In one week’s time, twenty Tibetan Buddhist nuns will receive their Geshema degrees from His Holiness the Dalai Lama at a special Geshema Graduation Ceremony in Mundgod, South India.
This historic event will be attended by hundreds of monks and nuns.
Please note the time difference for your region. The event starts at 8 am on December 22 Indian time which is equivalent to 6:30 pm on December 21st Pacific Standard Time.
Photo courtesy of Tenzin Choejor, OHHDL
If you are unable to watch the livestream of the event, check back to the Tibetan Nuns Project homepage sometime from December 28th onwards and where we’ll have the video embedded.
During May 2016, as twenty nuns were taking their fourth and final round of the Geshema exams, the Tibetan Nuns Project put out a call for people around the world to share their messages of congratulations to the Geshema nuns.
Here are some of the many messages of congratulations that have been sent via mail, email, and social media.
“Thank you for studying and learning the dharma. In doing this you become a treasure for all beings.” Rebecca
“Please convey my best wishes for successful completion for all participants. I am looking forward to hearing the results of this year’s examination. All their hard work, some learning to read and write, to reach this stage is amazing to me. The dedication, hard work & constant studying is impressive. I will keep all of them in my thoughts and prayers.” dgordon243
“Congratulations to all whose generosity makes learning and living possible for Tibetan nuns! Congratulation to the 20 nuns who have taken advanced exams! Congratulations to their teachers, too! We are so proud of each one you and your hard work. Thank you for your efforts and sacrifices to continue lifelong learning! With much love and encouragement,” Joy R., Northern California, USA
“Very happy for the nuns who are finally given this opportunity. I am sure the exams will be a success and a new and happy path for them and the ones who follow. I am with you, girls! Love and support from Maria (Portugal).” MariaLuís
Two of the many messages of congratulations to the Geshema nuns that we have received from supporters worldwide.
“One of the nuns I sponsor from Geden Choeling is sitting her final exams and my prayers are with her as always. She is so special, as are all the nuns. I know she will do well and I will be bursting with pride to call her Geshema when I see her in September.” Karen D. Continue reading →
In the spring of 2016, the 223 nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery in northern India asked for help with a project to provide more clean drinking water at the nunnery.
Twenty-one generous donors came forward to support this $2,750 project. Today we’re delighted to report back to you on it and to share photos of the water filters and the water boiler in action.
Nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery using one of the three new water filters purchased and installed thanks to our generous community of supporters.
When Dolma Ling Nunnery was built a water filter was installed. However, that single filter was no longer sufficient because the number of nuns has so greatly increased. Thanks to the support of our 21 project donors, the nuns have been able to purchase and install three additional water filtering machines that will be enough for over 280 nuns and staff residing at the nunnery.
Here’s another photo of one of the three new water filters in action at Dolma Ling Nunnery. Experts say that unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation cause 80% of all the sickness and disease in the world.
The filters are located in three different places in the nunnery so that the nuns can more easily access safe drinking water — one in the nuns’ dining hall, one in the staff mess, and one in the cafeteria where most of the nuns come for refreshment. Continue reading →
We love reporting back on completed projects made possible by your generosity.
In the spring of 2016, we asked for your support to help the nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery with their request for a cow shed for their small herd of milk cows.
You responded and now we’re happy to share a video, photos, and news of the completed cow shed. On behalf of all the nuns at the nunnery and their happier (and drier) cows, we’d like to say a huge thank you to Alix, Anna, Bob, Cindy, and Stuart for making this dream a reality.
This video was made by the nuns.
The new cow house at Dolma Ling has been built adjacent to the existing cow sheds and provides shelter to 5 cows. This is very important because without shelter from the harsh sun and torrential monsoon rains the cows would suffer.
Dolma Ling Nunnery Cows
The nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute have been keeping cows for the past 20 years. The nuns now have a herd of 14 cows, made up of 7 milking cows, five calves, and two older cows.
The cows are an important aspect of the nunnery’s income-generating efforts and provide the main kitchen with sufficient milk for the nuns’ daily needs. They also provide manure for the nunnery’s flourishing vegetable and flower gardens. Continue reading →
Twenty Tibetan Buddhist nuns have just made history, becoming the first Tibetan women to successfully pass all the exams for the Geshema degree, equivalent to a Doctorate in Buddhist philosophy. Exam results were announced by the Department of Religion and Culture of the Central Tibetan Administration. All 20 candidates for the degree passed.
A Geshema candidate on Day 1 of the Geshema examinations held this year at Geden Choeling Nunnery in Dharamsala, India. Photo courtesy of Venerable Delek Yangdron.
Their success fulfills a longstanding wish of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and marks a new chapter in the development of education for ordained Buddhist women and is a major accomplishment for Tibetan women.
The Geshema degree (a Geshe degree when awarded to men) is the highest level of training in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. These women pioneers have accomplished a level of scholarship and Buddhist training that, until recently, was only open to men.
The Geshema examination process is an extremely rigorous one that takes four years in total, with one round per year each May. During the 12-day exam period, the nuns must take both oral (debate) and written exams. They are examined on the entirety of their 17-year course of study of the Five Great Canonical Texts. In 2011, a German nun, Kelsang Wangmo, who spent 21 years training in India, became the first female to receive the Geshema title.
The new Geshema nuns will formally receive their degrees from His Holiness the Dalai Lama at a special ceremony at Drepung Monastery in Mundgod in southern India.
Good luck! Nuns departing from Dolma Ling Nunnery to take their Geshema exams in the spring of 2016 receive wishes of good luck from the other nuns. Photo courtesy of Venerable Delek Yangdon
This occasion is also a milestone for the Tibetan Nuns Project, which was founded in 1987 to provide education and humanitarian aid to Tibetan Buddhist nuns living in India. A number of the Geshema candidates were illiterate when they escaped from Tibet. To reach this historic milestone, the Tibetan Nuns Project had to build an educational system from the ground up.
“Educating women is powerful,” says Rinchen Khando Choegyal, Founder and Director of the Tibetan Nuns Project. “It’s not just about books. It is also about helping nuns acquire the skills they need to run their own institutions and create models for future success and expansion. 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.”
Earning the Geshema degrees marks a turning point for the nuns. This degree will make them eligible to assume various leadership roles in the monastic and lay communities, previously reserved for men.
Nuns must take both written and oral (debate) exams each year as part of the rigorous 4-year Geshema examination process. Photo courtesy of Venerable Delek Yangdron
The Tibetan Nuns Project supports 7 nunneries in India as well as many nuns living on their own for a total of over 800 nuns. Many are refugees from Tibet, but the organization also reaches out to the Himalayan border areas of India where women and girls have had little access to education and religious training.
We wanted to share with our blog followers some special projects in India that we’re working on. Each year we receive various projects focused on sustaining Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute, near Dharamsala, India.
Dolma Ling was officially inaugurated in December 2005 and has increased in size and is now home to about 250 nuns. The nunnery was built by the Tibetan Nuns Project and is unique for its size and scope of education.
Dolma Ling Nunnery functions as a non-sectarian monastic university and provides the opportunity for nuns to study for higher degrees, including the Geshema degree, equivalent to a doctorate in Tibetan Buddhism.
While much of the maintenance and chores to keep the building sound and the nunnery running smoothly are done by the nuns themselves, like any large residential institution, there are some projects that need outside support.
We currently have six projects that the nuns need help with in order to keep Dolma Ling running smoothly:
Call our office in Seattle, US at 1-206-652-8901 (Monday-Friday, 8-4)
Mail a check to:
The Tibetan Nuns Project
815 Seattle Boulevard South #216
Seattle, WA 98134 USA
(Please include a note about how you wish your gift to be used.)
Miya Ando, the renowned New York minimalist artist, has created a special series of five mandalas to be auctioned online to raise funds for the Tibetan Nuns Project, a registered charity based in Seattle and India.
All proceeds of the sale of the works, after the small fees from the auction house, will be donated by the artist to the Tibetan Nuns Project and will be used to provide food, shelter, education, and health care to over 700 Tibetan Buddhist nuns living at seven nunneries in northern India.
Miya Ando’s Dark Red Small Bodhi Leaf Meditation Mandala, 21×21 inches, framed, dyed bodhi skeleton leaves, monofilament, ragboard, 2015.
Online Auction of Unique Mandalas by Miya Ando
May 26-June 9 2016
Miya Ando has created a series of mandalas in the colors of Tibetan prayer flags. To create the works she’s used skeleton leaves from the Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa) that she has bleached, dyed, and sewn.
Miya Ando’s five prayer flags made from Bodhi leaves being auctioned online through Paddle8 from May 26 to June 9 2016 with proceeds going to the Tibetan Nuns Project
This month twenty Tibetan Buddhist nuns are making history as they take their fourth and final round of examinations for the Geshema degree. Those who pass will receive their degrees in December 2016 from His Holiness the Dalai Lama at a special ceremony in India.
The Geshe degree (Geshema for women) is equivalent to a Doctorate in Buddhist Philosophy and is the highest level of training in the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.
A Geshema candidate on day 1 of the Geshema examinations being held this year at Geden Choeling Nunnery in Dharamsala, India. Photo courtesy of Venerable Delek Yangdron.
Once only open to men, the opportunity to get the Geshe degree was opened to women in 2012. The Geshema examinations represent a huge milestone for Tibetan Buddhist nuns and this batch of 20 nuns will be the first Tibetan women with this highest degree in the history of Tibet.
This year’s Geshema examinations are being held at Geden Choeling Nunnery in Dharamsala, India from May 1 to 12th 2016. Continue reading →
The nuns who live at Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute near Dharamsala, India now have an expanded kitchen facility thanks to the generosity of some very special donors.
The old kitchen at the nunnery was initially built in 1993 when there were just 82 nuns. Slowly, over time, the number of nuns more than tripled to 240 plus 40 staff so it was no longer large enough to adequately prepare food for that number of people.
To try to cope, the nuns, in 2001, took over a ground floor classroom as a vegetable storeroom and cutting room. The space was very cramped and the classroom that served as a kind of kitchen extension was sorely needed by the expanding education program.
Enter some very generous donors who made the nuns dream of a new kitchen a reality. We’re excited to show you these photos and a little video.
The front of the new kitchen showing the solar panels for hot water. By extending the kitchen forward into the courtyard, an additional 750 square feet of functional space was added.
In the spring of 2015 we sought funding for the kitchen extension project. Our donors have helped the nuns solve many problems at once. Not only do the nuns have much more space for preparing and storing food, but by moving the solar panels and water tanks the nunnery has been able to solve problems with maintenance and leakage.
The ground floor of the kitchen extension is a purpose-built space for the storage and preparation of vegetables and supplies. The nuns follow a vegetarian diet.
The nuns also make tofu each week to supply the nunnery kitchen and to sell to other monastic institutions and local people to raise some funds for the nunnery.
Nuns working in the spacious new kitchen at Dolma Ling. The nuns have 3 meals a day and all the cooking is done by the nuns themselves.
The head cook is always busy and the kitchen is kept spotless. The nuns rotate in and out of kitchen duties so everyone participates. Breakfast preparations begin as early as 3 a.m. Lunch is the main meal of the day and is often rice, two kinds of vegetables, dal, and sometimes fruit. Dinner is often a noodle soup and maybe a steamed bun.
Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute is a unique center of higher learning for Tibetan Buddhist nuns in India.
On December 8, 2015 we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the inauguration of Dolma Ling by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We also celebrate the powerful vision and mission behind this special institution, the many supporters who made it possible, and the nuns themselves for their bravery and dedication.
Dolma Ling Nunnery was started in 1991 to meet the needs of the many nuns who fled Tibet in search of the freedom to study and practice their religion.
Newly arrived nuns in India. The Tibetan Nuns Project and Dolma Ling Nunnery were created in response to a huge influx of nuns who arrived in India after escaping from Tibet. These nuns had made the arduous journey by foot over the Himalayas, and were ill and exhausted. Existing nunneries were already overcrowded.
Dolma Ling is fully funded by the Tibetan Nuns Project and was one of the first institutions dedicated specifically to higher Buddhist education for Tibetan Buddhist nuns from all traditions. Currently about 250 nuns live and study at Dolma Ling.
The Story of Dolma Ling Nunnery
Dolma Ling is set in a serene area of the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh at the foothills of the Himalayas. The nunnery is surrounded by green terraced wheat and rice fields and has beautiful views up towards the snowy mountain peaks of the nearby Dhauladhar range. The town of Dharamsala, home to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration is about 20-minutes drive from Dolma Ling.
The nuns themselves took part in the construction of the nunnery, laboring to carry bricks and mortar, to dig the foundations, and to landscape and create the lush flower gardens that are a refuge for birds and insects. Photo courtesy of Jessica Tampas
Nuns working in the temporary kitchen during the construction of Dolma Ling Nunnery. As the nunnery was being built, the nuns lived first in tents and then in a rented house. Many of their activities, such as their studies, took place outdoors.
Construction of Dolma Ling began in 1993 and took nearly 13 years to fully complete. The nuns moved into the first buildings in 1994. His Holiness the Dalai Lama first visited in 1995 and encouraged the nuns in their studies. Upon its completion, he returned to Dolma Ling to officially inaugurate it on December 8, 2005.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his first visit to Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute in 1995
The red and white buildings of the nunnery are constructed around a central courtyard that is the main hub of the nunnery. The focal building is the temple, which contains the prayer hall and library. Six two-story buildings linked by verandas and courtyards serve as housing and classrooms, in addition to an infirmary, kitchen, dining hall, and solar bath house.
Nuns gather in the courtyard each morning for prayers, announcements and the singing of the Tibetan national anthem. For a sense of life at Dolma Ling, see our video “A Day in the Life at Dolma Ling Nunnery”.
Education at Dolma Ling
Dolma Ling Institute and Nunnery is unique in that it offers a 19-year curriculum of traditional Buddhist philosophy and debate along with modern courses in Tibetan language, English, mathematics, and computer skills.
Dolma Ling is open to those from all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and is the first of its kind to offer this sort of education to Tibetan women. The nunnery is officially non-sectarian and has teachers from different traditions.
A panorama of part of Dolma Ling Nunnery taken by Brian Harris
Upon graduation from the 19-year program, the nuns will be thoroughly trained in their Buddhist tradition and will be eligible to receive a Geshema degree, equivalent to a Ph.D. The first Tibetan Geshemas are due to graduate in 2016 after a rigorous 4-year examination process.
In addition to traditional and modern education, the nuns are also provided with skills training so that they can become more self-sufficient and generate income for the nunnery, reducing the need for outside support. The nunnery has various income generating projects such as our annual calendar with photos by the nuns, the nuns’ café which opened in 2015, the tailoring section that makes prayer flags and handmade dolls, and the tofu kitchen which provides fresh tofu for the Dolma Ling nuns.
Educating women is powerful. It’s not just about books. As we’ve shown at Dolma Ling Nunnery and the other six nunneries we support, it is also about helping nuns acquire the skills they need to run their own institutions and create models for future success and expansion. It’s about enabling the nuns to be teachers in their own right and to take on leadership roles at a critical time in their nation’s history.
Major New Project Coming Soon to Dolma Ling
The Tibetan Nuns Project is working to develop plans for a major new project at Dolma Ling Nunnery, a study center that will focus particularly on laywomen, Tibetan and non-Tibetan, who wish to seriously study Buddhism.
In the past many have expressed interest in studying the philosophical texts just as the nuns do, but could not be readily accommodated in the nunneries. We seek to establish a center at Dolma Ling so that laywomen can have a safe environment within the nunnery grounds in which to live, study and practice. The study center will also provide accommodation and facilities for visiting nuns during the annual inter-nunnery debate session and during the Geshema exams. We will share more information about this exciting new project in 2016 as plans are finalized!
Our thanks
Thank you to our supporters worldwide who have helped turn a big idea into reality.
The situation in Tibet remains very alarming. The religion and culture is under tremendous threat. Nunneries are under surveillance and, in one case this year, many nuns were expelled and their nunnery was destroyed.
The nuns and the nunneries that you are supporting with your donations to the Tibetan Nuns Project are a beacon of hope for the future.
With the power of an idea, together we have created something that once seemed almost impossible—institutions and educational systems for Buddhist women that have the potential to transform generations to come.
