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Wisdom that falls „from the head into the heart“
August 12th, 2008

German original

Allgäuer Anzeigeblatt 12. August 2008, Europe Center

Interview Lama Ole Nydahl talks about the goals of Buddhism – Today a Buddhist summer course with 3000 followers starts at Gut Hochreute

BY SYBILLE METTLER
Bühl He likes to ride the motorcycle, is athletic and wants everybody to call him by his first name. For his followers – and in this case also for the author – the 67 year-old Dane is “Ole.” And one of the best-known Buddhist teachers in the Western World. A short time before the first summer course at Gut Hochreute starts, we talked to Lama Ole Nydahl about his teachings.

You were born near Copenhagen. How does someone from Western Europe come to spread the teachings of Buddhism?
Nydahl: I have always been interested in Buddhism. Many people from my generation got destroyed by drugs. I watched that many were saved when they turned to Buddhism. When m wife and I got married in 1968, we went to Nepal on our honeymoon, because we wanted to see Buddhist teachers. We stayed there for four years.

What did you learn during that time?
Nydahl: What one needs to be a teacher. The principle of cause and effect, for example. That how one behaves always has consequences. But with this we hardly have problems in the West, because in a case of doubt, the police comes to our aid. What really interested me was the principle of compassion and wisdom.: How can I have compassion with someone without becoming too sweet? These teachings that fall from the head into the heart have made a big impression on me.

If one was to compare your function to one of those in the Catholic Church, what would one call you?
Nydahl: One of my main students, who teaches in Poland, is oftentimes being compared to a bishop. I would be that, too. I have not done anything else but teaching Buddhism for 30 years. But we don’t have hierarchies like the Catholic Church.

When hearing the word Buddhism, many people imagine a guru with a long beard and people in long, white, flowing clothes. But you are all dressed quite normally…
Nydahl: Hindus wear those clothes. Buddhist oftentimes wear red clothes – a symbol of compassion for others. Basically we have three kinds of people: Monks and nuns – most European monks and nuns live in France. Then there are lay people, who meditate together. Almost all of them live with their families. And then there are the ones we call “yogis.” People who focus their entire life on meditation.

What distinguishes the Diamond Way from other Buddhist directions?
Nydahl: Basically, there are 3 kinds of Buddhism: The goal of the first is to avoid suffering. The second one aims at a rich inner life, and followers of the third one want to realize mind as clear light. We belong to the third one.

One of your teachers said that Buddhism is not a religion. What do you think about that?
Nydahl: We don’t mind if Buddhism is being treated like a religion. But actually religion comes from the word “religare,” which means” to find back again.” What we teach is more of a “ligion.” We think that mind has always been confused and that it has to learn how to become clear. It is our goal to not only experience the things that are outside, but the nature of mind itself, the mirror behind the images, so to say. That mind frees itself. Then one becomes fearless and experiences spontaneous joy – a state that you cannot lose again.

Scientists have examined your brain activity. What did they find?
Nydahl: That was really interesting. I was in a sleeping lab at the University of Chicago and have been examined by brain specialists in Zürich. The scientists discovered that the state of highest bliss, that you can reach through meditation, is comparable to the brain activity during an epileptic seizure. They also discovered that I am in deep-sleep only 4 or 5 seconds after falling asleep. Usually this takes one and a half hours. Compared to my teachers, however, I am a beginner. The spiritual head of our lineage, the 16th Karmapa, exactly predicted his death one and a half years before it.

The summer course in the Buddhist Center near Bühl
• From today until August 24, about 3,000 Buddhists are meeting in the Europe Center of the Diamond Way Foundation at Gut Hochreute above Bühl.
• The participants first practice a meditation of conscious dying for five days. Then, they meditate in rotation for 72 hours on the Buddha of compassion. The highlight will be the visit of Karmapa Thaye Dorje. The highest spiritual leader of the Tibetan Karma Kagyu Tradition will be in the Oberallgäu from August 21 to 24.
• For interested locals, Lama Ole will offer an introduction into Buddhism on Sunday, august 17 at 8 p.m.
Participants can only reach the location by foot or shuttle-bus.

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