30 years of Diamond Way Buddhism in Slovakia

1996–1997: From Zen and Karate to Diamond Way Buddhism

Key figures in the story of Diamond Way Buddhism in Slovakia are Ole Nydahl and his wife Hannah, both from Denmark. During their travels to the Himalayas in the 1960s, they met several great masters of Buddhist meditation and became students of the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. He expressed a wish for Lama Ole to bring Buddhism also to the countries of the Eastern Bloc, saying: "Bring them freedom and travel to the East as often as you can."

Lama Ole first taught in Poland as early as 1976 and also visited East Germany (GDR). At that time, he merely passed through Czechoslovakia. His book Riding the Tiger contains a reference to this journey: "On the train through what was then Czechoslovakia, we could hardly believe how the authorities treated their countrymen there - like cattle. The people were not totally poor, but had no freedom and lacked the spirit to fight, which was much worse. Poland, in contrast, was almost a romantic experience."

In the era following the fall of communism, around the mid-1990s, Lama Ole and his wife Hannah asked their students in Vienna to take care of developing Diamond Way Buddhism in Czechoslovakia. Raffaella Weixelbaumer undertook the task, using her contacts with members of the Kwan Um Zen School, which was already active in Slovakia at the time. Thanks to their initiative and organizational support, Lama Ole Nydahl came to Slovakia in 1996. He gave his first lecture on September 21 in Košice, followed by another the very next day in Bratislava.

His lecture, On Death and Rebirth, was a highlight of the Esoteric Festival held at the Park of Culture and Leisure (PKO), a venue which has been since then demolished. In the packed hall filled with people enjoying their freedom after decades of communist totalitarianism, were also karate practitioners from the Okinawa club, linked to the aforementioned Kwan Um Zen School. After the lecture, most of them took Buddhist refuge with Lama Ole. For many years, a number of them became the driving force behind Diamond Way Buddhism activities in Slovakia.

The club’s coach, Peter Filo, played a major role in getting the group of young karate practitioners to attend the lecture. He had already met Lama Ole in Germany, where he had participated in a phowa course (conscious dying meditation).

The coach passed on his inspiration and enthusiasm for the Diamond Way to his karate students. Several of them began practicing even before their first meeting with Lama Ole, and following his initial lecture “tour” of Slovakia, they started traveling to lectures and meditation courses in neighboring countries as well.

1997–2005: The Flourishing of Meditation Groups

In the autumn of 1997, Lama Ole visited Slovakia for the second time. He first gave the Diamond Way teachings in Žilina and subsequently at the Hall of Culture Ružinov in Bratislava. Due to poor organization, only about 30 people attended the lecture in Bratislava.

Upon seeing the half-empty hall, some of the meditating karate practitioners realized that active work for the Dharma (the Buddha’s teachings) held more meaning for them than karate. Consequently, they hung up their gis and became sangha - community of Buddhist practicioners. In various towns, they began meeting regularly to meditate together.

Lecture and meditation weekends held at a cabin in Chocholná, near Trenčín, played a crucial role in the development of the Slovak sangha. For many years, these events were organized by Petra Petrová and Peter Fekete. The organization process involved, among other things, inviting the so-called traveling teachers. These were practitioners from around the world whom Lama Ole had asked to share the teachings and explain meditation practices.

The first traveling teacher to be invited, in the summer of 1998, was the aforementioned Austrian, Raffaella Weixlbaumer. She was followed by other teachers from Austria, Poland, and Hungary. Over time, Lama Ole also asked individuals from the Slovak sangha to teach. Today, traveling teachers Zuzana Ilavská, Mirka Šilanová, Ján Kysucký, and Braňo Styk are active in Slovakia.

When the opportunity arose again in 1998 to organize a lecture by Lama Ole in Bratislava, the young Slovak sangha took up the task. People from all the meditation groups got involved, and over 300 people attended the lecture at the Hall of Culture Dúbravka. That same year, the NGO Diamond Way Association was officially registered.

In 1999, a lecture by Lama Ole was held in Trenčín. The following day, the Lama gave an interview in Bratislava for the program Teleráno (Tele-Morning, TV Markíza). Two years later, 700 people attended Lama Ole’s lecture at the Hall of Culture Dúbravka, and a year after that, 800 people interested in Diamond Way Buddhist teachings gathered at the PKO.

In 2003, Lama Ole gave a lecture in Žilina attended by approximately 700 people, and that same year we published the first book by Lama Ole translated into Slovak Ako sa veci majú (The Way Things Are). This was followed by Buddhovia zo strechy sveta (Buddhas from the Roof of the World, 2005), Buddhistická kniha o láske (Buddha and Love, 2009), Veľká pečať (The Great Seal, 2009), Buddhistická kniha o smrti a znovuzrodení (Buddhist Book on Death and Rebirth, 2012), and Jazda na Tigrovi (Riding the Tiger, 2013). 

In addition to publishing books, since 2001 we have also been issuing the magazine Buddhizmus dnes (Buddhism Today), which includes the timeless teachings, as well as documents our activities at a given time.

Regular group meditations gradually expanded to numerous Slovak towns (Bratislava, Trenčín, Žilina, Čadca, Košice, Piešťany, Stará Turá, Nitra, Banská Bystrica, and others). This activity was bolstered by lecture and meditation weekends with traveling teachers, as well as our joint trips to courses with Lama Ole, and also other events at Diamond Way Buddhist centers in neighboring countries.

A significant milestone for Diamond Way Buddhism in Slovakia was the first international summer Phowa course with Lama Ole in 2004. One thousand practicing Buddhists from around the world gathered at a rented motocross venue in Fiľakovské Kľačany.

A decade of dynamic growth for Diamond Way Buddhism in Slovakia culminated in the spring of 2005 with a historic event - visit of H.H. the 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje, the head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Karmapa was accompanied by Lama Ole and his wife, Hannah. After meeting the Slovak sangha in the wine cellar of the Bratislava Castle, 17th Karmapa gave the Loving Eyes empowerment to more than 2,000 people at the PKO. Following the official program, he spent time with the sangha - we watched films together until the early hours of the morning.

2005 – 2015: Putting Down Roots

From 2002 onwards, the sangha activity focused primarily on finding a meditation center for retreats. After many trials and errors we finally succeeded in the autumn of 2005, purchasing our dream property, farmstead in Mangútovo (Hriňovské lazy).

After converting the barn into a summer kitchen and the stable into summer showers, along with numerous other preparatory tasks, the first summer course with Lama Ole and Hannah took place there in August 2006, attended by approximately 350 people. Lectures and meditations were complemented by work on the property, in which Lama Ole and Hannah also enthusiastically participated.

Between 2007 and 2009, we renovated the old house ourselves.

Space for a kitchen and living quarters was created on the ground floor. In the attic, we have a meditation room - gompa (100 m²) for our lecture and meditation weekends and gatherings.

In 2006, we also managed to purchase a family house in Trenčín, and to renovate most of it in 2007. Since then, it has served primarily as a venue for regional lecture and meditation events.

At that time, Lama Ole traveled around the world twice a year, giving lectures in a different city almost every day. In Slovakia, at Mangútovo, we enjoyed major international summer courses with him over several years (2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2016). In 2013, Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche also visited Mangútovo alongside Lama Ole, giving the Loving Eyes empowerment to more than 1,800 people.

Lama Ole also visited Bratislava annually - in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015, he gave lectures there to audiences ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 people.

In 2010, we organized a four-day "bus tour" to Slovak towns (Bratislava, Nitra, Trenčín, Žilina, and Košice), thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to be in Lama Ole's immediate presence. In each town, he gave an evening lecture to several hundred attendees and spent the rest of the time sharing his experiences with the sangha - often until the early morning hours.

On Lama Ole's invitation, Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche also visited Bratislava in 2007 and 2009, giving the Bodhisattva vows as well as the Milarepa and Diamond Mind empowerements. As part of an effort to introduce Buddhism to the general public, the Slovak sangha regularly organized the "Buddhas at Charlie's" (later "Buddhas in the City") lecture and film festival starting in 2007. The event was held at the Lumière Cinema and later at the Nostalgia Film Club. A significant public event took place in 2015, the "Space and Joy" exhibition of Tibetan art, at the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava. Attracting over 9,000 visitors over the course of two months, it ranked among the most successful exhibitions of the year. 

2015 – 2026: The Wishes of Buddhas Come True

After years of searching and fundraising for our own center in Bratislava, the conditions for getting our dream place finally came together in 2014. After overcoming many obstacles, a year later we succeeded in purchasing an impressive building, former ophtamology sanatorium for children, that had been falling apart for years. We then spent five years renovating it, largely through our own efforts.

We opened the center during the pandemic, yet the subsequent period showed a growing interest in a practical approach to Buddhism applicable to everyday life, with more and more new people visiting the center. We used the pandemic period to deepen our experience, and as soon as conditions allowed, our centers came alive again with gatherings of friends, and we resumed traveling.

Lama Ole’s last visit to Slovakia was also our largest event to date - New Year’s lecture and meditation course in December 2018. Alongside Lama Ole, Jigme Rinpoche also gave his teachings. Over 7,000 visitors from around the world attended the intensive five-day course.

In 2024, we revived the tradition of summer meditation courses at Mangútovo. More than 160 visitors attended the course. The following year, when Nedo Rinpoche also arrived at Lama Ole’s invitation, the course drew 800 participants. In 2024 and 2026, we as the Slovak sangha participated in the activities of the European Centre and had personal meetings with Lama Ole. The meeting in February 2026 proved to be our last before Lama Ole left his body.

Just as Buddha Shakyamuni said before his death, "I can die happily. I have not kept a single teaching in closed hand. Everything useful to you, I have already given," so too did H.H. the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, during the farewell ceremonies for Lama Ole, advise practitioners not to seek a successor, as Lama Ole’s qualities, role, and activity were unique and irreplaceable. At the same time, he assured students that they possessed everything necessary to continue on the Path and encouraged them to deepen and maintain their practice, confidence, and determination.

Dearest and great Slovakian and Bratislava students and friends,

It has been such a joy to get to know you. You are a country of the same size as my Denmark, and you have the spirit we also had in the beginning, when we started.

Now hold on to it. Keep being interested. Do not get disturbed by all kinds of offers from the conditioned world, to spend your time on things that will never give any real benefit to others or yourselves, but instead put all the energy in where it can give the ultimate meaning, where it can open people, where it can open their minds, give them a chance to really see, know and be aware of the potential in every human being. You have done that so well here.