Shugsep Nunnery, home to about 100 nuns, was re-established in India and officially inaugurated in December 2010. It is one of two nunneries built and completely supported by the Tibetan Nuns Project. The other is Dolma Ling.

A Nyingma nunnery, Shugsep traces its rituals and practice to some of the most illustrious female practitioners in Tibetan history. In the previous century, Shugsep Nunnery was home to one of the most famous teachers of her time, Shugsep Jetsunma.

Following the Cultural Revolution in 1959, the nuns of Shugsep Nunnery in Tibet were forced to leave and it was completely destroyed. Although the nunnery was partially rebuilt in the 1980s by the nuns themselves, the nuns have faced frequent harassment by Chinese authorities.

Here is a video made in 2006 telling the story of Shugsep Nunnery in Tibet and how it was re-established in India by the Tibetan Nuns Project.

The majority of the nuns studying in Shugsep Nunnery near Dharamsala come from the original Shugsep. Here the nuns have the opportunity to participate in a nine-year academic program of Buddhist philosophy, debate, Tibetan language and English.

Here’s a charming video tour of the nunnery made in 2017:

Every Sunday night the Shugsep nuns practice Chod ritual, following the lineage of Chod practice that comes down from the great female practitioner of the 11th century, Machik Lapdron. This ritual focused on severing worldly attachments as one imagines satisfying the needs of all living beings everywhere by offering up oneself.

In May 2008, 58 Shugsep nuns moved into the completed first phase of a new nunnery. They settled in the core buildings, which included a housing wing, 5 classrooms, library, lecture hall, dining hall, and kitchen. Solar panels on the roof supply piping hot water to the kitchen all year round. Prior to the construction of the new nunnery, the nuns were living in a building that was steadily deteriorating despite our efforts to improve it. In addition, the old building had such limited accommodations that no new nuns could be admitted.

Here you can read a story of one of the first Shugsep nuns in India.