Entering the Diamond Way Tibetan Buddhism Meets The West [Paperback]

Lama Ole Nydahl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1990

Lama Ole Nydahl has now set up over 350 Karma Kagyu Buddhist Centers throughout the world, which are under the spiritual guidance of the 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje. Entering the Diamond Way is about his entrance into Buddhism about 35 years ago now.

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 skillful teachings of numerous Tibetan lamas who helped transform their lives into "limiteless 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."

After being recognized and trained by some of the greatest lamas of the Kagyu lineage, Ole now transmits the blessings of the lineage and travels as authorized lama and Buddhist meditation master, teaching and establishing centers of Tibetan Buddhism, while Hannah is a much sought-after translator. Their countless friends everywhere work hard to assure that the prophecy of Padmasambhava is fulfilled:

"When the fire ox drives on wheels and the iron bird flies everywhere, my teachings will come to the land of the white man."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ole Nydahl originally was from Denmark and studied with the Karmapa as well as many other lamas. He has become a lama himself, traveling throughout the world. He has now set up over 180 Buddhist centers in the Western World.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Our Honeymoon Journey

Choosing Nepal for our honeymoon in the summer of 1968 was no bad idea. It was the very time in history when the early and still idealistic Hippie scene of Europe and the old schools of Tibetan Buddhism could meet, giving direction to the former and a chance for the latter not to end up in museums but survive as a living practice. Years of traveling the worn paths between the green lowlands of Northern Europe and the icy peaks of the Himalayas would follow, bringing forth lay and yogic Diamond Way Buddhism as it thrives today. For the first time in history, the meeting of Western idealism and intelligent Asian materialism now combine vast and formerly untried aspects of mind's potential.

As my lovely wife Hannah, myself, and later so many fine friends discovered, what appeared was a tool to master life. The Diamond Way expertly transforms disturbed states of consciousness into most enjoyable clarity and bliss. In a completely practical way, it makes every aspect of life useful towards liberation and enlightenment.

In the exciting company of co-smugglers and other adventurous friends during those years, it was possible to spend real time with the highest Tibetan and Bhutanese lamas. Their examples and exceedingly skillful teachings inspired us, and after a careful examination they chose us as partners in bringing their powerful transmissions and meditations into the West.

The main aim of this book is to recount what happened when the best of two so different but valuable cultures met. Its continuation, Riding the Tiger, will describe the following maturation of the work. It may have been the only case in history when experienced people from two advanced civilizations so consciously tried to learn the best from each other. With the tragic losses of the last years, during which several of the old lamas holding a full inner and secret transmission have died, it feels good to reprint a book that shares the atmosphere of that first encounter.

Hannah was twenty-two and I twenty-seven when we first met living Diamond Way Buddhism. Our parents were teachers at colleges in the residential areas north of Copenhagen. They were precious people, and we grew up in a world full of confidence in the fundamental goodness of man. Though we were raised in a completely humanistic setting from earliest childhood, I had recurrent, exciting dreams of war in mountain areas which I had never seen. In them, I beat back round-faced soldiers and protected what I could then only understand as men in red, ladies' clothes. Not until 25 years later, when I saw the first Tibetan monks in Nepal, did I understand what they were, and only 45 years later, on a secret tour through Chinese-occupied eastern Tibet, did I see the mountains and villages which I had fought to protect.

Also in this life, I automatically fought anything bigger - be it people or systems - that would limit my freedom. Hannah was just as independent but worked with things inwardly instead of bashing the outer world....

Product Details

• Paperback: 233 pages
• Publisher: Blue Dolphin Publishing; Revised edition (December 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0931892031
• ISBN-13: 978-0931892035
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,218,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual Epic Inspires New Buddhist Center, December 12, 1999

By 

Aaron Crook (La Crosse WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Entering the Diamond Way Tibetan Buddhism Meets The West (Paperback)

It was this very book that a dear friend of mine found in a book used book store. Ken read Entering the Diamond Way and was so inspired that he wrote Lama Ole a letter. In the comming weeks Ken recieved 2 letters back from the Lama inviting him to come to the retreat that he would give in New Mexico later that year. It has been very exciting that the story line of this book has become the basis for a continued relationship with it's author. Ole and Hannah's spiritual quest at first took them to Nepal and to meet the Karmapa and with Karmapa's blessing has also taken them all around the world introducing westerners to an authentic Buddhist path. Ole has since been to my own city and there is now a thriving Buddhist center in La Crosse WI. I can also remark that after my own exciting journey with Ole and Hannah in the fall of 1999 through Russia, Siberia, Ukraine, and Poland, they have not lost the essence of what this exciting book portrays and still stick to the time proven grass roots methods, taking time for every single seeker who is fortunate enough to encounter Ole at one of his lectures around the world. This is a must read!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TROUGH LAMA OLE NYDAHLS WORDS WE LEARN., June 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Entering the Diamond Way Tibetan Buddhism Meets The West (Paperback)

From the very beginning of the book, it was easy to identify myself with Lama Ole Nydahl, a great truth seeker and consequently a great master of Tibetan Buddhism. His fascinating travels together with his wife Hannah, starting in Nepal in the 60's, as well as their quest for the truth, led them to extensive personal encounters with great Lamas of Tibet. With their influence and after years of learning and practicing, he became a great master and an irreplaceable teacher of Tibetan Buddhism to thousands of westerners in countless countries. His monumental knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism is profoundly transforming and liberating, helping us to achieve a sense of enlightenment. One have a feeling that there really is such thing as art of happiness, and this is one of the best books a reader will ever find on the subject. His words are seeds sown from his heart into all readers of this unforgettable book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars To the benefit of all, July 7, 2003

By 

Claus Hetting (Gentofte, Copenhagen Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Entering the Diamond Way Tibetan Buddhism Meets The West (Paperback)

In the sixties Ole and his wife Hannah embarked on an epic overland journey culminating in their meeting H.H. the 16th Karmapa in Nepal. This book tells the compelling story of Ole & Hannah's experiences in becoming students of H.H. and many other great Tibetan lamas. It reflects the exuberant and contagiously upflifting personality of Ole Nydahl. He is an indefatigable teacher and meditation master of great ability, who still travels the globe to broadly inspire Diamond Way Buddhism into anyone who attends his delightful courses and events. He has since founded some hundreds of Diamond Way centres around the world. I recommend anyone to read the book, or - even better - to meet him or his students in person at one of his many Diamond Way centres.