The Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP), a US-registered charity based in Seattle and in Himachal Pradesh, India, has announced that the 2026 cohort of geshema exam candidates has once again set a new record, with 174 Tibetan Buddhist nuns undergoing the geshema examination process.

“This year, a record 174 Tibetan Buddhist nuns from seven nunneries in India and Nepal are taking various levels of the four-year geshema exams,” the TNP said in an announcement shared with BDG. 

The number of nuns is an increase from the 161 Tibetan nuns from seven educational institutes in India and Nepal who took part in 2025,* and 147 in 2024. The 2026 exams are being hosted by at Geden Choeling Nunnery in Dharamsala. 

“Nuns traveled to Geden Choeling in late June to begin the one-month final study period before the exams begin on 21 July,” the TNP added.

Geden Choeling, located in McLeod Ganj, is the largest and oldest Buddhist nunnery in India. Since 1975, the center has offered a safe haven to a steady stream of refugee Tibetan nuns There are currently 175 nuns in residence, including a number of elderly nuns who are cared for by their younger colleagues. The nunnery was founded by a group of nuns who fled the destruction of Nechung Ri Nunnery in Tibet. In collaboration with nuns from elsewhere in Tibet, they established Geden Choeling, which means “home of the virtuous ones who devote their lives to the Buddhadharma.” (Tibetan Nuns Project)

“This year’s seven participating nunneries are Dolma Ling, Geden Choeling, Jamyang Choeling, Thukje Choeling, Kopan, Jangchup Choeling, and Jangsemling,” the TNBP said. “The record 174 nuns are split as follows: 63 nuns are taking the first of the four-year exams; 46 nuns are in the second year; 32 in the third year; and 33 nuns are taking their fourth and final year of exams.”

The geshema degree is the highest academic degree in Gelugpa tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism and was only recently made available to Buddhist nuns.** Like the geshe degree for male monastics, it is roughly equivalent to a PhD in Tibetan Buddhist studies. The rigorous exams take four years to complete, with one set held each year. To date, 54 Buddhist nuns have earned this degree. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, geshema examinations were cancelled in 2020 and 2021, and resumed in 2022.***

“The number of nuns pursuing the highest degree in their tradition has more than tripled since 2019,” the TNP emphasized. “The degree was only formally opened to women in 2012. Ten years ago, in 2016, the first Tibetan Buddhist nuns earned their geshema degrees. That historic occasion was a dream come true for the 20 pioneering nuns, most of whom were illiterate when they escaped from Tibet.”

Geshema candidates are examined on the entirety of their 17-year course of study of the five major canonical texts covering the Abhidharma (higher knowledge), Prajnaparamita (the perfection of wisdom), Madhyamaka (Middle Way), Pramana (logic), and the Vinaya (moral and ethical conduct). During the course of their studies, the candidates must achieve a score at least 75 per cent to be considered eligible to sit for the geshema examinations.

“The geshemas are inspiring and paving the way for other nuns to follow in their footsteps,” the TNP remaked. “The degree makes them eligible to assume various leadership roles in their monastic and lay communities reserved for degree holders and hence previously not open to women. For instance, last year, a geshema became the principal of Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute, home to over 300 nuns.

“As the number of nuns pursuing higher studies increases, we are struggling to keep up with the rising costs associated with the exams and higher study programs, including food and transport,” the TNP remaked. “In the spring of 2026, we created the Higher Studies for Nuns Fund with the goal of making both the Geshema exam process and the Tantric Studies program eventually self-sustaining.”

The Tibetan Nuns Project provides education and humanitarian aid to refugee nuns from Tibet and 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 reaches out to the Himalayan border areas of India, where women and girls have little access to formal education and religious training. 

* Tibetan Nuns Project Announces Another New Record for Buddhist Nuns Taking Geshema Examinations (BDG)

** The Central Tibetan Administration reached this unanimous and historic decision on 19 May 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.

*** Dalai Lama Awards Historic Geshema Degrees to 20 Nuns (BDG), Twenty Tibetan Nuns Make History by Passing Geshema Degree (BDG), and Tibetan Nuns Project Announces New Record for Buddhist Nuns Taking Geshema Examinations this Year (BDG)

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Tibetan Nuns Project
Sponsor a Nun (Tibetan Nuns Project)

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