Sherab Choeling Nunnery in the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh was founded in 1995 with the vision to educate Himalayan Buddhist nuns who would otherwise have no opportunity to receive any formal schooling or spiritual education. It is a non-sectarian nunnery that recognizes the beauty and value in all Buddhist traditions.
Typically, women who live in remote areas like Spiti and who are interested in studying or practicing their religion have very few options. The Tibetan Nuns Project was approached by the nunnery in 2006 to help them develop their institution and we accepted them into our sponsorship program.
There are currently about 75 nuns at Sherab Choeling Nunnery. They follow a 17-year study program which includes Buddhist Philosophy, Tibetan, Hindi, and English. The broad education is intended to provide the nuns with necessary skills to educate future generations of nuns and the communities from which they come.
The focus of studies is the five great Buddhist philosophical texts.
Here are two special blog posts with many photos and descriptions of life at the nunnery: