Hannah Nydahl
Hannah Nydahl (born April 17, 1946 as Hannah Christiansen in Copenhagen ; † April 1, 2007 there ) was a teacher of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism . Like her husband Ole Nydahl , she contributed significantly to the development and spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the western world as well as to increasing its popularity from 1973 until her death in 2007.
biography
Hannah Nydahl met Ole Nydahl when she was a child, and they met again in Copenhagen in 1966. During their honeymoon in the Himalayas in 1968 they met the Drukpa - Siddha Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche . On a second trip to the Himalayas in 1969, they met the 16th Karmapa , the spiritual leader of the Kagyu lineage. After a period of training and meditation , the 16th Karmapa asked them to establish meditation centers in the West on his behalf. In October 2006 she took part in the rededication of a restored stupa in Wuppertal, which Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche carried out. In December 2006 she was diagnosed with malignant tumors with metastases, from the consequences of which she died on April 1, 2007.
Teaching and translation activities
Hannah Nydahl worked as an interpreter for Tibetan Karma Kagyu teachers, among others for the Karmapa candidates Thaye Dorje , Shamarpa and Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche as well as for Khenpo Chödrak Tenphel Rinpoche, until 1992 also for Gyaltsap Rinpoche, Jamgong Kongtrul Rinpoche and Tengong Rinpoche.
She also translated texts and meditations from Tibetan, for example an important text on mahamudra that was written by the 3rd Karmapa. In addition, she organized numerous trips to the West by important Rinpoches . Above all, this activity made her a link between the more than 520 Buddhist Diamond Way Centers for lay people in the west, founded by Lama Ole Nydahl, and the monasteries mainly located in India and Nepal.
In addition to her translation work, she also worked as a teacher and gave lectures and courses on Buddhist philosophy. The focus of both her translation and teaching activities was the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (KIBI) in New Delhi, founded in 1990. She was also instrumental in setting up the European Institute for Academic Education in Buddhism in southern Spain (Karma Guen). There, for example, the Kangyur and the Tengyur , the Buddha's collected writings with commentaries, are to be translated. On both projects she worked closely with Künzig Shamarpa, the chairman of the KIBI, who organizes the teaching and translation activities there according to the wishes of the 16th Karmapa.
In addition to her work in New Delhi and Karma Guen, she traveled a few months a year with her husband around the world and organized his activities together with Caty Hartung and Tomek Lehnert.
Hannah Nydahl was a founding member and board member of the Diamond Way Buddhism Foundation .
reception
The 2018 documentary film Hannah - A Buddhist Path to Freedom deals with Nydahl's life and work.
Web links
References and footnotes
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nydahl, Hannah |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Buddhist teacher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 17, 1946 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Copenhagen |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 1, 2007 |
| Place of death | Copenhagen |