In 2019, the Tibetan Nuns Project started fundraising for a significant initiative, Housing for Geshemas. We sought your help to build 16 rooms at Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute for Geshema-degree graduates. These rooms allow these senior nuns to live and study while they attend a year-long Tantric studies program at Gyuto Tantric Monastery.

A Geshema Tibetan Buddhist nun studies in one of the 16 purpose-built rooms at Dolma Ling Nunnery, May 2025.

The Geshema degree (called a Geshe degree for men) is the highest level of training in the Gelugpa tradition and is equivalent to a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism. The degree was only formally opened to women in 2012.

We are happy to report that the rooms are now built, furnished, and occupied. The Geshemas are very grateful for your generosity and kindness.

A Geshema nun engaged in peaceful and focused studies. The 16 rooms can be double or single occupancy. In spring 2025, 13 nuns from Nepal and India moved in when they started their year-long Tantric studies program.

In spring 2025, 13 Geshema nuns began their Tantric studies program at Gyuto Tantric Monastery, about two miles from the nunnery.

This year’s nuns came from four nunneries in India and Nepal. There are five nuns from Kopan Nunnery in Nepal, four from Jangchup Choeling Nunnery in south India, three from Geden Choeling Nunnery in Dharamsala, and one from Dolma Ling.

One of the 13 nuns who began her Tantric studies this spring. The Geshemas are delighted with their rooms. They offer a wonderful atmosphere for study and contemplation.

The Tantric Geshema program began in 2017 under the guidance and support of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Nuns Project. The first group of 23 Geshemas graduated from the program in 2019. The program is thriving.

Though there have been accomplished female practitioners in Tibet’s history, until 2017, women did not have the opportunity to study Tantric Buddhism formally. The nuns travel from Dolma Ling to Gyuto Tantric Monastery for classes.

Nuns engage in text memorization outside their rooms.

The original Gyuto Tantric University was founded in Tibet in 1474 and was re-established in exile. It continues an unbroken tradition for over 500 years and provides the highest level of Tantric training in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

The Tantric Buddhism program provides Geshemas with training in tantric theory, rituals, and mind-training techniques used by those engaged in advanced meditation. This level of training is essential to enable the Geshemas to be fully qualified for advanced leadership roles, such as the head of a nunnery.

Photos of the new rooms for Geshemas at Dolma Ling Nunnery. The 16 rooms can be either single-bed rooms or, as the groups of Geshema graduates become larger, accommodate two nuns per room.

The 16 rooms and facilities are on the third floor of the Yangchen Lophel Study Center at Dolma Ling. These rooms create a good environment for study and contemplation. Each room has enough space for their intensive studies.

The nuns send their gratitude for the improved study conditions and the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of Tantric philosophy and practice.

The 16 rooms and facilities are on the third floor of the Yangchen Lophel Study Center at Dolma Ling.

Before the 16 rooms were built, the nunnery was struggling to make space for Geshemas to stay during their course. It placed a strain on the nunnery and restricted the number of new nuns who could be admitted to Dolma Ling because of a lack of accommodation.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama blesses the previous group of nine Geshemas who graduated from the Tantric Studies program on February 19th, 2025. The laywomen are Nangsa Choedon, Director (top) and Tenzin Palkyi, Project Coordinator at the Tibetan Nuns Project in India.

We would like to thank everyone who supported the Housing for Geshemas project and the Tantric Studies Program.

The Tantric studies program is now funded through our Geshema Endowment, which also supports the annual Geshema exams and Geshema graduation. We are extremely grateful to the 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 hope to put more of our core programs on a solid footing through our Long-Term Stability Fund.

See our Current Needs page for all our projects.

Part of the first group of 23 Geshema nuns who had the opportunity to do Buddhist Tantric Studies. Photo by the Dolma Ling Media Nuns.