The Gephel Shadrubling Nunnery is a very important community for Ladakhi nuns.
 There are very few nunneries with the formal religious education for ordained women and there is hardly any financial support from villagers. This is a serious obstacle towards the practice of Dharma for nuns. Especially for nuns from poor families: up until recently they have had to live in their parents home, and work as a servant. Unless nunneries are built and education is offered many women will not be able to remain as nuns. If nuns want to have a higher education, like one to become a Geshe-Ma, [equivalent to Phd in Buddhist Philosophy] they have to go abroad. Unless we start an institute for higher education in Ladakh, many nuns will stay on a low level of the Dharma. We are a group of nuns who are building a nunnery in Ladakh which will provide a higher education and benefit for future nuns and women in Ladakh with the topics of Buddhist studies and modern education.
Here you can see some nuns being taught Dharma by Geshe La [Qualified male teacher].
Activities to accomplish our Vision
- In order to accomplish our Vision, we plan to establish a 10 years schooling program for nuns in the Institute of the Gephel Shadrubling Nunnery Gompa.
- To organize debate classes for a 21 years period to train nuns spiritually and philosophically.
- To initiate Gephel Shadrubling Nunnery Tantric puja's for a period of 3 years.
- To arrange Dharma teachings by nuns in various regions and villages in Ladakh.
- To organize training for trainers to carry out Dharma teaching.
- To develop possibilties for all nuns in Ladakh to achieve a Geshe-ma degree, become a teacher, healthcare worker or other beneficial activities for the local society.
- To organize basic meditation, herbal health camps, meditations centres for visitors and practitioners.
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About the Gephel Nuns of Ladakh |
The Gephel Nuns of Ladakh's Vision
- To propagate the sublime teachings of Lord Buddha in order to promote the ideals of peace, sisterhood and tolerance for the benefit of all living beings.
- To undertake above mentioned activities in social areas, educational policies and protector of cultural heritage of Ladakh
- To undertake humanitarian activities in accordance with the Buddha Dharma within the society
- To publish and record books, scripts, video, audio tapes for educating massages about Buddhism
- Since now all nuns have to leave Ladakh for higher education, we want to establish a school where they can study in their own region, to learn the same subjects as monks and nuns in other places, like Dharamsala, Nepal and South India. When there are more places where this education is offered in Ladakh, we can organize debating competitions, refer to each other for students with different subjects, and work closely together for a better education and emancipation for all Ladakhi nuns.
About the Gephel Nuns of Ladakh
We are a group of twenty five nuns living in Gephel Shadupling Nunnery at Sabu village. Some of us had the privilege to study in South India, Dharamsala, Burma and Nepal. We were lucky to get full ordination as Bhikkhunis, which is a land mark in the history of women engagement in Buddhism in modern Ladakh. In the year 2005, five of us had the great opportunity to get full ordination as Bhikkhunis at the foot of the sacred Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya.
A new beginning
Out of sincere love, compassion and concern, Father John Hunt and a group of students from United Kingdom constructed a beautiful home for us in Sabu. The land was donated to the nunnery by our late teacher, Geshe Chhewang's family members. The nunnery was completed in the year 2008. Eight of us studying at Central Institute of Buddhist Studies in Choglamsar live at the nunnery, undergoing training in Tibetan Vajarayana Buddhism.
New proposed Campus:
We were very lucky to have a huge campus of 300 and odd acres land. The land was donated by the Phey village community. The proposed campus is an ideal place for spiritual development. Surrounded by the mystic mountains, silent valleys by the Indus River it is located on the famous Markha Valley trek route. Our proposed project is to create a learning centre for Tibetan Buddhism, meditation, and spiritual healing.
In future our campus would be a spiritual sanctuary for travelers to rest, refresh and get energized while enjoying a cup of Tibetan butter tea or some fruit juice. |
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Message from Thubten Deachen our head nun |
This nunnery is based in the Himalaya Ladakh in the northerly part of India. It is soon going to be one of the important community centres for the nuns of Ladakh. We, a group of nuns decided to initiate this project to provide higher Buddhist education to the ladies and nuns of Ladakh. We are about 25 nuns in this new nunnery and currently we are all doing well. We all spread over different parts of India and Nepal pursuing our studies and training to become future teachers for the wellbeing and happiness of all sentient beings.
 We all have joined together and determined to achieve our goal in building up this nunnery. This nunnery will be a great resource for improving the education systems and also the living standard of our nuns in Ladakh.
I feel very fortunate and blessed to be able to work to create this new project which will eventually be a sanctuary for many new young nuns to realise their spiritual dreams.
We alone can't do much without the kind help and continued support of our dhamma sisters and brothers around the world. We therefore appeal to all those peace loving people to come forward and join us in our endeavour.
We are completely depended on donations both in kind and cash. All your contribution will go for building up the infrastructure for about 50 nuns.
May the Buddha be at our head,
May the Dharma be in our heart,
May the Sangha at our side to protect and guide us always.
May all enjoy real peace, real happiness and real harmony. |
We Need Your Support
For carrying out our dhamma practice and also our building and education projects we do need your support.
Our nunnery is a long term-project, so if you feel you would like to support us for a few years with a yearly donation, we would be very grateful to you.
We need most things, from a water pump and building materials to teaching materials, computers and furniture for the building.
If you would like to support us by making a donation please contact us at this address:-
Email
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or
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Moble no :-[+91] 94690 49580 or [+91] 94692 00677
If you wish you can deposit money into our bank account:
Name:-Yangchan Dolma
Account no:-30199782407
State Bank of India Leh Ladakh Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Leh:-(1365) Leh:-(252052)
If you are in a country other than India, please give these extra numbers to your bank branch:
SWIFT Code: SBININBB280
IFS Code: SBIN0001365 |
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