Ole Nydahl, the Danish lama known for providing Mahamudra teachings in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, died on May 18, 2026, at age 85.
Born in Copenhagen on March 19, 1941, he began touring the world in the early 1970s to give lectures and meditation courses. With his wife, Hannah Nydahl, he founded Diamond Way Buddhism, a worldwide Karma Kagyu organization with more than 600 centers for lay practitioners.
Nydahl also wrote more than twenty books in German and English on Diamond Way Vajrayana Buddhism.
Ole Nydahl, 85, Danish lama.