Riding The Tiger

"My recipe is simple: tell people the necessity of finding something which can carry them through sickness, aging, and death, and don't be afraid to give them a glimpse of your joy of life. Tell people that the mind is like space: open, clear and limitless, and talk about both the way and the goal."

In 1969, Ole and Hannah Nydahl became the first Western students of H.H. the 16th Karmapa, the head of the Kagyu tradition of yogis in Tibetan Buddhism. After their years of practice in the Himalayas, Karmapa requested them to teach and start centers in his name. They have continued this work ever since. For nearly forty years, until her death in 2007, Hannah translated and organized for the main lamas of the lineage, and Ole, himself a lama, has now started over six hundred growing centers around the world.

The Nydahl's work in the West starts in 1972 with an audience with the Queen of Denmark. A basement in historical Copenhagen becomes the first Tibetan Buddhist center on the European continent, and rusted-through VW buses with racecar qualities get them everywhere. Karmapa's visit to Denmark in 1974 then opens up the world . . .

Riding the Tiger is the inside story of the establishment of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. In his refreshingly unsentimental style, Lama Ole shares all aspects of the work, highlighting both healthy and unhealthy tendencies. Shining through the whole story is the Buddha's ultimate aim, and the goal of Lama Ole's life: to fully develop beings, to bring them to a state of such complete joy, fearlessness, and love that their every action blesses the world. Read more Continue reading Read less