The Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP), a US-registered charity based in Seattle and in the Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh, India, has announced that infrastructure supplying water to the nuns of the Shugsep Nunnery and Institute near Dharamsala is failing and in urgent need of renovation.
“Imagine if all the pipes in and around your home were leaking and you had to replace them. This is the shocking situation facing the nuns at Shugsep Nunnery and Institute,” the TNP said in an announcement shared with BDG. “The underground water pipes installed during construction in 2008 have become severely corroded, are leaking, and causing dampness in the nuns’ rooms.”
Affiliated with the Nyingma tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, Shugsep Nunnery and Institute traces its Buddhist heritage and practices directly to Tibet and some of Tibet’s most influential female Vajrayana practitioners. In the 20th century, the original Shugsep Nunnery was home to the celebrated female master Shugsep Jetsun Rinpoche (1852–1953), one of the most illustrious female practitioners in Tibetan history and a recognized incarnation of the revered tantric yogini Machig Labdron (1055–1149).
Although the original Shugsep Nunnery in Tibet was destroyed in 1959 and the resident nuns forced to leave, the nunnery was re-established in India and officially inaugurated in December 2010. Along with Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, Shugsep Nunnery and Institute was built and is completely supported by the Tibetan Nuns Project. Shugsep is now home to about 100 nuns, who have the opportunity to participate in a nine-year academic program of Buddhist philosophy, debate, Tibetan language and English.
“The nuns and the Khenpo [abbot] have been trying to solve the problem themselves,” the TNP noted. “They have been digging up the pipes in various places to try to fix them. Sadly, they have discovered that even replacing broken union joints is impossible because of the corroded pipes.”
The TNP said it was seeking funding assistance to help the nuns replace the nunnery’s plumbing system with stronger PVC pipes. They added that completing the supply line to the overhead water storage tank would require engaging outside expertise and labor.
The TNP projected that the undertaking—requiring replacing plumbing throughout the nunnery with quality PVC piping, paying for external labor, the excavation and the repair of paved areas, and repairing plumbing in the teachers’ section and guesthouse—would cost about US$12,000, appealing for donations. More details can be found here.
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.
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Tibetan Nuns Project
Shugsep (Tibetan Nuns Project)
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