The Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP), a US-registered charity based in Seattle and in the Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh, India, has announced that a cohort of nine Tibetan Buddhist nuns graduated from the year-long Tantric Studies program at Gyuto Tantric University in northern India on 19 February. The nine nuns are the fifth cohort of geshemas so take the advanced course since the landmark program began in 2017.
“Less than 10 years ago, the first Tibetan Buddhist nuns made history when they graduated with the geshema degree, equivalent to a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism,” the TNP said in an announcement shared with BDG. “Until 2012, the highest degree was only open to men. The 2016 geshema graduation ceremony, presided over by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, marked a new chapter in the education of ordained Buddhist women.1
“Since those first 20 nuns stepped across the stage to make history, many nuns have followed in their footsteps. [In 2024], a record 144 nuns sat various levels of the four-year geshema exams and 13 graduated as geshemas, bringing the total number of geshemas to 73:2
2016: 20 nuns became geshemas
2017: six nuns graduated as geshemas
2018: 10 nuns became geshemas
2019: seven nuns graduated at the end of November
2020: exams canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021: exams canceled for a second year due to the pandemic
2022: 10 nuns became geshemas
2023: seven nuns graduated as geshemas at the sixth convocation ceremony
2024: 13 nuns graduated in November
The geshema degree is the highest academic degree in Gelugpa tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism and was only recently made available to Buddhist nuns.3 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. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, geshema examinations were cancelled in 2020 and 2021, and resumed in 2022.4
“[The nuns’ academic] success [has] fulfilled a longstanding wish of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the patron of the Tibetan Nuns Project,” the TNP emphasized. “It was even more remarkable because some of the nuns were illiterate when they escaped from Tibet.”
Following the successful commencement of the geshema degree program, the Tibetan Nuns Project launched the advanced Tantric Buddhism program in 2017, with support from donors, at Gyuto Tantric University near Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute near Dharamsala.
“Once monks attain their geshe degree, if they want to be fully qualified masters capable of teaching their complete tradition, they must add to their knowledge an understanding of the principles of tantra and the main tantric practices of their tradition,” the TNP explained. “For these studies, monks usually join one of the two tantric colleges where they have access to highly qualified teachers, texts, and a supportive community of practitioners. Until recently, these options weren’t available to nuns.”
After representatives from six Tibetan nunneries approached the Dalai Lama for advice on the curriculum and how to proceed, the Tantric Studies program for the nuns was launched in 2017.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama kindly gave detailed instructions about the treatises to be used and recommended that the geshema nuns study as a group at Dolma Ling Nunnery. The first Geshemas graduated in 2019,” said the TNP. “The Tantric Studies program will continue as more nuns obtain the geshema degree. In January 2025, the Tibetan Nuns Project completed the funding for 16 rooms at Dolma Ling where the geshema from India and Nepal can stay while they take the program. This is an exciting development of a safe space for the nuns to stay and focus on their studies.”
The TNP’s Geshema Endowment provides funding for the Tantric Studies program, and also supports the annual geshema exams and the geshema graduation ceremony each November.
“Although there have been accomplished female practitioners in Tibet’s history, women have never before been given such an opportunity to formally study Tantric Buddhism,” the TNP remarked. “This change in the status and education of Tibetan Buddhist nuns would not have been possible without the steadfast generosity of our supporters. . . . The geshemas are now assuming leadership and teaching roles previously closed to women.”
The TNP cited the words of one of its supporters: “A donation to this cause benefits beyond helping just the nuns . . . it benefits the Tibetan culture, it benefits refugees from Tibet, it benefits education for women, it benefits the Buddhist religion and community, and all of this spreads like a ripple of compassion for others beyond that community. This is not charity; it is an investment in humanity.”
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.
1 Nuns in Dharamsala Participate in Winter Debate before the Dalai Lama (BDG), Annual Geshema Examinations Held in Dharamsala (BDG), Twenty Tibetan Nuns Make History by Passing Geshema Degree (BDG), and Dalai Lama Awards Historic Geshema Degrees to 20 Nuns (BDG)
2 Tibetan Nuns Project Announces New Record for Buddhist Nuns Taking Geshema Examinations this Year (BDG) and Tibetan Nuns Project Announces Results of the 2024 Geshema Exams for Buddhist Nuns (BDG)
3 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.
4 Tibetan Nuns Project Announces 10 New Geshema Graduates at Ceremony in Bodh Gaya (BDG)
See more
Tibetan Nuns Project
Geshema Endowment
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