In one of the crowning moments of the recent Global Peace Prayer Festival in the Kingdom of Bhutan, His Holiness the Je Khenpo presided over a historic ceremony in Thimphu from 15–19 November to fully ordain 265 Buddhist nuns. While 137 of the newly ordained bhikshunis are Bhutanese, 128 female monastics from 13 countries—Australia, India, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Nepal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, the United States, and Vietnam—participated in the ceremony organized by the Bhutan Nuns Foundation in partnership with Bhutan’s Central Monastic Body, the Zhung Dratshang.
This remarkable occasion marks only the second time that full bhikshuni ordination has been conducted in Bhutan, following the landmark first ordination ceremony held in Paro in 2022.*
His Holiness the Je Khenpo, Tulku Jigme Chhoeda, conferred the ordination at the Training and Resource Centre of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation (BNF) in Tshalumaphey on the outskirts of Thimphu. The BNF has been a guiding light and a principal actor in the restoration of full ordination for female monastics—a watershed moment in the path toward greater equality within the monastic institutions of Buddhism, and in manifesting the full flowering of the fourfold sangha of male and female monastics and male and female lay practitioners envisioned by Shakyamuni Buddha.
Je khenpo is title given to the chief abbot of the Zhung Dratshang, the most senior Buddhist monastic in Bhutan and the nation’s spiritual head, also known as the Sanga Raja. The Je Khenpo is the chair of the Dratshang Lhentshog (Council for Religious Affairs), which oversees the Zhung Dratshang, assisted by five Lopen Lhengyes (minister-ranking masters). The office is currently held by the 70th Je Khenpo, Tulku Jigme Chhoeda, who has occupied the position since 1996.
His Holiness graciously ordained three nuns at a time, with about 60 monastics receiving ordination on each day of the five-day ceremony. Although the ordination was conducted behind closed doors in the temple of the BNF’s Training and Resource Centre for Buddhist nuns, members of the public were able to offer donations or volunteer their time.
The ceremony was the culmination of Bhutan’s Global Peace Prayer Festival, which was held from 4–19 November to commemorate the 70th birthday of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo; a unique spiritual gathering bringing together Buddhist leaders, teachers, scholars, and practitioners from all vehicles and traditions of Buddhism. The festival was aimed at directing the transformative power of loving-kindness and compassionate awareness to manifest a more peaceful and happier world, so it is only fitting that the ordination ceremony held such a prominent place in this momentous gathering.
While communities of female renunciants exist and practice in several Buddhist traditions, many monastic authorities—most notably in Theravada and Vajrayana lineages in Asia—have not officially recognized the full ordination of women in modern times, and bhikshunis have been denied the same level of societal acceptance as their male counterparts. This has led to a decades-long movement in support of full ordination for female monastic practitioners, often in the face of stiff institutional resistance from religious, academic, and political leaders.
One of the commonly cited official objections to full female ordination has been traditional monastic rules requiring that bhikshunis be ordained by other bhikshunis, which presented a catch-22 situation preventing the restoration of the order. Female renunciates from various countries have in recent decades sought the help of their peers in Mahayana lineages to pursue the path toward full ordination. In the Vajrayana tradition, female ordination has been championed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Karmapa, and His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, among other notable senior spiritual figures.
A key agent of change in Bhutan in support of the empowerment of women and the movement for female ordination has been the Bhutan Nuns Foundation, a non-profit organization operating under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Tshering Yangdoen Wangchuck. Established in 2009 and administered by Buddhist activist and executive director Dr. Tashi Zangmo, the Bhutan Nuns Foundation has been striving to improve the day-to-day livelihoods of Buddhist nuns in Bhutan and to enhance their access to basic and higher education.
“Finally, we are recognizing women’s participation not only on the global stage but also in the spiritual journey,” said Dr. Zangmo. “A meaningful platform for women’s involvement has been created. The inclusion of nuns’ ordination in the Global Peace Prayer is especially significant because I believe women inherently bring peace. They have never been the creators of war throughout history.” (BBS)
While the kingdom’s holistic approach to development has been lauded for prioritizing happiness alongside ecological and cultural conservation, life in Bhutan is not without very real challenges, even for those who find their calling in monasticism. Female lay practitioners in particular face major obstacles in accessing opportunities for spiritual and practical education, and nearly all of Bhutan’s rural nunneries have poor living conditions and lack conducive learning environments.
The BNF has been working tirelessly and without fanfare to correct this imbalance, ensuring that each nunnery maintains adequate, healthy living conditions, and providing practical, hands-on training for the female monastic population. The foundation aims to enable female monastics to create self-sufficient monastic communities that not only provide a healthy environment for Buddhist study, but also actively engage with and contribute to lay society as mentors, teachers, and leaders. Click here for more information on how to support the work of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation.
As such, the formal ordination of female monastic represents the fruition of the BNF’s powerful aspiration for spiritual equality and autonomy for Buddhist women. Perhaps nowhere was the manifestation of this aspirations more poignantly expressed than on the morning of 20 November: His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Her Majesty the Queen Consort Jetsun Pema received the newly ordained bhikshunis and offered them their auspicious first alms. On the same morning, throngs of Buddhist devotees bearing offerings reverently lined the streets of Thimphu as 265 nuns trod with dignity through the capital in their first full alms round as fully ordained Buddhist monastics. A gesture that was at once steeped in tradition yet highly symbolic of this new chapter.
“From now on, their lives take on deeper meaning, as they have committed themselves fully to spirituality and a life of celibacy,” Dr. Zangmo observed “Without this ordination, their spiritual journey would remain incomplete. With it, they attain the highest level of precepts, and a whole new world of opportunities and fulfillment now opens before them.” (BBS)
Sandwiched between economic heavy-hitters China and India on the edge of the mighty Himalayan mountain range, the tiny Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan is perhaps best known for prioritizing “Gross National Happiness” over the shortsighted acquisitiveness of unrestrained economic growth, and for its sustainable approach to environmental stewardship. The kingdom is also unique in being the world’s only remaining Vajrayana Buddhism nation. The spiritual tradition is embedded in the very consciousness and culture of this remote land, where it has flourished with an unbroken history that dates back to its introduction from Tibet in the eighth century by the Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche.
Most Bhutanese—about 75 per cent of a population of some 727,000 people, according to 2022 census data—are Buddhists. The majority of the remaining 25 per cent, mainly people of the Lhotshampa ethnic group of Nepalese descent, practice Hinduism. Most of Bhutan’s Buddhists follow either the Drukpa Kagyu or the Nyingma schools of Vajrayana Buddhism.
* 142 Buddhist Nuns Receive Full Ordination at Landmark Ceremony in Bhutan (BDG) and Gelongma Dompa (dgeslongma’i sdom pa): The Blessing of Bhikshuni Ordination in Bhutan (BDG)
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The Bhutan Nuns Foundation
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