about Vajrayana Buddhism and mahamudra, and received the Kagyu Ngagdzo transmission. From the Shamarpa, they took the Bodhisattva vows and learned about Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation. They learned phowa from Ayang Rinpoche in 1972. In addition, the Nydahls received teachings and empowerments from various Tibetan lamas, including Dilgo Khyentse, Bokar Rinpoche, Gyaltrul Rinpoche and the Dalai Lama. [9] [10]
Upon returning to Europe in 1972, the 16th Karmapa asked Hannah and Ole Nydahl to begin teaching Buddhism and organize meditation centers, [11] first in their native Denmark, then in Germany and other countries. The centers belong to the Karma Kagyu lineage and operate under Ole Nydahl's practical guidance. In the early 90s, Diamond Way Buddhism was founded as a way to protect established centers during the Karmapa controversy. [12]
As of 2019 [update] , there were 635 Diamond Way centers throughout the world. [13] Most are in Europe, Russia, or the United States.
Ole Nydahl regularly travels between them during the year giving lectures and meditation courses. Until 2013, Nydahl taught conscious dying or phowa, as well as other Buddhist meditation practices, but in recent years he has been focused on giving Mahamudra; teachings on the nature of mind. He traveled almost constantly for over 40 years, teaching in a new city nearly every day, until 2017 when his health necessitated reducing his travel schedule. [9]
Together with his students, Nydahl has created Buddhist centers that provide access to Vajrayana meditation methods without requiring an understanding of Tibetan language or culture. In the Diamond Way centers, the meditations and names of the various Buddha forms have been translated into Western languages. Ole Nydahl believes it essential for people to understand and read the meditations in their own language in order for Buddhism to become truly rooted in the West, as noted in the preface to the meditation booklet titled Refuge and the Enlightened Attitude, used in Diamond Way Buddhist Centers, in which Nydahl states, "This practice used to have an exotic edge because the repetition was in Tibetan. It has now been brought into a Western context, enabling us to understand it on a much deeper level." [14]
Diamond Way centers are run entirely by volunteers; the organization does not maintain any paid staff. The organizational structure is intended to be democratic and to function on the basis of idealism and friendship. [15] According to Buddhism Today, the Diamond Way Buddhist magazine, "hierarchical systems will not sell with independent people in the West. Nobody wants a distant teacher on a pedestal or a big organization standing on their shoulders and telling them what to think." [16]
Students in Diamond Way Centers practice the Ngöndro given by Wangchuk Dorje, 9th Karmapa Lama, [14] which are a set of four foundational practices that are intended to prepare the mind for enlightenment, and several forms of guru yoga or meditation on the lama, such as the 16th Karmapa meditation, and the 8th Karmapa meditation (as given by the 16th Karmapa). [15] [17] [18] In a newsletter dated 9 July 2010, Nydahl responded to questions about the types of practices taught in Diamond Way Centers by stating "I never taught anything I was not asked to pass on by the great Sixteenth Karmapa and that its basis was always the Guru Yogas of the Karmapas. Nothing else is practiced in our now 650 Diamond Way centers world-wide where my students meditate side by side." [19] According to Bee Scherer, "This trajectory is a deliberate yet restrictive selection from the vast richness of Kagyu practices", providing an introductory course into Karma Kagyu practices. [20]
Jørn Borup, a professor of religion at Aarhus University, says that Ole Nydahl is "the most lasting influence on the Buddhist practice scene in Denmark" and "has in many ways been the icon of living Buddhism in Denmark". [21] The total number of Nydahl's adherents is unknown, but can be estimated conservatively to include 15,000 to 70,000 students and casual sympathizers worldwide. [5] In Germany alone, the German Buddhist Union, (Deutsche Buddhistische Union) estimates that about 20,000 persons regularly visit the Diamond Way centers and groups. [5]
The 14th Shamar Rinpoche, Shamarpa, stated in his biography of the 16th Karmapa that "it was Lama Ole who made the Karmapa's name be renowned and through this, he established some 600 dharma centers," [22] noting that Nydahls work "is also the result of Gyalwa Karmapa's activity." [23]
As well as co-founder of Diamond Way with his wife Hannah Nydahl, Ole Nydahl is co-founder and chairman of the board of The Diamond Way Buddhism Foundation. A non-profit international foundation under German law, it supports projects worldwide, such as a library in Karma Guen (Malaga, Spain), which translates and preserves Buddhist texts; organizes cultural events such as Tibetan art exhibitions; and is responsible for building retreat centers and stupas in Europe and Russia. [24]
In 1972, in a letter to Queen Margarethe of Denmark, the 16th Karmapa called Ole and Hannah Nydahl "trusted pupils", [1] entrusting them to establish "a Centre and meditation centre" in Denmark.[ citation needed ] According to Bee Scherer, a professor of gender studies and religious studies at Canterbury Christ Church University, [25] "Nydahl was not sent back in 1972 already as a "lama" in the sense of a traditionally trained and fully qualified Buddhist teacher." [1] [note 1] [note 2] According to Scherer, Nydahl "gained recognition as a Lama (bla ma, traditionally acknowledged teacher)" in the period after the death of the Sixteenth Karmapa in 1981. [20] In August 1983, he was "finally acknowledged as a "Buddhist Master" by the lineage holder Shamar Rinpoche", [26] the 14th Shamarpa, who certified that Nydahl is "appointed Buddhist Master". [27] [28] Scherer notes that since 1995 "the usage of "Lama" by higher Lamas in reference to Nydahl has been documented." [20] [5] [note 3] [note 4]
Nydahl's "self-identification and legitimization as a Western Karma bKa' brgyud lay teacher" is an important part of a "continual hagiographical tradition he and his inner circle are writing and rewriting". [29] These hagiographies contribute to the cohesion of the Diamond Way, and "this claim of normative transmission is emphasized in almost every public lecture given by Nydahl himself." [30] According to Scherer, Nydahl presents himself as a lay-siddhi yogi, with a "polarizing style". [31] The yogi-lay element is presented by Nydahl as a legitimization of his position as a teacher within the Karma Kagyu, and "addresses Nydahl's unconventional spiritual formation and education outside the prescribed curriculum of three-year retreats." [32] [note 5]
Scherer further notes that Nydahls' unconventional role as a siddhi-yogi, and his presentation of Mahamudra-teachings outside "the gradual Tantric trajectory", has historical precedents in the crazy yogis who established Tibetan Buddhism. These precedents are relevant in understanding Nydahl's role as a yogic/lay teacher. [5] [note 6] Lama Ole's first teacher, Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche, interpreted Nydahl's activity within the context of the Mahāsiddha tradition and the yogi/accomplisher way, stating, "Almost all of the 84 Mahasiddhas followed the lay way, only a few of them were monks and nuns. Nowadays, the lay way is natural and beneficial for many people." [36]
According to Borup, "[Nydahl] and his Diamond Way Buddhism is in no way representative of Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism or the teachings of the Karma Kagyu lineage." [37] Martin Baumann, a professor of religion at the University of Lucerne, [38] remarked in a newspaper interview "when I listen to his [Nydahl's] alarmingly superficial formulations in his talks I can understand his critics who say that he is presenting a watered-down 'instant Buddhism', a sort of 'Buddhism light' for the West." [39] [note 7]
In a 2009 article, Bee Scherer, a professor of gender studies and religious studies at Canterbury Christ Church University [25] and a student of Thaye Dorje, [41] as well as a former student of Ole Nydahl, [42] examined if these criticisms apply to the core rituals and practices performed in the Diamond Way. Scherer describes a number of practices, some of which have been partly adapted to the west, while others are fully in line with traditional Karma Kagyu practices, concluding that Baumann's critique applies only partly. [43] [note 8] According to Scherer, Nydahl's Diamond Way practices can best be described as a "neo-orthopraxy", a new, westernized form of traditional practices. [47] He regrets that Nydahl's ideas are not discussed by Tibet scholars, and opines that they have a duty to counterbalance the prevailing negative criticism by sociologists and students of New Religious Movements. [5] [note 9]
When a great Tibetan lama dies, it is tradition in Tibetan Buddhism to find the next reincarnation to continue the work. When Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the Sixteenth Karmapa (head of the Karma Kagyu) died in 1981, two potential successors were found, Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje, causing a major split in the Karma Kagyu. Because Shamar Rinpoche was one of Hannah and Ole Nydahl's main teachers, they supported his recognition of Trinley Thaye Dorje as the 17th Karmapa.
Geoffrey Samuel, an academic expert in the field testified in court, while the recognition of Ogyen Trinley "appears to have been accepted by a majority of Karma Kagyu monasteries and lamas, there remains a substantial minority of monasteries and lamas who have not accepted Ogyen Trinley as Karmapa. In particular, these include the Shamar Rinpoche, who historically has been the person most directly involved in the process of recognition." [48]
It was largely because of the work of Hannah and Ole Nydahl that most European Karma Kagyu centers chose to support Trinley Thaye Dorje. [12] [21] As a result, Trinley Thaye Dorje is the "patron" of the centers of the Diamond Way Buddhism. [49]
Due to his role in the Karmapa controversy, Nydahl has been heavily criticized by the supporters of Ogyen Trinley Dorje, such as the authors Mick Brown and Lea Terhune, a student of Tai Situpa. [50] In connection to this, some blame Nydahl for causing the 1992 split of the Karma Kagyu, and accuse him of breaking the samayas to his teachers, which is deprecated in Vajrayana. [51]
Some members of the press have criticized Nydahl's version of Diamond Way Buddhism, describing it as featuring "prevalent militaristic appearances, right-wing political views and fierce anti-Islam rhetoric". Others have more positive views of Nydahl's work, describing his dedication to his work and patriotism. [52] Scherer describes Nydahl's representation of himself as "a Buddhist teacher and protector of Western freedom". This addresses his legitimization narrative of himself as emanation of a Buddhist protector and his Kālacakra-linked fierce interpretation of Islam in particular as a key threat to Western freedom and human, especially women's rights. [5] Nydahl has referred to the Islamic religion as "criminal", [53] [54] has called Allah a "terrible god", [55] and has characterized Muslim beliefs as antithetical to freedom of speech and women's rights:
I seriously hope, you know, that we're not losing the freedom of expression right now, that we're not losing the ability to say what we think even if we step on the toes of some gentlemen from the Near East … who like to beat their wives or stone them or whatever else they do, right? [56]
Nydahl says that he does not make political comments in his capacity as a lama, but as a "responsible, thinking human being", and that no one can make such statements from a Buddhist perspective because Buddha Shakyamuni did not comment on religious ideas founded centuries after his death. [52]
An online interview with Nydahl also featured the following statement: "Judaism and Christianity are fine. Islam, I warn against. I know the Koran, I know the life story of Mohammad and I think we cannot use that in our society today." [55]
Between late 1999 and April 2000 there was a public dispute between the German Buddhist Union and the German branch of Diamond Way, which was a member organisation of the Union. Due to Nydahl's disparaging attitude towards Islam, his political statements, his manner of expressing and presenting himself, and his relationships with women, [57] [note 10] there were calls for the expulsion of Nydahl's organisation from the Union. [58] The dispute was resolved at a meeting between the two organizations on 4 October 2000; although differences were clear, they agreed to learn from the past and cooperate in the future. The conversation was described as "a first step" that "should eliminate misunderstandings, and lead to clarity and cooperation". [59] [ failed verification ] The German branch of Diamond Way (Buddhistischer Dachverband Diamantweg) remained a member of the German Buddhist Union. [60] In 2019 there were discussions and an application to exclude the Diamond Way from the German Buddhist Union (DBU), based on Nydahl's statements about Islam. DBU members were worried about possible damage to reputation and the German section of Diamond Way decided to leave the DBU. [61] [62]
Ole Nydahl met his future wife Hannah when he was 10 and she was five. They met again just after Nydhal came out of the army. [2] Hannah Nydahl died of lung cancer in 2007. [63]
In 2014 Nydahl married Alexandra Munoz Barbosa at the Copenhagen Diamond Way Buddhist center. [64] In 2017 they were divorced.
On 31 August 2019 Ole Nydahl and Anne Behrend were married at the Diamond Way Buddhist center in Těnovice, Czech Republic. [65]
In an interview in 2017 Ole Nydahl mentioned he had fathered two children. [66]
On 18 December 2020 Ole Nydahl and Anne Behrend welcomed the birth of their daughter Freya.
Ole Nydahl has written several books in English, German and Danish, which have been translated into several other European languages.
Selected English titles:
The Gyalwa Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyu school, itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Karmapa was Tibet's first consciously incarnating lama.
The Shamarpa, also known as Shamar Rinpoche, or more formally Künzig Shamar Rinpoche, is the second oldest lineage of tulkus. He is one of the highest lineage holders of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and is regarded as the mind manifestation of Amitābha. He is traditionally associated with Yangpachen Monastery near Lhasa.
Hannah Nydahl (1946–2007), wife of Lama Ole Nydahl, was a Danish teacher and translator in the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
Rumtek Monastery, also called the Dharma Chakra Centre, is a gompa located in the Indian state of Sikkim near the capital Gangtok. It is the seat in exile of the Gyalwang Karmapa, inaugurated in 1966 by the 16th Karmapa. It is also a focal point for the sectarian tensions within the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism that characterize the 17th Karmapa controversy.
There are currently two, separately enthroned 17th Gyalwang Karmapas: Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje. The Karmapa is the spiritual leader of the nine-hundred-year-old Karma Kagyu lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Thrangu Rinpoche was born in Kham, Tibet. He was deemed to be a prominent tulku in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, the ninth reincarnation in his particular line. His full name and title was the Very Venerable Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Tulku, Karma Lodrö Lungrik Maway Senge. The academic title Khenchen denotes great scholarly accomplishment, and the term Rinpoche is a Tibetan devotional title which may be accorded to respected teachers and exemplars.
Trinley Thaye Dorje is a claimant to the title of 17th Karmapa.
The Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje was the spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He is of the oldest line of reincarnate lamas in Vajrayana Buddhism known as the Karmapas, whose coming was predicted by the Buddha in the Samadhiraja Sutra. The 16th Karmapa was considered to be a "living Buddha" and was deeply involved in the transmission of the Vajrayana Buddhism to Europe and North America following the Chinese invasion of Tibet. He had many monikers, including "King of the Yogis", and is the subject of numerous books and films.
Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé, also known as Jamgön Kongtrül the Great, was a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, poet, artist, physician, tertön and polymath. He is credited as one of the founders of the Rimé movement (non-sectarian), compiling what is known as the "Five Great Treasuries". He achieved great renown as a scholar and writer, especially among the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages and composed over 90 volumes of Buddhist writing, including his magnum opus, The Treasury of Knowledge.
Karma Kagyu, or Kamtsang Kagyu, is a widely practiced and probably the second-largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage has long-standing monasteries in Tibet, China, Russia, Mongolia, India, Nepal and Bhutan, with current centres in over 60 countries. The spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu is the Gyalwa Karmapa; the 2nd among the 10 Karmapas had been the principal spiritual advisors to successive emperors of China. The Karma Kagyu are sometimes called the "Black Hat" lamas, in reference to the Black Crown worn by the Karmapa.
Khakhyap Dorjé, 15th Karmapa Lama was born in Sheikor village in Tsang, Tibet. It's said at birth he spoke the Chenrezig mantra, and at five he was able to read scriptures. He was recognized as the Karmapa reincarnation and enthroned at 6 by the ninth Kyabgon Drukchen.
Diamond Way Buddhism is a lay organization within the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The first Diamond Way Buddhist center was founded in 1972 by Hannah Nydahl and Ole Nydahl in Copenhagen under the guidance of Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa. Today there are approximately 650 centers worldwide, directed by Ole Nydahl under the guidance of Trinley Thaye Dorje, one of two claimants to the title of the 17th Karmapa. Buddhist teachers such as Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche, Lama Jigme Rinpoche and Nedo Kuchung Rinpoche visit Diamond Way Buddhism centers and large meditation courses.
Mipham Chokyi Lodro, also known as Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche, was the fourteenth Shamarpa of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Shamarpa is the second-most important teacher of the Karma Kagyu school, after the Karmapa.
Benalmádena Stupa is a stupa in Benalmádena, Málaga in the Andalusian region of southern Spain, overlooking Costa del Sol. It is 33 m (108 ft) high and is the tallest stupa in Europe. It was inaugurated on 5 October 2003, and was the final project of Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche.
Although there was regular contact between practising Buddhists and Europeans in antiquity the former had little direct impact. In the latter half of the 19th century, Buddhism came to the attention of Western intellectuals and during the course of the following century the number of adherents has grown. There are now between 1 and 4 million Buddhists in Europe, the majority in Italy, Germany, Hungary, France and the United Kingdom.
Pema Dönyö Nyinje is the 12th Tai Situpa, a tulku in Tibetan Buddhism, and one of the leading figures of the Karma Kagyu school. He is the head of Palpung Monastery.
Karma Thinley Rinpocheཀརྨ་འཕྲིན་ལས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, is an important master of the Kagyu Mahamudra, Sakya Lamdré and Chod traditions of Tibetan Buddhism active in the west and Nepal. He is also well regarded by Tibetans as a scholar, poet and artist.
Buddhism is a minority religion in Denmark with approximately 64,000 members (1.1%) in 2018.
Lama Jampa Thaye is a teacher of the Sakya and Karma Kagyu traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. He has been teaching for over 30 years and is the spiritual director of the Dechen organisation of Buddhist Centres. He is the author of several books on Tibetan Buddhism and has a PhD in Tibetan Religions from the University of Manchester. He is renowned for being one of the first Westerners who are authorised to transmit Vajrayana teachings.
Lama Jigme Rinpoche is an author and teacher in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born into the family of Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, he is the brother of the late 14th Shamar Rinpoche, Mipham Chokyi Lodro. The 16th Karmapa appointed Lama Jigme Rinpoche as his European representative. He asked him to oversee the development of a shedra (university), library, retreat center, and monastery at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling in Dordogne, France, where Jigme Rinpoche is currently the main representative of Trinley Thaye Dorje and head of the monastery.
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