Hi dariusb.
That’s a very good question you ask about Phowa. Is transmission from Ole valid? I’m not sure answering this question here is permissible as it’s really a forum about cult behaviour and not about Dharma practices in general. Perhaps the administrator will forgive me this time… ;-)

I can only answer this by asking “is Phowa valid”? I read a lot about Phowa and, in the true spirit of Buddhism, I decided to check it out for myself. Not once either, but 5 times to be absolutely sure. I really want Phowa to be ‘true’. The idea of having a choice as to whether or not you return to Samsara or not is very appealing to me. I choose not to return. The important thing to remember here is that I really want it to be true.

Sadly, after sitting through 5 Phowa courses I can find no evidence to suggest it is true. People claimed I had the ‘outer sign’ but no photograph has ever shown the mark which is said to have appeared on my head. I’m balding too so it would be easy to see. I examined the heads of other friends and saw no marks either. I did tell them I ‘think that is the mark, but I can’t be sure’ just so they felt better. But really I never saw anything that can be claimed as conclusive evidence. Perhaps someone could x-ray my skull and find the small hole or holes? But all that would prove is that I have five holes in my head (or not) and not where they came from.

So I don’t think it’s a question of whether Nydahl’s Phowa is valid or not. I think the question should be is Phowa valid? My personal view on this, given my experiences and investigations, is that in all probability it isn’t valid. I don’t ‘believe’ in re-birth either, which might sound strange coming from a Buddhist. But without being able to remember past lives and prove their existence beyond any doubt I must remain sceptical. The idea of ‘pure lands’ sounds too much like the promise of heaven (DWB practitioners reading this will probably be rolling their eyes saying ‘pure lands’ aren’t actual places, did he learn nothing? But this isn’t what I’m discussing. It’s is the idea of wanting some state resembling a paradise that is a little like the promise of heaven.)

But as I mentioned earlier, I really want Phowa to be true but I can’t deceive myself no matter how much I wish for something. And remember I went to 5 Phowa courses, I spent a lot of money because I really wanted it to be true.

Of course I might be wrong. I’m not trying to say that because my experience provided no proof that it invalidates your experience. But you asked for an opinion and this was mine. :-)

john_lpool didn’t get the sign because he spent his time in the kitchen and down at the beach…. ;-)

The answer is that perhaps the scientific community should get some people who have never done Phowa, check their skulls for signs of holes and so on. Let these people practice Phowa and check them again afterwards to see if there has been a change. If there has been a change, holes in heads and the like then we can debate what might have caused them.


I found Phowa to be a very useful exercise in sitting and meditating for 9 hours-a-day. So I don’t think the time and money was completely wasted.

Steve

I was originally (and still am) attracted to Buddhism because there is no requirement to believe anything. My understanding is that it is not a belief system. However you may choose to believe whatever you think is true, maintaining critical awareness. I think Steve hits the nail on the head(so to speak) with the comparison to a promise of heaven. Who wouldnt want to believe a few hours sitting (with Ole) and hey presto, guaranteed pure lands (so long as you maintain a contact with your lama. ) Sorry to be blunt but come on, get real. This is the cornerstone of their marketing strategy. If someone makes you a promise of something that will happen after your death, even with a guarantee, you wont be around to ask for your money back!

many questions here in the last two posts that I select to comment on:

If you took Phowa in the DW, good luck and I hope it was meaningful.

Phowa - as some people know Phowa is one of the six yogas of Naropa, traditionally (in the Kagyu way) it is taught on a: three year, three month and three day retreat. (The retreats that are widely dismissed in the DW.) These retreats are wonderful.

Phowa taught as a stand alone transmission is generally only given to Nyingmapa but for very particular reasons and not without prepation and guidance.

Phowa is not one distinct transmission - there are 11 different transmission lineages that I know about.

The DW is the only Buddhist tradition that offers Phowa to people who can come from the non-Buddhist community with or without any preparation that I know of.

I have seen signs of Phowa at DW courses but these are not always present.

These signs are always a sign of the student's practice, a teacher cannot impose Phowa (otherwise realised masters would have already given it to all sentient beings long ago).

Which lineage continues to give Lama Ole the blessing to undertake Phowa, not Karma Kagyu as it's not their transmission?

When we make a Phowa for dead person it is to help them recognise the nature of mind, not that we do if for them.

The authenticity of Phowa - that is between you and your teacher.

Some people celebrate the Phowa transmission by making offerings to the lineage, and carry out pujga. I cannot imagine many cases why authentic Buddhist transmissions are celebrated by intoxication - it seems a contradiction.

There is more if it's not off subject!

"Some people celebrate the Phowa transmission by making offerings to the lineage, and carry out pujga. I cannot imagine many cases why authentic Buddhist transmissions are celebrated by intoxication - it seems a contradiction"

One of the Ten Grave Precepts of the Bodhisattva Vow forbids

'Darkening mind and body of self and other with intoxicants'

Yes it is a contradiction to celebrate a Bodhisattva path (Phowa) practice by then having a party in which one violates one of the Ten Grave Precepts by getting drunk.

Drunkenness. which clouds the body and mind and leads to imprecise speech would disrupt the chain of causes and condition needed to support practices, including Phowa.

Insight and equanimity are very difficult to sustain when drunk. Pain in mind and body following a hangover would generate dukkha/suffering.

And the disihibition of drunkeness increases the risk of violating the precept which forbids us to abuse sexuality and the additional precept that warns us of the dangers of greed and heedless speech.

Hi everyone

This thread has been interesting to read. I have also known a few people involved in DW and attended one of Ole's lectures when he visited my city when I first took an interest in buddhism. I find it amusing that I paid $20 to see a Buddhist teacher give a dharma talk and mostly what I got was a rather long arduous ramble giving his views on migration in Europe, the "problem" of Islam etc. I don't recall much about buddhism as such, only a bit about how it relates to his views on the aforementioned topics. Although I am not in Europe, a large percentage of the audience seemed to be Europeans who were "on tour" with Ole. So alot of preaching to the converted as you would expect. There was alot of smug chuckling as though there were alot of inside jokes or something.

As for the people I know who follow him, they are a massive fan club. It seems like the social aspect of it is the main attraction and any serious practice comes a distant second. None of the people I have met have an actual daily practice which to me is quite odd--they just say a few mantras if that, and the rest is reading Ole's books and going to talks --which again seem more like social events. Apart from that they just seem to think that saying provocatively politically incorrect things is the sign of an enlightened mind. They also seem to have a bit of an attitude of "the Asians have got it wrong, the way we do it is better".

I saw this video clip too recently of Ole and his wife saying how they had all these signs when they were kids that they had special destinies and Ole saying that when he goes to Nepal/Bhutan etc, they put him on a throne and he blesses people etc, as though this was proof of what a special person he is.

Well I have to say--coming from an East Asian family, I would be very sceptical of a bunch of Nepalese or Bhutanese who put some Danish guy on a throne and say he is some kind of reincarnated buddhist saint--sounds to me its more likely that Ole just plays some kind of important political or financial role, or maybe both for certain politico-religious factions in these countries?? Karmapa controversy anyone? isn't he a serious benefactor of Thaye Dorje? Call me cynical, but hey...I prefer to call myself a realist. I mean come on....apparently Steven Seagal is a freaking Lama. Flash the dollars and you can be a lama and sit on a high chair and bless people too. Are people this gullible? And DW are always showing images of him in Bhutan surrounded by Bhutanese monks touchinghis head. Yeah well I think that is a pretty common experience for blond foreigners in places where they dont see many blond foreigners.

I found it quite funny how Ole says he doesn't need to meditate anymore because he has done so much meditiation already--now he just kind of is spontaneously in meditation all the time. Riiight. Even the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa do 4-5 hours of practice a day and solo retreats annually but Ole doesnt need to? Uh huh. Must be another example of how Asians have got it wrong.

He seems to be just some guy who tripped out in the Himalayas for three years in the sixties and took a few comments from the Karmapa a little too seriously.

It will be intersting to see what happens to DW when Ole is no longer around.

Just my rant.

Hi JFrick

I enjoyed reading your post. Your points seem to agree with what most people on this forum have to report. DWB is a social club. You are right to point out that many of these ‘dharma talks’ by Nydahl tend to be attended by his travelling fan club. I attended several in the UK and also travelled with him to Spain one time (I wanted to check him out close up). In Madrid I counted 20 or so people, 80% of whom I guessed had travelled with him or were from the local Sangha. At a talk I attended in Newcastle I would guess that out of the 60-70 people in attendance 6 were new faces. The rest came from the travelling fan club.

Yes, making controversial statements about race and politics appears to be the DWB way of telling the rest of the world about their ‘crazy yogi wisdom’. Any criticism of their stance is dismissed and you may well find yourself labelled ‘confused’. Why confused? You’re confused because you don’t agree with them. Sound cultish to you?

The in-joke laughing is just a ploy to make you feel stupid. “I don’t get the joke, I must be stupid?” I did once ask a few people what they were laughing at, what did I miss? They couldn’t give me an answer… in fact, they looked confused.

It is a social club. The Manchester group were famous for their parties. They often started with 30 minutes of meditation (token gesture to Buddhism) then became binge drinking events. Almost every event I attended finished with a trip to the pub or a couple of bottles being opened (I’m not complaining as I like an occasional drink too) but it often seemed to me that peoples’ minds were focused on the post event activities rather than the ‘Buddhist’ talk.

Apparently Nydahl is meditating all the time. When he’s jumping out of planes, riding motorcycles or in bed with one of his students, this is all quality meditation. One of the leaders of the Liverpool centre appeared to regard doing ‘centres work’ as meditation in itself, not the actual sitting practice. That’s not really fair actually, the other half of the Liverpool leadership practiced diligently as did a nice couple from the UK who completed their Ngondro in a short time.

As you correctly point out, Karmapa, Shamarpa and the Dalai Lama all need a daily practice of several hours. Perhaps they should ask Ole for advice?

Please don’t get me started on special signs!!! The thing about special signs and his remembering past lives is that it’s always given a dramatic ‘spin’, fighting Chinese soldiers and so on. It often seemed to me that I was the only person questioning these stories. Remember for every swashbuckling life we must have had an incredible number of mundane or less glamorous lives. But these don’t really pull in the numbers do they?

Steve

It took scores, perhaps a hundred or more peasants/peons to support one swashbuckling soldier.

It took many moer peasants to support a warlord with multiple soldiers.

Add in the camp followers, sex slaves, etc.

If we play games with past lives, the odds are we spent many more lifetimes as as peasants, slaves, scullions, brickmakers and grave diggers than as soldiers with glamorous careers.

And even those warriors lived against the background pain of wounds, toothache, etc.

The real Buddhist teachings are about insight into the nature of suffering itself and liberation from it, not an endless soap opera with the teacher as hero.

Its better to go see a great, sword swinging Japanese or Chinese film and then go out and drink -- that will satisfy ones liking for glamour, story telling and some good brew, and buddhadharma wont be distorted.

...as far as real Buddhism goes, saying that DWB is a social club would seem about right, but when you add the other aspects into the mix...

firstly, they are a social club with rather sectarian right-wing reactionary tendencies,

and secondly, because or the "religious" aspect of the club, they are tending towards fanatacism.

Adding these three things together shows how much more dangerous and cult-like they have progressed beyond simply being a friendly bunch of social drinkers.

To moderator

How is it going?

I was trying to post a message on the RR. It was first poster and then removed. Any reason for that?

AN

[blog.dwbuk.org]

Diamond Way Buddhism UK Blog Blogging for the Buddha, blogging for the Dharma, blogging for the Sangha

From 22-24 January 2010, 12 friends took the New London Buddhist Centre[www.buddhism-london.org] road show to Zürich and Amden in Switzerland. Each of our road shows is unique, and following the success of Graz last Novemberhttp://blog.dwbuk.org/buddhist-courses/london-buddhist-centre-roadshow-goes-to-graz/, we wanted to continue to make good connections and create positive impressions for the success of the New London Buddhist Centre project. The theme for this road show was “James Bond”. The program also featured typical Swiss cuisine, cheese fondue with powerful pear schnaps, a fantastic party, full English breakfast and of course Buddhist teachings – given by travelling teacher Steve James in the Amden Diamond Way Buddhist Retreat Centre.
Zurich


The Zürich Diamond Way Buddhist Centre [www.buddhismus.org] was established in 1991 and is located in Seefeld, southeast of the city centre, a 15-minute walk from the “Zürichsee” lake. Arriving, we identified the building by the small Stupa just in front. We were impressed by the centre’s family feel, the meditation room containing statues of the 16th Karmapas, and the large Stupa in the back yard. Our hosts introduced us to the history of the centre, which comprises a whole block of flats, with public access to the Stupa at the back. The part of the building with the social area and meditation room, together with the four floors above, was a gift from the owner – a big step on the way to enlightenment as Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche had stated. Later, with many friends present and with fine drinks, dinner was served while Bonds and Bond girls enjoyed the evening.


In connection with the road show in Zürich, Steve James gave inspiring Buddhist teachings in the Amden Diamond Way Buddhist Retreat Centre [www.amden-retreat.ch] located to the southeast of Zürich, in the breathtaking Swiss Alps. The centre building used to be a hotel, which makes it ideal for its constant flow of people. Many of the rooms have a first class view of the Stupa outside and the mountains. The centre is also equipped with a professional kitchen, a sauna and swimming pool.

In addition to Steve’s lectures each day, we also had the fantastic opportunity to have an evening “around the fire” with the founders of the centre, René, Anne, Markus and Gisela. The process of searching for a place, finding it and fundraising weren’t easy, but definitely a uniting experience for all Swiss Diamond Way Buddhists. While in negotiations for a possible building, Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche’s predictions[www.diamondway-buddhism.org] indicated “a building in the mountains overlooking a lake with a Green Tara mountain on the opposite side”. As soon as they found the place, they knew it was “the one”. The Retreat Centre belongs collectively to all the sanghas in the country. Each weekend a different sangha hosts, together with travelling teachers and the guests in retreat.

On Sunday, the friends from the London Buddhist Centre closed the weekend in style with high-speed bobsleighing! The kindness, hospitality and generosity of our Swiss friends made this weekend a great success. We managed to fundraise a significant amount for the New London Buddhist Centre project through catering and merchandise. Amden was unforgettable, we highly recommend it for a complete change of scenery and a great place with exceptional conditions for our Buddhist practice. Future road shows will are planned for Vienna, Copenhagen and Braunschweig, which we will also report on.



Awwww...

http://twitter.com/LamaOle/statuses/53435132777992192

A rare tourist morning: Lama Ole & 20 students swam with dolphins in Kaikoura New Zealand, before visiting the Glentui retreat land.
4:35 AM Mar 31st via Tweetie for Mac
Retweeted by 3 people
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Lama Ole Nydahl