Lama Ole Nydahl is one of the few Westerners fully qualified as a lama and meditation teacher in the Karma Kagyu Buddhist tradition. In 1972, after completing three years of intensive meditation training, Lama Ole began teaching Buddhism in Europe at the request of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. He has since transmitted the blessing of the lineage in a different city nearly every day, traveling and teaching worldwide as an authorized lama. His depth of knowledge and dynamic teachings inspire thousands of people at his lectures and retreats in North and South America, the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and Asia.

Lama Ole captivates his audience with charisma and joyfulness, and he challenges people's concepts of life and Buddhism in an unorthodox manner. He has been a major driving force in bringing Buddhism to the West, and to date has established more than four hundred Diamond Way Buddhist centers in forty-three countries around the world. His unique synthesis of modern style and ancient wisdom helped create the largest body of students practicing Diamond Way Buddhist methods in the West. Hannah Nydahl, his wife of more than thirty years, travels part of the time with Lama Ole, and spends the rest of her time translating for the highest lamas in the lineage.

The Nydahl's contact with Buddhism began in 1968 when Ole and Hannah went to Nepal on their honeymoon. There, they met their first teacher, Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche, who sent them to meet the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa. Hannah and Ole became the Karmapa's first Western students. Gyalwa Karmapa had a profound influence on their lives, and later recognized Lama Ole as a protector of the Karma Kagyu lineage. Between 1969 and 1972, Ole and Hannah studied under the direct guidance of the 16th Karmapa and received empowerments and instructions in Buddhist meditation practice and philosophy.

Lama Ole holds the transmission for a unique Diamond Way Buddhist practice called Phowa (conscious dying). Since 1987, he has taught this practice to over 50,000 people in retreats around the world.

Lama Ole Nydahl has given numerous print, television and radio interviews, and he is the author of several books translated into most major languages. His English titles include: Entering the Diamond Way (1985); Ngondro (1990); Mahamudra (1990); Riding the Tiger (1992); The Nature of Mind (1993); The Way Things Are (1996), Blue Dolphin Publishing, Inc.; and The Great Seal, Fire Wheel Publishing, USA.