Siddharta Gautama, the historical Buddha, was born in the north of approximately 560 years before our era and died at the age of 80. He belonged to the noble line of Sakyas (hence the name Sakyamuni) and had a carefree childhood surrounded by wealth. He married at 16 and was father to a son. At the age of 29 he left his family’s palace and for the first time came across three men; an elderly man, a sick man and a man that had died. He then understood that old age, disease and death are part of life. The pleasures of his own life, which until then he took for granted, suddenly lost their appeal, and he decided to search for the source of durable and endless happiness.
After six years of research ending in vain – neither extreme ascesis or debating with the most renowned philosophers of those days proved successful – he sat down underneath a fica tree, in a place now known as Bodh Gaya. He swore to remain seated until he had reached his goal. Sunk deeply into meditation he finally discovered the true nature of the mind and became the Buddha, a “fully awoken” being. Following enlightenment, he taught for 45 years, founded an order for monks and nuns, gathered numerous students and lay people around him. He died when he was 80 years old, and just before his death he instructed his students not to blindly follow their teacher but to trust their own experiences.
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The Dharma, Buddha’s teachings, literally means “the way things are”. Buddha explained how the world worked and what is either absolute or relative. This understanding leads us to a stable life of lasting happiness. The four noble truths compose the core of his teachings: As long as the mind does not recognise its true nature suffering will be a part of life, just as joy is. Old age, sickness and death, however, are inevitable and are perceived as unpleasant. There are factors which prevent the mind from recognising its true nature and thus cause suffering. Everyone can discover the true nature of his mind and achieve enlightenment. There are methods that are the path to reach it. To gather knowledge and the right view, meditation is the practical means to reach durable happiness – meditation transforms comprehension into experience. Sensible conduct is a liberating way to see things completely; it is a form of self-responsibility (see Karma – the principle of cause and effect).
Since the historical Buddha, Buddhism has turned out to be a tolerant religion of the world, one that, thanks to an unbroken transmission, exists without pretension. Buddha’s teachings have no dogmas. Nothing has to be accepted without consideration. The goal is full development. To gather knowledge and the right view, meditation is the practical means to reach durable happiness – meditation transforms comprehension into experience. Sensible conduct is a liberating way to see things completely; it is a form of self-responsibility (see Karma – the principle of cause and effect). Since the historical Buddha, Buddhism has turned out to be a tolerant religion of the world, one that, thanks to an unbroken transmission, exists without pretension. Buddha’s teachings have no dogmas. Nothing has to be accepted without consideration. The goal is full development.
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Own responsiblity – cause and effect Karma is a central concept of Buddhism. Karma is not fate, but events that originate from causes and effects: everyone is responsible for his own life. Every action brings about a reaction which is a direct consequence of that action. It is in the present that we sow the seeds of our future so that we ourselves create either our happiness or our suffering. This knowledge permits us – thanks to the arrangements of the mind and right conduct – to collect good impressions in our mind which lead to happiness and avoid suffering. Buddha did nothing more than advise us about this. This however, does not mean indifference towards the suffering of others, for the Buddhist point of view states that all beings act in order to be happy. The cause of negative actions such as crime, sexual abuse or fraud is not evilness within us but the ignorance of those who commit these actions and are not aware of the laws of cause and effect. The one that suffers is actually reaping the seeds he himself planted in the past. Each time suffering occurs it is the result of ignorance and confusion. Since it is impossible to return to the past, Buddhists need to help people who suffer – when feasible – with deep compassion, a strong conviction and without prejudice. In the Diamond Way unripened karma, which hasn’t expressed itself yet through concrete events, can be changed: positive karma can be enforced, negative karma can be diminished.
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The Diamond Way offers the modern world “effective methods that lead to a direct experience of mind,” as explained by Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche, one of the most experienced teachers of Tibetan Buddhism. One learns to experience the world from a rich and self-liberating viewpoint. Diamond Way meditations develop a deep inner richness and lead to a non-artificial and unwavering mind where every enlightened activity can unfold.
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Our centres are associated to the tradition of the Karma Kagyu lineage, one of the four main Buddhist schools of . It teaches the Diamond Way (Vajrayana). Being a lineage with a direct oral transmissiono, it puts a special emphasis on the practice of meditation and the direct transmission of the experience of the nature of the mind from the teacher to the student. The teachings of the Karma Kagyu lineage go all the way back to the historical Buddha Shakyamuni and were first transmitted in and later reached via enlightened meditation masters. Thousand years ago notorious Mahasiddhas (realized masters) like Naropa and Maitripa and famous yogis such as Marpa and Milarepa, turned this school into a special movement with lay people, while a little later Gampopa founded his monastic order.
Since the twelfth century, the Karma Kagyu lineage is led by an unbroken series of reincarnations of the Gyalwa Karmapa, today by the 17th Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje. Buddhist lamas like Künzig Shamarpa, Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche and Khenpo Chödrak continue to transmit the eastern lessons. They support the work and development in the new Occidental centres around the world. Our most important western teacher is Lama Ole Nydahl. During the last 30 years he has founded about 400 centres across the world, a task in which he was entrusted by the 16th Karmapa. In these centres, teachings and lectures are given by lamas, his students and himself, on a regular basis. It is especially interesting for the western world that the Karma Kagyu school shows a way that is very close to daily life. It focuses on the development of clarity and independence within the current world. The Gyalwa Karmapa is recognized as the first consciously reincarnated Tibetan lama with the purpose of helping to discover and develop everyone’s inner richness for the benefit of all beings.
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Gyalwa Karmapa is recognised as being the first lama from to have consciously reincarnated. He is renowned as “the greatest yogi of ”. His coming was predicted in several sutras and tantras. The 16th Karmapa Rigpe Dorje, who had to escape from in 1959 because of the destruction of his country by the Chinese, secured the survival of the Karma Kagyu lineage. With the help of his Occidental students, he transmitted the knowledge of the true nature of mind to the modern world. The actual 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje also managed to leave the oppressed for when he was 11 and win his freedom. He is our spiritual leader. There is a second candidate for the title but our centres don’t recognise him.
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The Gyalwa Karmapas – who had the Tibetan title of “Holiness”, just like the Dalaï Lamas some centuries after – were prophesised and celebrated in several sutras and tantras. Buddha Sakyamuni predicted in the “Samadhiraja sutra”: “Buddhism will appear in the country of the red-faced and they will become the students of Avalokiteshvara. During the decadence of his teaching, a bodhisattva called Simha will appear and will be called Gyalwa Karmapa. He will be a meditation master and will have authority over the living beings. The one who, in one way or another, will see, hear, touch or think of him will be filled by joy.” In the “sutra of the auspicious era”, it is said that in future times, a master that will possess extraordinary qualities and that will be of great help to all living beings will come to this world. That master will be called Karmapa. In very ancient times, already, the Gyalwa Karmapas manifested themselves as Buddhas under different names. One of them was called Shen Phen Nang Dröl, which means “liberated manifestation of the help to others”.
When he appears again, he helps to grow the merit of living beings and helps them in any possible way. After the next Buddha, Maitreya, he will manifest as the “Buddha of the lions” and will accomplish, being the 6th Buddha of this period, the 12 actions to help beings. The master Padmasambhava also predicted in his “hidden treasures” that the Karmapas would later appear in this world and would deploy their activity to help beings. Already, well before his manifestation as Gyalwa Karmapa, he reincarnated in the form of great Hindu and Tibetan masters. In Buddha’s time, he was at his side as his student Chenrezig (Buddha of loving eyes). In , he was also the realised master Saraha, Praina-Lankara, a student of Nagarjuna, and Dharmabodhi. In , he appeared as Gyalwa Chokyang, a minister and student of Padmasambhava and also as the powerful scholar Potowa Rinchen Sal. After the latest died, he reincarnated as the 1st Gyalwa Karmapa Düsum Khyenpa. All this was noted, amongst other sources, in the 15th century “blue annals” of the translator Gö Lotsawa Shönnupal.
The realisation of a master as extraordinary, a Buddha that actually appears to us as a bodhisattva on the 10th level of realisation, can only really be estimated and recognised by himself. For this reason, he often leaves behind him a letter in which he describes exactly the place of his reincarnation. Besides, in every new life, his first words are: “I am Karmapa”. In general, this is controlled by Sharmapa, but most importantly, Gyalwa Karmapa identifies himself. He specially manifests in every new incarnation awakened qualities susceptible to help for the better a great number of his students. Acting as a powerful meditation master, a great scholar or inspiring artist, he shows to all humans that open up to him the infinite possibilities of mind and bring them to liberation and enlightenment.
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The Karma Kagyu lineage is one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. As a lineage of direct oral transmission, it especially treasures meditation and, through interaction with a qualified teacher, can bring about the full and direct experience of the nature of mind. The Karma Kagyu methods were taught by the historical Buddha Shakyamuni to his closest students. They were practiced in India and later in Tibet where from the 12th century they were kept alive thanks to the successive incarnations of the Karmapas. Today, great teachers such as H.H. the 17th Karmapa Trinlay Thaye Dorje, H.H. Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche and lama Ole Nydahl transmit this unbroken tradition.
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Meditation has the effect to transform the comprehension of the teachings of Buddha in inner experience and is, in Diamond Way, the method practised to recognise the unlimited nature of mind. It is a kind of mind training. Meditation means “to stay without effort in what is”. That state is obtained by the pacification and concentration on one point of mind or is realised thanks to the work with energy and light forms, manifestations of feminine and masculine Buddhas. These forms of Buddhas show different awakened qualities of mind. The most effective is the continuous identification with our own Buddha nature, not only during meditation, but also when we are not in a meditation session. That is what Diamond Way teaches, the way we follow in our centres. During the Theravada meditations, pacification and the concentration on one point of mind are important. The Mahayana meditations underline more the experience of compassion and mind’s emptiness (the fact that every manifestation and idea are impermanent: they appear and disappear all the time), and the Vajrayana meditations stress the continuous identification with mind’s nature.
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Liberation (“Nirvana”) expresses the recognition that the body, thoughts and feelings are constantly changing and therefore, can’t be a real “me”. Once liberated, we don’t consider ourselves like a target anymore, which eliminates the cause of all suffering. Enlightenment is the last supreme level. Here, the clear light of mind shines trough every experience. There isn’t a separation anymore between the one who acts, what is lived and the act itself. Mind enjoys every moment and its capacities appear by themselves, without any effort and spontaneously. There are many possibilities to get in contact with Diamond Way Buddhism. Meditations and teachings are available in our centres. For further information about our Buddhist practice please see Teachings of Diamond Way Buddhism
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