In our previous issue we celebrated fifty years of Diamond Way Buddhism with a panorama of some of the most impressive work accomplished during this period—namely our great centers around the world. In this edition, the celebration continues! During the first full Summer Course in two years at the Europe Center, Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, gave a moving talk via streaming on Lama Ole and Hannah Nydahl’s tireless activity over the past fifty years. We include the text of this in full.
To kick off the next fifty years, we focus squarely on the teachings and practice of the Karma Kagyu lineage. Our series of excerpts from the 17th Karmapa’s commentary on Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva continues with an exploration of bodhicitta, the enlightened mind. Karmapa compares this to a wish-fulfilling tree in that it takes continuous effort and merit to cultivate and bring to fruition.
In this edition we introduce a new column, Questions and Answers with Lama Ole, a short format to provide lively insights on various topics. We begin with the subject of the body and its usefulness in dharma practice.
Fittingly we then turn to the Four Foundational Practices of Ngöndro, which begin by focusing on taking refuge and cultivating enlightened mind using that most physical of practices, the Prostrations. Lama Ole provides an overview here and Hannah then explains how these practices prepare us for the Great Seal (Skt. Mahamudra). Guest author Michael den Hoet then takes a Brief Look at the Vast Activity of Hannah Nydahl, and we conclude our three-part series by Manfred Seegers on the Kagyu Lineage with The Essential Teachings.
Finally, the Fiftieth Anniversary Team shares with readers how the Fiftieth Anniversary exhibition was created to honor and celebrate the incredible work of our teachers. This presented a deep dive into the history of Diamond Way, including rare and precious examples of Lama Ole and Hannah’s written work. We hope you fully enjoy this edition of Buddhism Today!
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Even though Lama Ole has generally always been the more public part of the Nydahl couple, on many occasions he has emphasized that his activity would have been inconceivable without Hannah. She always worked as hard as he did. Her […]
A Brief Look at the Vast Activity of Hannah Nydahl Read More »
This article is based on a question and answer session that Hannah Nydahl gave during a Preliminary Practices (Tib. Ngön Dro or Ngöndro) course. The Extraordinary Preliminary Practices, also known as the Foundational Practices, consist of four meditations done one after another. Each of them is repeated 111,111 times. They prepare one’s mind for more advanced meditation.
The Preliminary Practices for Mahamudra Read More »
This article is based on an excerpt of a lecture that Lama Ole Nydahl gave in 1994 in Edmonton, Canada. On that day, Lama Ole was giving teachings about the preliminary practices (Tib. Ngön Dro or Ngöndro), and this was an introduction to those teachings. The editors thought this would be the perfect introduction to the article which follows this one: the teachings of Lama Ole’s wife, Hannah, about Ngöndro. Please enjoy Hannah’s article for a more detailed explanation of the Ngöndro practices themselves.
This text has been adjusted to suit publication in a written format. The editors have the blessing of Lama Ole to work with his lectures in this way.
Introduction to Ngöndro Read More »
Lama Ole Nydahl explores the relationship between the mind and the body in the context of achieving enlightenment.
In this article we continue with Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa’s commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara, or “The Way of the Bodhisattvas.” Up until this part of Chapter 3 in the previous excerpts, we have completed the preparatory phase in order to establish, adopt, and generate bodhicitta, or “enlightened mind.” The preparatory phase consists of accumulating immense merit and wisdom as a foundation, and that foundation is suitable to generate bodhicitta.
The Way of The Bodhisattvas, Teachings from Chapter 3 (The Tree of Bodhicitta) Read More »
The following is a transcript of a speech that was given by Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, to the students of Lama Ole Nydahl during the 2022 summer course at the Europe Center in Immenstadt, Germany. Because the Karmapa could not be present in person, the message was delivered via video to the students at the course and live-streamed all around the world.
The following article is the third and final in a three-part series of articles, offering an outline of the origin and contents of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The first article used the Kagyu lineage as an example to explain the roles of the Buddhist practitioners in Tibet and what precisely constituted a lineage or tradition within Tibetan Buddhism. The second article provided a brief overview of the origins of the lineage and its historical development up to the time of the Third Karmapa in the early fourteenth century. This article discusses the essential teachings of the Kagyu tradition, as handed down and practiced until today. All three articles are based on the 2009 Master of Philosophy thesis by the author and have been slightly worked over for this magazine.
The Kagyu Lineage: The Essential Teachings, Part 3 Read More »
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