About Us

The Tibetan Nuns Project was established under the auspices of the Tibetan Women's Association and the Department of Religion and Culture of H. H. the Dalai Lama and is dedicated to educating and supporting nuns in India from all Tibetan Buddhist lineages.

The Beginning

In the mid 1980s, with the strong encouragement of H.H. the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Women's Association began to work on behalf of nuns of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Initial efforts focused on small projects within the two existing nunneries in the Dharamsala area, and the women also worked to start a new nunnery in South India.

In early 1991, a group of 66 refugee nuns appeared overnight on the streets of Dharamsala, India. They had been on a two-year pilgrimage from eastern Tibet that had ended in a journey over the Himalayas. Ill and exhausted, they had nowhere to go. The Tibetan Women's Association organized emergency assistance to meet their basic needs, and the Tibetan Nuns Project became active in finding a long-term solution to the problems of securing housing, medical care and most importantly, education for refugee nuns. The Project created a sponsorship program, reaching out to individuals around the world.

Funding

The Project is primarily funded by generous donations from individuals and organizations. Institutional funding has come from the Heinrich Boell Foundation of Germany; the Norwegian Tibet Committee Women's Group and the Norwegian organizations Fokus and Norad; the Swedish foundation Soir-IM; the American Himalayan Foundation; Rigpa Foundation of London; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Hershey Family Foundation, and the Betsy Gordon Foundation. Money also derives from the nuns' income-generating projects.

Our Leadership

Director Rinchen Khando Choegyal, is a former Minister of Education in the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, founding President of the Women's Tibetan Association, and sister-in-law of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She resides in Dharamsala.

Co-Director Elizabeth Napper, PhD., a scholar of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, is author of Dependent-Arising and Emptiness, translator and editor of Mind in Tibetan Buddhism, and co-editor of Kindness, Clarity and Insight, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She divides her time between Dharamsala and the U.S.

Co-Director Venerable Lobsang Dechen, received her B.A. from St. Bedes in Shimla and her B. of Ed. from Punjab University in Chandigarh, and previously taught at the Tibetan Children's Village School in Lower Dharamsala. She resides in Dharamsala.

Board of Directors

The Tibetan Nuns Project is comprised of two sister organizations. All of our program work takes place in northern India, where our office is located within the Dolma Ling complex. Our program work is governed by our Board of Directors in India. In the U.S., the Tibetan Nuns Project is a registered non-profit with 501(c) tax status that conducts fundraising and outreach work in North America and operates under the governance of its own Board of Directors.

India

• Rinchen Khando Choegyal, President
• Ven. Lobsang Dechen, Secretary
• Tenzin Choegyal, Member
• Ven. Tashi Namygyal, Member
• Dolkar Lhamo, Treasurer (current President of the Tibetan Women's Association)
• Gonpa Phuntsog, Member (current Secretary of the Department of Religion and Culture of the Central Tibetan Administration)
• Tenzin Gyeche, Member
• Chhime R. Chhoekyapa, Member (current Secretary of the Private Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama)

U.S.

• Elizabeth Napper, President
• Tseten Phanucharas, Secretary
• Elizabeth Goldblatt, Treasurer
• Ven. Lobsang Dechen, Member
• Judyth Weaver, Member
• Debra Goldman, Member
• Steve Wilhelm, Member

Our Staff

Our India office is staffed largely by lay Tibetans who are increasingly assisted by the nuns. It is our vision that, after completion of the educational programs currently underway, all of the administration of the Tibetan Nuns Project will one day be carried out by the nuns. In the U.S. we have a small administrative and fundraising office in Seattle, Washington which is staffed by two employees assisted by a number of committed volunteers.

Web site credits

Photography Credits

Tibetan nuns and staff & teachers at Dolma Ling Nunnery, Dharamsala, India