Help! The temple roof at Shugsep Nunnery and Institute is leaking and the torrential monsoon rains are coming.
The temple roof is leaking in several places, causing a great deal of discomfort and concern among the 115 Tibetan Buddhist nuns at Shugsep. The wooden floor, seats, and decorations are in danger of being damaged if the situation is allowed to persist.
Shugsep Nunnery was built and inaugurated in 2010, at a time when the nuns urgently needed to move out of the old, inadequate accommodation where they lived for the first 18 years after their arrival in Dharamshala as refugees.
The new nunnery was well planned but quickly executed on a fairly tight budget. The roofs were made of corrugated iron sheets, which, over the years, have degenerated and require considerable maintenance, including painting, which has become very costly.
During the monsoon season from June to mid-September, this area receives a staggering volume of rain, typically ranging from 92 to 120 inches or 2,350 mm to 3,000 mm. Good roofs and gutters are essential.
Please help repair the temple roof at Shugsep Nunnery!
To help you can:
- Make a gift online
- Call our office in Seattle, U.S. at 1-206-652-890
- Mail a check to The Tibetan Nuns Project, 815 Seattle Boulevard South #418, Seattle, WA 98134 U.S. (note that it is for the Temple Roof Repair)
- Donate securities
- Leave a gift in your will to the Tibetan Nuns Project
The nuns would like to replace the old, leaking metal roof with new powder-coated metal roofing, which provides an exceptionally durable, weather-resistant surface that will not require repainting.
The gutters on the temple roof are old and rusted and must be replaced as part of the project.
About Shugsep Nunnery
A Nyingma nunnery, Shugsep traces its rituals and practices 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, Shugsep Nunnery in Tibet was completely destroyed. Although the nunnery was partially rebuilt in the 1980s by the nuns themselves, the nuns there faced frequent harassment by Chinese authorities.
In the late 1980s and 1990s many Tibetan Buddhist nuns escaped from Tibet including a large number of nuns from the original Shugsep Nunnery. They lived for many years in cramped conditions before the Tibetan Nuns Project re-established Shugsep Nunnery. It was inaugurated in 2010. Photo from 1991 by Susan Lirakis
Many of the nuns at Shugsep in India came from the original Shugsep Nunnery in Tibet. They were expelled by Chinese authorities for their political activities on behalf of Tibet. They escaped on foot over the Himalayas. Many of them had been imprisoned and tortured for taking part in peaceful demonstrations calling for basic human rights. The nuns escaped into exile seeking freedom to practice their religion, culture, and language.
This is the rented house where the Shugsep nuns who escaped from Tibet were housed for many years until Shugsep was re-established in exile. Now the nunnery is home to over 100 nuns.
Shugsep Nunnery was re-established in India and the newly built nunnery was inaugurated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in December 2010. It is one of two nunneries built and completely supported by the Tibetan Nuns Project. The other is Dolma Ling.
Here’s a charming video tour of the nunnery made in 2017: