Wonderful news! Thanks to a generous donor, this project has been fully funded! We will report back as soon as possible.

Please help establish a Research Training Center for senior nuns at Shugsep Nunnery, enabling them to become certified researchers and inspiring other nuns to follow in their footsteps. Our goal is to raise $12,000 to equip the room and launch the program.

A total of 60 Loponmas have graduated from their nunnery so far. These are senior nuns who hold the highest degree in their philosophic tradition, roughly equivalent to a Masters. Out of these, 30 Loponmas are currently working within the nunnery, taking on important responsibilities in both administrative and teaching roles.

To strengthen the academic and research foundations of the nunnery, we are seeking support to establish a Research Training Centre where traditional Buddhist studies can integrate with modern research practices.

Under the guidance of a certified professor and researcher, the Loponmas will undergo a rigorous one-year training program. The center will start by training three Loponmas during the first year. After successfully completing the program, the nuns will be able to train future generations of nuns, thereby bridging the continuity of advanced learning within the nunnery.

The nuns need your help to:

1. Purchase and install equipment for the center, such as computers, a projector, printer, battery, and bookshelves.
2. Recruit and hire a certified researcher/professor to conduct the one-year training program.
3. Support the research program in line with Professor Wangchuk’s curriculum.
4. Facilitate the Loponmas’ participation in external workshops at the other established research centers in Nepal, South India, Himachal Pradesh, and Gangtok.
5. Support the process of evaluation and certification of the Loponmas’ as they complete their research training.

The goal is sustainability. The trained Loponmas will assume the role of teachers, thereby continuing the program for future Loponma trainees to be self-reliant.

About Shugsep Nunnery

A Nyingma nunnery, Shugsep traces its rituals and practice to some of the most illustrious female practitioners in Tibetan history. The nunnery has a rich history that traces back to free Tibet, where it was first established over a century ago by the revered hermit, Topden Rinpoche, the teacher of Shugsep Jetsunma Rinpoche. Shugsep Jetsunma Rinpoche was one of the most famous teachers of her time and later became the abbess of Shugsep, strengthening generations of devoted practitioners and scholars.

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 original Shugsep in Tibet was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution in 1959, and the nuns were forced to leave. The nunnery was partially rebuilt by nuns in the 1980s, but they faced frequent harassment by the Chinese authorities. Seeking the freedom to practice their religion and culture, many Shugsep nuns escaped from Tibet to northern India. Shugsep was re-established by the Tibetan Nuns Project and officially inaugurated in December 2010. It is now home to about 100 nuns.