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
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.”
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…)
In the first of a series of blog 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. These books are also available, for example, in the libraries of many of our UK groups and centres. This first group of books cover general topics in Buddhism.
The Way Things Are – A Living Approach to Buddhism for Today’s World
Lama Ole Nydahl
In this new and updated edition, Lama Ole Nydahl asks: What is Buddhism today? How do the Buddha’s teachings utilize the full potential of our being? Through which practices may we experience mind as limitless space and bliss? How can one use the daily joys and difficulties of one’s job, family, or partnerships for spiritual growth? A very good introduction to Buddhism in General and the Diamond Way in particular.
O Books Publishing (2008) ISBN: 978-1-84694-042-2
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The Dharma That Illuminates All Beings Impartially
Kalu Rinpoche
A complete manual of the Buddhist path. This collection of teachings by the late renowned Kagyu master Kalu Rinpoche, one of the main teachers of Hannah and Lama Ole Nydahl, were given in America in 1982 and cover a wide range of topics, including the Four Dharmas of Gampopa, accomplishments, women in Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths, the Bardo, mandala offerings, taking refuge, commitments and the levels of (more…)
Lama Ole Nydahl made this statement in a teaching in San Fransico in 1995 which perfectly expresses the essence of Diamond Way Buddhism.
Lama Ole Nydahl in San Francisco 1995
“We want to produce Buddhism, not consume it. We want each of us to develop into a temple and not create one somewhere outside. We want to allow each of us to possess the ability to really benefit others. Because we do not want to believe or believe in a fanatic way, we really want to develop everyone’s potential and everyone’s power. You have to understand that you have to stay conscious and to keep producing Buddhism in your lives.
You are Buddhism. Buddhism is not something outside, it is not something else. Buddhism is the way you eat, drink, make love, think, feel; all this is Buddhism. Never have there been so many educated, independent people with so much ability as we find today. This has never happened before. For the first time in history we are on a world-wide scale, held together by friendship and idealism that can produce this wonderful thing called Mahamudra communities. Where we are all really close together, we are already friends, trusting each other back from former lives. (more…)
Gerd Boll, a Travelling Teacher from north Germany and close student of Lama Ole Nydahl, answered this question during a lecture in the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre during his last visit to the UK in October 2009
Travelling Teacher Gerd Boll
Q: When did basic ignorance start?
A: There are two answers. The official answer of the Gelugpa School is that it never started. The cause of our confusion in this lifetime was in a previous lifetime, and so on, so confusion was always there. The yogi’s answer is that it starts NOW. Time is a timeless illusion, it doesn’t exist, it is only a habit of thinking.
Time cannot be proven. Even photos don’t prove the past. They only create an idea of “past”. Everything happens here and now. The future is nothing other than the summary of our wishes, it’s just an idea. The present is also only an idea. It is impossible to “catch” the shortest possible moment because there is no indivisible moment. It would need to connect with other moments to create a “time chain” and if it connects with former and later moments it has to have a beginning and an end. If it has a beginning and an end it must have a middle. It has three particles, so it can be divided. Every subsequent smaller particle will also have three particles because the beginning of the “new” middle touches the end of the “old” beginning and the end of the “new” middle touches the beginning of the “old” end. In this way it can be divided without end, so there is no shortest possible moment. Time is an illusion. There is no time. (more…)
The 16th Gyalwa Karmapa
Heart of the Mahamudra
Song of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa
Manifestation and sound arise from the subtle mental imprints created from thoughts. As a picture in water disappears of its own accord, so false appearances automatically fade away when their lack of reality is understood. Beyond essential reality there is nothing – Such is the insight of the Mahamudra.
When the door of the mind, through which appearances are created, remains unobstructed, unwarped by concepts, then there is no solid reality, just bright light, and we let everything that appears just arrive naturally. Such a practice is the meditation of Mahamudra.
Illusory appearances are born of the belief in a reality. Relying on a constant understanding of their non-reality, we dwell at rest in original spontaneous nature and the space where there is nothing to accomplish is thus reached effortlessly.
Such is the practice of Mahamudra. These three points are the treasure of my heart. Since the yogis who go to the heart of everything are like my own heart, for them I have pronounced these heart-felt words, which cannot be communicated to others.
16th Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje (1924-1981)
Reality as we see it, is always influenced by what we think about reality. Everything we perceive is coloured by our culture, upbringing, experience, education and a lot more. However, what is behind our experiences and who or what is perceiving things? In this video, Lama Ole Nydahl explains ultimate reality: the truth beyond all personal matters, and how this truth can be realized through Buddhist methods.
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