We want to share this amazing photo, taken by Jean-Marc Falcombello, which shows a beautiful statue of one of the Shamarpas, probably the 6th, Chökyi Wangchuk (1584-1629). It is in Yangpochen Monastery in Tibet. Yangpochen monastery is more than 400 years old, dating to the time of the 4th Shamarpa. It was (more…)
This interview was conducted by Stefan Watzlawek and Melanie Zaremba on May 24, 2006, in Houston, Texas and appeared in Volume 20 of the Magazine Buddhism Today published in 2007 and is also held on the Buddhachannel.tv online portal. It concerns the main practice taught in Diamond Way Buddhist Centres worldwide, the “Guru Yoga” Meditation on the 16th Karmapa.
16th Karmapa wearing the Black Crown
We just stumbled upon this fantastic website by Jes Roger Petersen, a Danish student of Lama Ole Nydahl who is clearly a very talented photographer. There are some wonderful pictures from various teachings and events with Lama Ole Nydahl since 2005. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Follow this link to visit the site: http://lamafoto.dk/
Lama Ole Nydahl explains that the goal of Buddhism is very simple: to discover our potential and bring forth all the qualities we have inside, all the possibilities and all the richness. There is no big change or revolution necessary as Buddhism starts from where we are and helps us to unfold our potential step by step.
Lama Ole Nydahl explains how to get happy and how to get inspired day by day: “We do not get happy by outer things, it is our mind, which gets happy.”
Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye (1813-1899) was one of the most prominent Buddhist masters in the 19th century and holder of the Karma Kagyu lineage.
Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye (1813-1899)
“In the Mantra approach, with its many methods and few austerities, a person of sharp faculties and high intelligence may gather the two accumulations during all activities and never do even a trace of anything meaningless.”
- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, The Outline of Essential Points – Published as “Creation & completion: essential points of tantric meditation” (Wisdom Publications, 2005)
In the second of a series of entries, we present Buddhist books from the “recommended reading list” for students of Diamond Way Buddhism by various authors, together with links to a reliable UK-based supplier, Wisdom Books. This group of books includes life stories of great Buddhist practitioners.
Entering the Diamond Way – Tibetan Buddhism Meets the West
Lama Ole Nydahl
This is the genuinely compelling story, and spiritual odyssey, of Ole and Hannah Nydahl, who in 1968 became the first Western students of the great Tibetan master, His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa. Their exciting travels on the worn path between the green lowlands of Europe to the peaks of the Himalayas, led them to experience the skilful teachings of numerous Tibetan lamas who helped transform their lives into “limitless clarity and joy.” From their first contact with Tibetan Buddhism in Kathmandu in the form of a lama with extraordinary psychic powers, Ole and Hannah encountered the full spectrum of the Buddhist view. Their real aim in writing this book is “to form a bridge between two worlds, and especially to share with all who are looking for their true being… an introduction to a time-proven way to Enlightenment.”
Link for donations: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=25331
Earthquake in Kham (Picture: AP)
As you will know from the news, a massive earthquake has destroyed much of Yushu, the regional centre of a remote part of Qinghai province in China. Yushu is the Chinese name for Jyekundo, the biggest town in Kham, Eastern Tibet. The neighboring areas have also been badly affected, though it isn’t easy to access exact information on these remote places. An enormous proportion of the buildings have been destroyed, the current death toll is around 600, and 3000 people are wounded. The number of casualties is still on the rise and rescuers report that (more…)
Lama Ole Nydahl gave this talk at a Seminar on Psychology in Basel, Switzerland. It was originally printed in the magazine Buddhism Today in 1998 and can also be read here.
Lama Ole Nydahl
Happiness, by Lama Ole Nydahl
What do Buddhist teachings say concerning happiness?.. Basically, in Buddhism one makes a separation between conditioned and unconditioned happiness, between a relative and an absolute kind. Relative happiness has to do with experiences, absolute happiness has to do with experiencer itself. When one watches the outer world, the factories, streets, houses and cars, it is evident that they were made because beings wanted to experience something pleasant. Hospitals and prisons, on the other hand, were built in order to avoid certain kinds of suffering. Actually, beings constantly try to change outer conditions with the aim of (more…)
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