In 1983, the Shamarpa named Nydahl a Buddhist master.

" Nydahl was expressly confirmed as a lama by the Shamarpa in 2006.

Nydahl, along with the Fourteenth Shamarpa, who was one of only four lineage-holders appointed to recognize the incarnation of the Karmapa at that time, supported Trinley Thaye Dorje.

According to the Danish Karma Kagyu Lama Ole Nydahl, Buddha saw homosexuality as circumstances making life more difficult, but also explained the reason for homosexuality could be aversion against the opposite sex in a former life.

He regrets that Nydahl continues to be ignored by Tibet scholars and argues that prevailing negative criticism from a position of suspicion by sociologists and students of New Religious Movements should be counterbalanced by positive criticism from a position of trust by Tibet scholars.

The Triratna Buddhist Community ( formerly the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order ), was founded by Sangharakshita in 1967, and the Diamond Way Organisation founded by Ole Nydahl, who has founded more than 600 buddhist centers across the world.

Nydahl says however that sexual orientation is not really important in order to practice Buddhism.

Lama Ole Nydahl ( born March 19, 1941 ) is a Danish Lama in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Since the early 1970s, Nydahl has toured the world giving lectures and meditation courses.

With his wife, Hannah Nydahl, he founded Diamond Way Buddhism, a worldwide Karma Kagyu Buddhist organization of lay practitioners.

Nydahl is the author of nine books in English, including The Way Things Are, Entering the Diamond Way, and Riding the Tiger.

Ole Nydahl was born in Copenhagen and grew up in Denmark.

As a young man, Nydahl was involved in boxing, race car driving and also travelled overland from Denmark to Nepal several times.

In 1968, Nydahl and his wife Hannah travelled to Nepal on their honeymoon.

In 1972, Ole Nydahl was appointed a Buddhist teacher by the Karmapa and was sent back to Europe in order to promote Buddhism in the West.

In 1995, Khenpo Chödrak Thenpel Rinpoche named Nydahl a lama on behalf of the Buddhist Institutes of the Gyalwa Karmapa.

Nydahl has been criticised for never going on a three-year retreat, which is a prerequisite for use of the title ' lama ' in some traditions of Buddhism.

Upon returning to Europe, Hannah and Ole Nydahl began to teach Buddhism and organize meditation centers, first in their native Denmark, then in Germany and other countries.

Ole Nydahl regularly travels between them during the year giving lectures and meditation courses.

Together with his students, Nydahl has created Buddhist centers that provide access to Vajrayana meditation methods without requiring an understanding of Tibetan language or culture.

Ole Nydahl believes it essential for people to understand and read the meditations in their own language in order for Buddhism to become truly rooted in the West.

In a newsletter dated July 9, 2010, Nydahl responded to questions about the types of practices taught in Diamond Way Centers by stating " I never taught anything I was not asked to pass on by the great Sixteenth Karmapa and that its basis was always the Guru Yogas of the Karmapas.

It was largely because of the work of Hannah and Ole Nydahl that most European Karma Kagyu centers chose to support Trinley Thaye Dorje.

Due to his role in the Karmapa controversy, Nydahl has been heavily criticized by the supporters of Ogyen Trinley Dorje, such as the authors Mick Brown and Lea Terhune, a student of Tai Situpa.

In connection to this, some blame Nydahl for causing the 1992 split of the Karma Kagyu, although there is no evidence of this, and accuse him of breaking the samayas to his teachers, which is deprecated in Vajrayana.

Ogyen Trinley Dorje had mentioned his desire to meet the Shamarpa, and requested Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche arrange a personal meeting with him.

Shamarpa wrote, " Although this matter is not easily resolved, since it is connected to the politics of China and India as well, with His Holiness Dalai Lama's blessing and support I am confident that there will be an amicable solution, which will be beneficial for the Karma Kagyü lineage, as well as for Tibetan Buddhism in general.

A notable example of this penalty was the Shamarpa, once the most powerful subordinate of the Karmapa, whose recognition of reincarnation was banned by order of the Dalai Lama in 1792.

This ban remained in place until after the Dalai Lama lost power in Tibet during the 1950s, although it was later revealed that the Karmapa had recognized emanations of the Shamarpa secretly during the intervening period.

Shamarpa (; literally, " Person ( i. e. Holder ) of the Red Crown "), also known as Shamar Rinpoche or more formally Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche is a lineage holder of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and the mind manifestation of Amitabha Buddha, He is traditionally associated with Yangpachen monastery near Lhasa.

The first Shamarpa, Khedrup Drakpa Senge ( 1283 – 1349 ), was the principal disciple of the third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje.

Rangjung Dorje gave this disciple a ruby-red crown and the title Shamarpa, establishing the second line of reincarnate lamas in Tibetan Buddhism, Karmapa being the first.

When the fourth Karmapa, Rolpe Dorje, returned the red crown to the second Shamarpa, he recalled Karma Pakshi's prediction, saying, " You are the one manifestation, while I am the other.

" The Shamarpa is often referred to as the " Red-hat Karmapa ," especially in early Kagyu texts.

The successive Shamarpa reincarnations are listed in " The Garland of Moon Water Crystal " by the 8th Tai Situpa Chökyi Jungne and Belo Tsewang Künkhyab.

The Shamarpa in turn, recognized and enthroned 12th Karmapa as the 12th Karmapa and acted as his Root-guru.

A dispute over his claim to his stepbrother's material inheritance led to an armed conflict in which the Shamarpa conspired with the Nepalese Gurkha army in 1788.

This, and other disputes between the Gelug and Kagyu schools led to the exile from Tibet of the Shamarpa and a legal ban by the Tibetan government on further Shamarpa incarnations This ban remained in place until after the Dalai Lama lost power in Tibet during the 1950s, although it was later revealed that the Karmapa had recognized reincarnations of the Shamarpa secretly during the intervening period.

In 1792, the Tibetan government found the 10th Shamarpa guilty of inciting a war between Tibet and Nepal.

He was exiled from Tibet and a ban placed on his future incarnations, thereby abolishing the Shamarpa line.

The present ( 14th ) Shamarpa is Mipham Chokyi Lodro, born in Derge, Tibet in 1952.

The Nydahls also became students of Mipham Chokyi Lodro, the fourteenth Shamarpa.

From the Shamarpa, they took the Bodhisattva vows and learned about Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation.

His teaching activity was described and commended by the Shamarpa in 2012.