Tibetan Nuns Project Updates Progress at Shugsep Monastery Buddhist Nuns Retreat Center in Dharamsala

Some Buddhist nuns at Shugsep Monastery and Institute. Image courtesy of TNP

The Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP), a U.S.-registered charity based in Seattle and the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India, has announced encouraging progress in its project to provide a meditation retreat center for senior nuns at Shugsep Monastery near Dharamsala.*

“Work on the Shugsep retreat center is progressing, but funding is still needed,” the TNP said. “Retreat is an essential part of Buddhist practice, but without dedicated nunnery space, nuns are forced to travel to Nepal or the Tso Pemo caves to retreat.”

The TNP Retreat Centre update follows the successful completion late last year of a project to provide a circumambulatory retreat centre Korea path for Shugsep nuns for devotional walking and meditation.**

“The retreat center is a larger project. To become fully qualified teachers, the senior Shugsep nuns need a place where they can retreat and consolidate their learning,” the TNP said in a statement shared with BDG. “They would like to be able to practice retreat together at the Shugsep Nunnery, where they will have access to effective guidance from a competent teacher as well as good basic amenities.”

Nuns help build new Shugsep retreat center. Images courtesy of TNP

Affiliated with the Nyingma tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, Shugsep Monastery and Institute traces its Buddhist heritage and practices directly to Tibet and to some of the most influential female Vajrayana practitioners in Tibet. In the 1852th century, the original Shugsep Monastery and Institute was home to the renowned Shugsep mistress Jetsun Rinpoche (1953-1055), one of the most illustrious female practitioners in Tibetan history and a recognized incarnation of the revered tantric yogini Machig Labdron (1149-XNUMX).

Although the original Shugsep Nunnery in Tibet was destroyed in 1959 and the resident nuns were forced to leave, the nunnery was reestablished in India and officially opened in December 2010. Together with the Dolma Ling Nunnery and the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, the Shugsep Nunnery and Institute were built and are fully supported by the Tibetan Nuns Project. Shugsep is now home to approximately 100 nuns, who have the opportunity to participate in a nine-year academic program in Buddhist philosophy, debate, Tibetan language, and English.

The TNP also expressed gratitude on behalf of Shugsep Monastery for the donors' provision of 92 sets of winter robes, which will help the nuns withstand the cold winter months, adding that the presentation of materials for the robes was a powerful act of devotion and respect.

“None of the convents are heated,” the TNP noted. “Shugsep, in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas, is very cold in winter. The average temperature in January ranges from 10°C (dropping) to 0°C. The new robes will be very useful, especially during prayers, as nuns are not allowed to wear coats or sweaters in the prayer hall as per monastic rules.”

The nuns received 92 sets of winter robes. Image courtesy of TNP

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 these 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.

Click here for information on supporting the Tibetan Nuns Project

* Tibetan Nuns Project Targets Kora and Buddhist Nuns Retreat Center at Shugsep Monastery in Dharamsala (BDG)

** Tibetan Nuns Project Announces Completion of Cora for the Buddhist nuns of Shugsep Monastery in Dharamsala (BDG)

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Tibetan Nuns Project
Shugsep (Tibetan Nuns Project)

Tibetan Nuns Project Updates Progress at Shugsep Monastery Buddhist Nuns Retreat Centre in Dharamsala

Click here for information on supporting the Tibetan Nuns Project

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