It’s a new record! This summer, 161 Tibetan Buddhist nuns from India and Nepal took various levels of the four-year exams for the Geshema degree. The Geshema degree is the highest level of training in the Gelug tradition, equivalent to a PhD in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. This degree was only opened to women in 2012.
2025 marks a new record for nuns taking various levels of the 4-year Geshema exams. The degree was only opened to women in 2012. No exams were held in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID.
The exams were hosted this year by Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute near Dharamsala from July 21 to August 16, 2025. The costs of the nuns’ travel, food, and the exam process were once again covered by the Tibetan Nuns Project’s Geshema Endowment Fund.
Tibetan Buddhist nuns reading messages of support for the 2025 Geshema exams. Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes to the nuns!
The nuns gathered in late June for a final, one-month study period before the start of the exams. The nuns from Kopan Nunnery in Nepal created this charming video about their journey to Dolma Ling and the final days of exam preparation. Can’t see the video? Click here.
The Geshema degree enables Tibetan Buddhist nuns to become teachers, leaders, and role models. It makes these dedicated women eligible to assume various leadership roles in their monastic and lay communities reserved for degree holders and hence previously not open to women.
The nuns must take both written and oral exams in the form of traditional Tibetan Buddhist debate.
The exams take four years to complete, with one set held each year over two weeks. Candidates are examined on the entirety of their 17-year course of study of the Five Great Canonical Texts. They must achieve a score of at least 75 per cent during their studies to be eligible to sit the exams.
TNP’s Founding Director and Special Advisor Rinchen Khando Choegyal has said, “Educating women is powerful… It’s about enabling the nuns to be teachers in their own right and to take on leadership roles at a critical time in our nation’s history.”
Here’s a video by the Dolma Ling Media Nuns about the 2025 Geshema exams. Can’t see the video? Click here.
The Growing Number of Geshema Graduates
The 2025 exam results will be posted in the autumn. The graduation ceremony will take place at the end of the annual inter-nunnery debate. In November 2024, 13 nuns graduated with their Geshema degrees, bringing the total number of Geshemas worldwide to 73.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with the 20 Geshema graduates at the first Geshema graduation ceremony in Mundgod in 2016. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the patron of the Tibetan Nuns Project. Photo OHHDL.
Help Put Our Core Programs on Solid Ground
The costs associated with the annual Geshema exams are covered thanks to the 159 donors to the Geshema Endowment, including the Pema Chodron Foundation, the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Frederick Family Foundation, and the Donaldson Charitable Trust. We are also very grateful to all those who sponsor nuns and help them on their path. More sponsors are always needed. You can learn more about sponsoring a nun here.
Nuns on kitchen duty sort through lentils to search for any small stones. Hosting the Geshema exams is a big enterprise with over 100 more nuns to feed for at least a 6-week period.
We need to put more of our core programs on solid ground. To this end, we launched our Long-Term Stability Fund, a quasi-endowment, in 2022.
By giving to the Long-Term Stability Fund, you will be helping current and future Tibetan Buddhist nuns at a critical time in Tibet’s history. Please help the nuns to become teachers, leaders, and role models, and to keep the ancient wisdom tradition of Tibet alive. The world needs the nuns’ wisdom and compassion!
Every little bit helps!
No matter what the future of Tibet holds, you can help these dedicated and courageous women to preserve their culture and spiritual traditions. Thank you!
Information session for the 2025 Geshema exams. One sponsor wrote this message of encouragement: “Your accomplishment brings great benefit and light to the world, at a time of darkness elsewhere. Bowing with great respect for your vision and perseverance.”