1980: Karmapa meets with the mayor of New York City Ed Koch at the Park Plaza Hotel
HH 16th Gyalwa Karmapa visited the United States twice. He visited many places and gave the Black Crown empowerment to many students.

Hannah and Ole Nydahl with Lisa on the subway train to Queens in NYC
At the request of HH 16th Karmapa, Lama Ole Nydahl was coming to teach in the US every year. Ole gave teachings and started centers throughout the country. The first groups appeared in New York City and San Francisco.

Lama Ole teaching at the DWB Center in Brooklyn
A small group of Lama Ole students started getting together to meditate in each other’s apartments since early 1990s. In 2001, we rented a dedicated Diamond Way Center in Brooklyn

The Brooklyn center
The center was famous for its strong tradition of meditation practice

The group also met once a week in midtown Manhattan for teachings and meditation at the Source of Life center

Lama Ole and Hannah meeting with students at a sangha member’s apartment in Greenwich Village

Lama Ole and students after a public lecture at the Mimi Fertz gallery in Soho, 2003

As the center grew, it moved to Manhattan and became more accessible. In 2004, the center opened in Chinatown, leading to an explosion of activity; many people started coming regularly to meditations and teachings

Lama Ole and students at the center
Today, the center in NYC is the largest Diamond Way center in North America. It is anchor of the DWB centers in the Northeastern region of the US. Diverse as the city itself, it has members from more than 20 countries