Tibetan Nuns Project Announces Results of 2024 Geshema Exams for Buddhist Nuns

The Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP), a US-registered charity based in Seattle and the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India, has announced the results of a record 144 Buddhist nuns who underwent various levels of testing. Geshema review process in August. The results include 13 new gehemas who will graduate this year

“The 2024 Geshema Exam results are in!” the TNP said in an announcement shared with BDG. “Over the summer, a record number of Tibetan Buddhist nuns took various levels of the four-year diploma exams. Geshema degree. Of the 144 nuns, 123 passed, which represents an 85 percent success rate. All 13 nuns who took their fourth and final year of examinations passed.

This year's exams were held at Jangchub Choeling Nunnery in Mundgod, southern India, from July 21 to August 15. As in previous years, candidates met in advance for a month-long study period before the roughly two weeks of written exams and oral debates began.* Last year, 132 nuns took part.

" The gehemas “We are paving the way for other nuns to follow in their footsteps and the momentum is building,” the TNP said. “Not long ago, this increased status for nuns was almost unimaginable and we are so grateful for your support in educating and empowering these dedicated women!”

An earlier announcement by the NPT indicated that 147 nuns were taking part in this year's exams, but three were unable to attend, so the final number was 144, which is yet another record.*

“Women’s education is powerful,” said TNP Founding Director and Special Advisor Rinchen Khando Choegyal. “This is about empowering women religious to be teachers in their own right and take on leadership roles at a critical time in our nation’s history.”

Le Geshema This degree is the highest academic degree in the Gelugpa tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism and has only recently been made available to Buddhist nuns.** As the Geshe degree for male monks, it is roughly equivalent to a doctorate in Tibetan Buddhist studies. The rigorous examinations last four years, with a series of exams held each year. To date, 54 Buddhist nuns have earned the degree. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Geshema Exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021, and resumed in 2022.***

" The Geshema “This degree enables Tibetan Buddhist nuns to become teachers, leaders and role models,” the TNP noted. “It makes these dedicated women eligible to take on a variety of leadership roles in their monastic and lay communities reserved for degree holders and previously not open to women.”

An official graduation ceremony for the 13 new graduates gehemas will take place in November, after the annual inter-convent debate in Bodh Gaya. This will bring the total number of gehemas at 73 since 2012:

2016: 20 nuns have become gehemas
2017: six qualified nuns gehemas
2018: 10 nuns have become gehemas
2019: seven nuns graduated at the end of November
2020: exams cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021: exams cancelled for a second year due to the pandemic
2022: 10 nuns have become gehemas
2023: seven qualified nuns gehemas at the sixth graduation ceremony
2024: 13 nuns graduated in November.

“We are grateful to the 159 donors to the Geshema Endowment, which funds the annual exams, including the Pema Chodron Foundation, the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Frederick Family Foundation, and the Donaldson Charitable Trust,” TNP concluded. “Thank you also to all those who sponsor a nun and help her on her journey.”

The Tibetan Nuns Project provides education and humanitarian assistance to refugee nuns from Tibet and the Himalayan regions of India. Established under the auspices of the Tibetan Women’s Association and the Department of Religion and Culture of the Central Tibetan Administration, the TNP supports hundreds of nuns from all Tibetan Buddhist lineages and seven nunneries. Many of the nuns are refugees from Tibet, but the organization also extends to the Himalayan border regions of India, where women and girls have little access to formal education and religious training.

* Tibetan Nuns Project Announces New Record Number of Buddhist Nuns Geshema Exams this year (BDG)

** The Central Tibetan Administration took this unanimous and historic decision on May 19, 2012 after a two-day meeting in Dharamsala attended by high lamas, representatives of nuns from six nunneries and members of the Tibetan Nuns Project.

*** Tibetan Nuns Project Announces 10 New Geshema Graduates at Bodh Gaya Ceremony (BDG)

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Tibetan Nuns Project

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