In the foothills of the Himalayas, the 240 nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery cultivate beautiful flowers in pots and gardens to make the nunnery beautiful.

Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute is a unique center of higher learning for Tibetan Buddhist nuns in India. The nuns themselves took part in the construction of the nunnery, laboring to carry bricks and mortar, to dig the foundations, and to landscape and create the lush flower gardens that are a refuge for birds and insects.

Some of the Dolma Ling nuns during the 2016 flower competition.

The nunnery is set in a serene area of the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and is surrounded by green terraced wheat and rice fields, with beautiful views up towards the snowy mountain peaks of the nearby Dhauladhar range. The town of Dharamsala, home to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration, is about 20-minutes drive from Dolma Ling.

This video by Brian Harris takes you through parts of the nunnery to see the flowers and hear the birds.

Construction of Dolma Ling began in 1993 and the nunnery was officially inaugurated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on December 8, 2005. The red and white buildings of the nunnery are constructed around a central courtyard that is the main hub of the nunnery.

Dolma Ling is fully funded by the Tibetan Nuns Project and was one of the first institutions dedicated specifically to higher Buddhist education for Tibetan Buddhist nuns from all traditions. Panorama of the nunnery by Brian Harris.

Each year, the nuns take part in a flower contest that is part of the celebrations around His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday.

Judging the annual flower contest at Dolma Ling, 2017

For Buddhists, it is traditional to offer flowers to the Buddha, as well as to offer light in the form of candles or a lamp, incense, water, and fruit. Flowers are significant as offerings because their freshness, fragrance, and beauty are impermanent. They are therefore a reminder of the Buddha’s teachings that all things are impermanent.

Of course, the most important flower for Buddhists is the lotus. The lotus grows up from the mud and blooms into a beautiful flower. This is symbolic of the path to enlightenment, rising up from suffering and finally opening to the true nature of reality.