Buddhism is not Christianity. In Christianity, Death is The End. But fundamentally, Buddhist Death and Christian Death are the same In Name Only. He'll be back, but few of you will recognise him. He'll probably come in at the bottom as a new member of the Sangha and see it from a different point of view. Do beware, however, that a newly reincarnated Ole is still subject to the Sangha Power Mechanics: he cannot magic himself to the top because, fundamentally, Diamond Way Buddhist Sanghas don't work that way. Trust me, I checked thoroughly.
Let us recall two verses from the Dhammapada. This recall is from memory and approximate, so I'll leave finding the verse numbers an exercise in working a search engine.
These are from Chapter 5, The Fool (or The Immature if you read Easwaran's translation). Fools love a quick ride up the power tower, the fastest way to the top of Tree. "Look everyone! I'm the King of Buddha's Castle! I'm probably the greatest Buddhist there is! Probably better than the Buddha Himself if you don't mind me saying!" Wisely, the rest of the Sangha decide to just leave him there while they go meditate: our King Buddha ain't gonna be leaving his castle anytime soon.
One thing I did take away from our 'happy headbutt' was this: Lama Ole may sometimes have come across as immature, or play the fool, but he was certainly no Immature Fool. The world has been made better by his being here, not just within the confines of Buddhadom. Anything he manages in his next incarnation may be considered a bonus.
OM MANI PEME HUNG KARMAPACHENNO
Peace.
(The earlier version contained the following hurried scribbling, which I don't have the heart to delete.) If you need a mathematically plausible proof of that (i.e. an initial idea), take a look at my book. I saw your movement from a very different direction. I only met him once. Wonderful for the movement and the Sangha. Exeter [DWB] love him,j I found him interesting. But it was only once we had a slightly alcohol assisted chat in the house after taking refuge that I understood that, while he is your ideal teacher, he actually wasn't mine. So my search for my perfect teacher went on, and basically that's why I left suddenly at the end of 2011. There are other factors but that would complicate this story. In summary, nice guy, good teacher, but not the right teacher for everyone. Provided you can get a good idea early on if he is the right teacher for you or not, you can't go that far wrong. Especially now that those who find a potential God along the Way, if in the new Exeter Sangha building, only have to walk across Topsham Road to ask the people in the area who know about that sort of thing. I am friendly with Buddhism, but the friends I made at Exeter Sangha are [ Buddhist Friends ]. And remember that the purpose of a wake is to celebrate, not to mourn. Mourn at the funeral and then, with that out of the way, celebrate all the good he brought. He has changed many lives for the better, a great achievement. What more is there to say: A Westerner who got Tibetan Buddhism and successfully brought the important (i.e relevant in the West) elements back and left the Tibetan stuff (i.e. the belongs in Tibet and not over here) stuff be.