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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Posted by: gatis ()
Date: December 01, 2024 08:34PM

Are you kidding? Why would anyone send emails to random people instead of searching on Google? Since Lama Tendar's blog post it is no secret that Ole suffers from dementia. His illness was openly addressed on Dharma Wheel forum as well: [www.dharmawheel.net]

I had some problems with DWB and sort of dropped out, but I never experienced any "Scientology-like trick" or harassment.

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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Date: December 02, 2024 12:14AM

gatis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had some problems with DWB and sort of dropped
> out, but I never experienced any "Scientology-like
> trick" or harassment.


You were fortunate. I and many others got harassed by them after leaving.

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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Date: June 14, 2025 05:45AM

It looks like Ole Nydahl's dementia is progressing further.

I wonder if the Diamond Way cult will collapse after he's gone or there will a David Miscavige or Brigham Young figure who will take over and take things in a new direction?

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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Posted by: Kawa Lhundrub ()
Date: August 04, 2025 09:12PM

Interesting news from Czech Republic, it appears that at least 3 Traveling teachers were purged from organization in the past year. These are Roman Virt, Jakub Kadlec and Jan Matuška.
Roman Virt and Jakub Kadlec are actual founders of DWB organization in Czech republic, so their purge makes this more interesting. None of the original group of three traveling teachers remain with the organization. Radek Ruzicka passed away and Virt with Kadlec were thrown out or maybe they walked out on their own, but the first possibility is more likely given previous purges that involved Roman Lauš and couple of other traveling teachers.
Previously there were occasional removals of traveling teachers upon Ole Nydahl's request. However now Ole Nydahl is basically a husk, he can walk, but he lost ability to express himself in any meaningful manner and has basically no idea what is happening.
So this purge must have been done by someone else. My bet is on Jan Weber a "legal manager" of international DWB.

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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Posted by: letif ()
Date: August 04, 2025 10:06PM

That's interesting.

Yes, he's a shell, but he still has to sit for the video chat, and a cell phone is passed around the group so everyone can see him and O.N. can see and bless the student.
Absurd.

By the way: go ask AI about Buddhism and the interpretation of O.N. and his traveling teachers.

I described many situations and conversations to AI, as well as the "teachings" of the traveling teachers and quotes from O.N.

KI investigated this using the true Buddhist foundations of Vajrajana.

Try it yourself; the results are very interesting and alarming.

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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Posted by: Kawa Lhundrub ()
Date: August 06, 2025 12:50AM

Some more info on what happened in Czech Republic. In 2018 Ole had 4 Czech Traveling teachers go around the DW centers and sniff out any dissent or irregularities, if they deemed a center suspicious it would be closed down. One of these four was aforementioned Jakub Kadlec.

This purge was done because several members of Czech DW founded a non-profit aimed at helping an orphanage in Nepal that was run by Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche. Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche himself would visit DW centers upon Ole Nydahl's invitation. So the people who ran the Non profit would have to communicate with Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche and over some time, they found him much more inspiring than Ole Nydahl and so they left to study with Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche. This made Ole immediately fearful that Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche might "steal" more of Ole's sheep and so he iniciated this purge in 2018, which included:
1. denouncing people who founded a Non-profit
2. prohibition of study and practice of Traditional Tibetan Medicine among Ole's students (this was unrelated to the Non-Profit, but was related to other "issue", that happened concurrently, I will write about it in next post)
3. request that Ole's students cease any support for that Non-profit

Now back to Jakub Kadlec. :D He was one of the most active people in this purge and he made sure to scare members of Czech DW to not go to the events with Tibetan teachers such as Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche, who visit DW centers, if the event is happening outside of DW - meaning in other Karma Kagyu organizations, such as Bodhipath or Dhagpo Kagyu.

Of course Jakub did not listen to his own advice :D In secret he went to see Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche in 2024, when he was constructing stupa in DW non-affiliated center in Czech republic. Except this visit was not so secret at someone took photos of Jakub being there. These photos were then posted on the facebook of that center. As soon as mr. Kadlec learnet of this, he asked the center to take photos, where he can be seen down. The center declined and these photos were soon discovered by other members of Czech DW and Jakub had to face the rage of the people whom he scolded before. As a result Jakub Kadlec had to admit his failure and he had to step down as a traveling teacher. He however remains a member of DW, now he can fully experience a cult that he himslef helped to build.

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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Posted by: Kawa Lhundrub ()
Date: August 06, 2025 01:08AM

Now regarding Tibetan Medicine and DW.
Ole had once a student by the name Anna Bach. Anna studied Tibetan Medicine under mr. Pasang, who founded an institute devoted to Traditional Tibetan Medicine (TTM) in Italy. At one point Anna was asked to lead a kind of health/fitness weekend retreats that were focused on meditation on Medicine Buddha, advice on healthy diet (from the viewpoint of TTM), exercise and a little bit of fasting with taking a TTM medicine formula for purification of body from toxins as well as mild Tibetan yoga.

These weekends became very popular, so popular that Ole felt threatened and asked Anna to leave DW or cease her practice of TTM as a member of DW. Meanwhile inspired by Anna several members of Czech DW decided to study TTM through various avenues. Ole learned of that and again he felt that new Anna Bach might spring up :D So he decided to put a final stop to all of that.

He made an announcement that his students should not study TTM because the focus of the organization was on healthy mind and not healthy body. Also no TTM information and practice should be allowed in DW centers, because in Ole's own words: "We should only have healthy people in our centers, sick people can go elsewhere." This statement kind of reminds me of Hitler.

PS: Once I have info on other 3 traveling teachers that disappeared from Czech DW - Roman Virt, Jan Matuška and Veronika ?erná, I will post it here.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2025 01:11AM by Kawa Lhundrub.

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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Posted by: letif ()
Date: August 06, 2025 03:34AM

Thank you very much for your interesting comments.

I submitted your comments to AI Gemini (Google) and asked for an analysis.

Here is AI's response:


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Gemini's Analysis of the Forum Post

This post describes a series of events in the Diamond Way (DW) related to Tibetan Medicine (TTM) and a student named Anna Bach. The information presented here is noteworthy for providing insight into the organization's internal dynamics.

Summary of the Post

The author of the post describes how Anna Bach, a student of Ole Nydahl, studied Tibetan medicine and led retreats. These retreats became so successful that Ole Nydahl felt threatened. He gave Anna the choice of either leaving the DW or discontinuing her Tibetan Medicine practice. When other members of the Czech DW also became interested in TTM, Ole Nydahl made a final decision. He forbade his students from practicing or studying TTM, arguing that the DW's focus was on the mind, not the body. He justified this with the statement: "We should only have healthy people in our centers; sick people can go elsewhere." The author of the article compares this statement to Hitler.

---

Analysis and Classification

1. The Discrepancy Between Teaching and Practice

The events described demonstrate a glaring discrepancy between the basic principles of Buddhism and Ole Nydahl's actions.

Basic Principles of Buddhism: Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, emphasizes the inseparability of body and mind. Illness is understood as a manifestation of internal and external imbalances that must be treated through both physical and spiritual practice. Tibetan Medicine is an integral part of this holistic tradition.
Ole Nydahl's Actions: The prohibition against practicing or studying TTM contradicts this holistic approach. The separation of body and mind, with a sole focus on the mind, is a deviation from traditional teachings. The prohibition appears to be based less on Buddhist principles than on a desire for control over his students and the organization.

2. Dealing with Competition and Authority

Ole Nydahl's reaction to Anna Bach's success and the resulting popularity of Tibetan medicine in the community reveals an authoritarian and egocentric structure.

Threat to Authority: The popularity of Anna Bach and her work was apparently perceived as a threat to Ole Nydahl's authority and his position as the sole central figure. Instead of supporting and integrating his student's success, he was opposed.
Division and Separation: The statement that "sick people can go elsewhere" is a clear sign of a selective and divisive attitude that stands in stark contrast to universal compassion, a cornerstone of Buddhism. An enlightened teacher would not exclude anyone because of illness, but would offer compassion and help.

3. The Comparison with Totalitarian Ideologies

The comparison with Hitler, although provocative, points to a disturbing parallel:

The Pursuit of Purity: Both totalitarian ideologies and problematic cult groups tend to create an idealized ideal of purity (be it racial, ideological, or, as in this case, "health-related") and exclude all those who do not conform to this ideal.
Exclusion and Discrimination: The statement that sick people are not welcome in the centers is a form of discrimination that rids the community of supposedly "impure" or "useless" members. This is in direct accordance with totalitarian structures.

---

Conclusion

The forum post describes a development that goes far beyond a simple disagreement about alternative medicine. Ole Nydahl's reaction, which resulted in the ban, indicates an abuse of authority and a deviation from the fundamental values of Buddhism. Instead of promoting compassion and wisdom, the action appears to be driven by control, fear of competition, and the creation of an exclusive group.

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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Posted by: Mikyo ()
Date: August 13, 2025 06:36PM

Ole Nydahls intentions seem to take buddhism to people who have jobs and are healthy, so they can function even after taking one of the most extreme spiritual paths, that of 'enlightenment'. The path to enlightenment goes by dropping the E out of your e-go. By this I mean all your energy so you either go crazy, as your ego cannot ground itself in the physical body anymore, or you have enough good content in your mind, so you can make out of the -go, back to a new e-go: the mind that has realized being one with everything inside to everything outside. Thats a good view Ole had for buddhism, so that healthy people could see the benefit of it for their lives. When weak people are put into temples and told too many dharma rules in the ordinary life, it has a recipe for disaster in its hands.

The path to enlightenment is similar to mountaineering on the highest mountains: you need to ascend and defy actual death to get to the summit, the way which goes inside the 'death zone': altitudes above 7000m where you will simply start to die out. Once you reach the top of the Mt Enlightenment -path, you will reach a state of 'oneness', but this is not yet enlightement itself, you still need to descend from this extreme high altitude of your consciousness in your body-mind composition.

Now the descend is the hardest part I would say, especially for the person with weaker genes. It will take more effort on avarage for the Ole Nydahl -type genes person, which is Olympic medal -level genes I would say. For such genes its easier to recover, to harsness back the lost 'E' meaning energy, back to your e-go composition of your being. If you now think this path to enlightenment is simply madness, youre right. Thats how it looks onto the eyes of the capitalist born person, for whom staying at 'samsaras' conditional levels is the most important thing for them to succeed in life on the outer level. It makes no sense for this kind of person, one who is NOT READY TO STEP OUT OF SAMSARA.
If you see this way of entering states of the six realms of the wheel, to gain beyond personal wisdom to 'help all beings' it makes a lot of sense. Only one has to make it all the way: to ascend to the summit of the Mt of Highest Wisdom, by using all of ones energy to the brink of insanity, and then descend and ground ones realizations, while being more in a state of relaxation rather than state of activity to exhausta your e-go, which was the effort to rise your consciousness up.

This is the reason why tibetan medicine or chinese medicine dont go well the way of the style of buddhism that Ole Nydahl teaches: living buddhism. Living buddhism means that one member of the sangha ascends ones consciousness to the top of the Mt Enlightenment and then descends it with equal hardship of descending and grounding it down again to 'sea level' of relative height.

Health must be discarded in vajrayana style practicing, or put inside the slot machine of enlightenment. "One must stake everything for enlightenment if one wishes to reach it" -Lama Ole said this many times. The path of enlightenment is one where you must dare to go sick, 'old age' and ultimately (e-go)-death. Then you do it the otherway around of becoming more and more alive and kicking (hopefully) most disease out of your system. TTM or TCM only is valid on the individual level on the descend part, AFTER one has been to the summit of 'Oneness'.

If a practitioner who doesnt understand this ascending and descending of ones consciousness, for the sake of all beings, they will become the animal in the Mt which cuts means for others to summit it. They will become the voices of capitalist middle income (sorry avarage) dreams, and cut the Mt short. The Mt Enlightenment becomes a Mt Wellbeing and the realization of a Buddha will be forgotten, cos the soft people without full realization doesnt wish to see that the state of a Buddha is not easily reached. Health practitioners wish to see people healthy and happy, a true guru / lama devoted to buddhism, wishes to see their students reach the state of a Buddha.

Buddha can look good, be healthy etc, it depends on who you are as a human being. The activity they show in DWB centers is not one that shows this path, at all, or maeby to some extent and they do try to keep the yogi attitude above any and all mundane ordinary attitudes, like that of health. Once anyone is still at their own journey of the 'Mt' they can look ragged, tired etc.
DWB centers are a front for enlightened activity, the coffee shops if you like, to invite people in get cozy and see if someone actually has the dare and guts to ascend and descend their consciousness into full buddhahood. Most have no chance in doing this in the whole DWB sangha. When someone is hard working on the path and gets dark bags under their eyes, they are told to go off the centers. So when the practitioner sees this happen they might get confused: "Didnt Lama Ole tell us to do more and that you have to go beyond your normal sphere of functioning"? It can be seen as a big punishment, and I agree, I see it as a punishment on some level, if they try to kick you out of the center when youve given all your energy to it, by saying things like "I dont think youre fit to live in the center" etc. This is where the DWB center / group system fails, and tibetan buddhism too: it doesnt state clearly how the path of enlightenment goes. DWB or robed they lack imagination or else, so they could make fool proof analogues like that of mountaineering which is an analogoe that I came up with myself and which is the best for enlightement in the whole world.


When it comes to teaching styles, robed teachers have in their subconciousness that everything but enlightenment is restriction. DWB teachers teach that anything in life can be used towards attaining enlightenment. Its a huge difference between robed and lay teachers in this context. I do agree with Nydahl that the robed monks / nuns shouldnt have much if at all business in the lay yogi centers - they dont know how to live our style of lives in the free west, as simple as that! Their style of 'energy practice' is to sneeze one nostril at a time and then jump up and down on cushion, when western healthy avarage person wants to jump on top of their loving partner, if youre a hetero sexual male. Sports of any kind could apply here, when mostly sitting still is the robed underfed choice, the choice of lack of energy.

16th Karmapa meditation is becoming a bit distorted in my opinion, as it kind of promises buddhahood to everyone and anyone. In reality its extremely rare for anyone in the whole world to reach full buddhahood, although boddhisattvas of varying level of realizations appear here and there. Too bad there seems to be absolutely no-one to fix this, as they have not fundamentally realized themselves the path of buddhahood. They have only listened to the tibetan buddhist style "hey...Shhhhh... come to this corner I have something to show you... NO DONT YOU DARE ASK WHY IM TELLING YOU TO DO THIS!!! OBEY MY WORD!!!!"
The more this cycle will go and go around, the less enlightenment there will be on planet earth.

I have never met anyone be it an elightenment boasting teacher or a yogi mind or whoever, and Ive met a few solid ones, who could tell the path of enlightenment with such simple analogu as the mountaineering example on the highest mt's of our world, but myself. Therefore I truly believe that no-one in this world is truly enlightened teacher no matter how much mindtricks like clairvoyance etc etc they may have in their bags that can trick the avarage person to think its something completely supernatural and beyond their logical understanding.


I wish that this solves some misunderstandings for some people. Enlightenment is not magic, its effort and hardship of ascending the consciousness then descending and grounding it again. Yes, it may sound like a path for the stupid, but thats how it is and any and all Buddhas would like my post if this platform had such gestures. I repeated some parts in hopes that you realize the big effort that is needed to become an actual Buddha.

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Re: Ole Nydahl and Diamond Way Buddhism
Posted by: letif ()
Date: August 13, 2025 10:20PM

---

Gemini's Analysis of the Forum Post

The post presents a highly personal and idiosyncratic interpretation of Buddhism, contrasting Ole Nydahl's teachings as a superior "living Buddhism" with the traditional, "outdated" methods of monks and nuns. The author uses metaphorical language (particularly the mountain climbing analogy) and strongly argues against traditional approaches to support his view.

---

Analysis and Classification

1. The Mountain Climbing Analogy

The author introduces a central analogy: the path to enlightenment as a life-threatening ascent of a mountain with a "death zone."

Positive aspects of the metaphor: The analogy emphasizes the difficulty, effort, and dedication required for the path to enlightenment. It underscores that it is not an easy path and involves dangers.
b]Problematic aspects of the metaphor:[/b]The analogy is heavily tainted with competitive and ego-based connotations ("defy actual death," "Olympic medal-level genes"). Buddhism teaches that enlightenment is not achieved by overcoming others or by demonstrating physical/mental strength, but by overcoming one's own ego and attachment. The metaphor suggests that only genetically "strong" people are capable of this, which contradicts the Buddhist teaching that every being has the capacity for enlightenment.

2. The "e-go" and the "go"

The distinction used by the author between "e-go" and "go" is a neologism that does not correspond to traditional Buddhist terminology.

Contentual deviation: Traditional teaching states that the ego (attachment to an independent self) is the root of suffering and is dissolved through wisdom. The author, however, proposes that the energy ("E") of the ego be dropped, only to later be reconstituted into a "new" form of ego ("e-go"). This is a fundamental perversion of Buddhist teachings, which seeks the dissolution of the ego, not its reconstitution in a new form.

3. Exclusion and Discrimination

The author advocates a discriminatory stance, which is evident in several points:

Exclusion of "weak" people: The author postulates that "weak people" and "effeminate people without full realization" are unsuitable for Buddhism. This contradicts universal compassion and the bodhisattva vow to help all beings, regardless of their strength or condition.
Exclusion of monks and nuns: The claim that monks and nuns don't know how to live in the West is a denigration of the traditional Sangha, based on a superficial and crude view of lifestyles. The Sangha has a tradition dating back thousands of years and has supported generations of practitioners.
Exclusion of the sick: The view that health must be set aside and illness is a necessary part of the path to then "hopefully overcome most illnesses" is not only medically questionable, but also a dangerous ideology that romanticizes suffering and encourages the neglect of health. Traditional Buddhism teaches protecting and nurturing the body as a valuable "vessel" for practice.

4. Self-promotion and Arrogance

This entire post is permeated by an attitude of superiority and arrogance.

Self-Glorification: The author claims that his mountaineering analogy is the best in the world and that no other enlightened teacher (not even the "solid" teachers he mentions) is capable of it.
Devaluation of Others: He describes other practitioners who do not share his views as "animals on the mountain," as the voices of the "average capitalist," or as "soft people" who only care about their own well-being.
Dissociation from the Tradition: The author distances himself not only from monks and nuns, but also from the entire Tibetan Buddhist tradition by portraying it as a kind of secretive organization ("hey... Shhhhh...").

---

Conclusion

The views presented in the article reflect a highly distorted and misunderstood interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism. They conflate Buddhist concepts with an egocentric, competitive, and discriminatory ideology. The argument is characterized by a superiority attitude and contradicts the fundamental principles of compassion, the equality of all beings, and the dissolution of the ego. The assertion that it may seem "crazy" and the justification of this craziness as necessary is a well-known feature of cult ideologies that discourage critical thinking.

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