Hannah Nydahl

Hannah Nydahl (17 April 1946, Copenhagen - 1 April 2007, Copenhagen), wife of Ole Nydahl, was a teacher and translator in the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
When honeymooning in the Himalayas, Hannah and her husband met the 16th Karmapa, the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu lineage, and became his first Western students. After a period of meditation and study, the 16th Karmapa asked Ole and Hannah to start meditation centres in his name in the West.
Hannah translated numerous books, articles and Tibetan meditation texts and has translated for various Karma Kagyu teachers. She divided her time between travelling with her husband to the many Diamond Way Buddhist Centres they founded, and her work with the teachers and meditation centres in the East. Her work included translating for the teaching Lamas at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in New Delhi, India, as well as participation in various Buddhist text translation projects. She was deeply respected for her work, devotion and accomplisments as a Buddhist practitioner. A danish newspaper even referred to her as the "Mother of Buddhism".
She died shortly before her 61st birthday from brain and lung cancer in her native Copenhagen.

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