The Calgary Diamond Way Buddhist Center was founded in 1995, two years after the first center in Alberta was established in Edmonton. Since that time we have hosted a weekly meditation as well as public lectures by Lama Ole Nydahl and other Diamond Way teachers from Europe, the United States and Canada. Each year we have special meditation and practice retreats, often in conjunction with the Edmonton Center. Diamond Way Buddhism is growing rapidly around the world and each year new centers are established, bringing ever greater enthusiasm and dynamic energy to our international community of practitioners.

In the year 2000, the Calgary Diamond Way Buddhist Center hosted an international Phowa meditation retreat with Lama Ole Nydahl in a beautiful Rocky Mountain location in Kananaskis Provincial Park. Phowa is the profound Tibetan Buddhist practice of learning to die consciously by transferring consciousness into a state of highest bliss at the moment of death. Lama Ole is one of only a few lamas in the world qualified to teach Phowa. He has taught this powerful practice to over 50,000 people worldwide. Participants from across Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia and India attended the Phowa retreat and learned to die fearlessly.

During the 2000 Phowa retreat we were also honored to receive special initiations from Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche of Kathmandu, Nepal, a renowned meditation master and revered teacher.

The freshness of the Diamond Way approach combined with the richness   of the Karma Kagyu tradition has continued to inspire the growth of our center. The Calgary Diamond Way Center welcomes anyone wishing to develop their mind's full potential through the methods of Vajrayana   Buddhist meditation.