His Holiness Gyalwa Karmapa visits Copenhagen, Denmark

On the 19th of June 2007, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa visited the Copenhagen Center in Denmark with Lama Ole Nydahl. This Center has expanded over the years since the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa had advised a young Ole and Hannah Nydahl to start the center in their home town and now includes the two buildings beside the original center, giving plenty of room for housing many guests and holding large events.

His Holiness began his day in Copenhagen with an interview for the evening news before a visit to the three center buildings, blessing each and every room, including the Lhakang of the original center, which temporality houses the remains of the late Hannah Nydahl until the completion of a stupa at the newly bought Europe Center.

Once His Holiness had blessed the rooms, he joined a group of representatives from all over Denmark to discuss the progress over the past years of their centers’ activities. People from each center stood up during a slideshow presentation of the different centers to explain how they have developed both the structures of the center as well as their Dharma curriculum. Gifts were presented by each center to His Holiness and Lama Ole. His Holiness gave his appreciation for the hard work everyone had put in and advised everyone to maintain the spiritual bonds and to keep proper motivation for their progress.

That evening Karmapa Thaye Dorje gave the jenang (blessing empowerment) of Amitabha and Amitayus at the “Black Diamond” assembly hall. Since Phowa is a particularly popular practice among the Diamond Way students, His Holiness felt the practice and Empowerment of Amitabha would be appropriate.