2003 Fall Newsletter

Fundraising Tour Tibetan Nuns Project Rinchen Khando Choegyal and Dr. Elizabeth Napper with Dr. Steven Aung of the International Buddhist Friends Association in Edmonton, Alberta This year we undertook a strenuous tour We also received wonderful support from of North America to raise the funds need- the Tibetan communities in Minneapolis, ed to begin construction of the new Shug- Portland, the Bay Area and Calgary. sep Nunnery. Director, Rinchen Khando We are already thinking about the Choegyal and Co-director, Dr. Elizabeth second and third phases of Shugsep con- Napper, traveled to San Francisco in April struction and are planning future fund- to begin a trip in which they visited 14 raising tours. Rinchen Khando Choegyal cities in 6 weeks. They were joined by will visit Japan in October of 2003. In the Development Officer, Debi Goldman, fall of 2004, with the help of the Norwe- in giving talks and slide presentations gian Tibet Committee Women’s Group in San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, and the Heinrich Böll Foundation we are Portland, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, planning a trip to Norway, Germany and Carmel, Palo Alto, Vancouver, Victoria, Switzerland. We are also thinking of a visit Banff, Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary and to Australia in the spring of 2005. If you Seattle. With the help of a final donation have any ideas or suggestions, please con- after the tour ended, we reached our goal tact us in either India at [email protected] of $85,000–the remaining amount needed or the U.S. at [email protected]. for the first phase of construction. The tour was made possible by the hard work of many individuals and organizations in each city we visited, and every one of them deserves a big “thuk je che” (Ti- betan thanks). Some of the new supporters we met along the road include the University Ministry of the University of San Francisco, the College of St. Catherine’s in St. Paul, Thupten Dadak and Tibetan Education Action from Minne- apolis, the Dalai Lama Foundation in Palo Alto, the Banff Mountain Fall 2003 Culture Centre and the Interna- tional Buddhist Friends Assoc. in Greeting the president of the Minneapolis Tibetan Edmonton. Tibetan Nuns Project What the Nuns Project Does Established in 1987, the Tibetan Nuns Project provides education and support Since the Chinese occupation of Tibet, end, in 1993 we founded Dolma Ling Nun- to more than 500 nuns in northern India. thousands of Tibetan Buddhist nuns have nery and Institute of Higher Education to The Project is dedicated to: escaped to India in hope of freely practic- provide a non-sectarian, full-time course ing their religion. Leaving their families of study, including classes in philosophy, Improving standards of food, sanitation, behind and risking imprisonment and debate, Tibetan and English. Over the medical care, basic education and training in existing nunneries. years, we at the Nuns Project Working towards future self-sufficiency have witnessed through innovative educational opportunities. the nuns gain knowledge and Establishing further facilities for refugee confidence to Buddhist nuns. pursue self-reli- ant lives of re- Patron ligious practice His Holiness the Dalai Lama and community service. Director Rinchen Khando Choegyal Co-Directors Elizabeth Napper Ven. Lobsang Dechen Project Co-ordinator India Dolma Tsering torture, many of these women journey to Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama and Heartfelt Thanks Development Officer U.S. Debi Goldman an ever-growing Tibetan refugee community. We extend our deep appreciation to all of Sponsorship The Tibetan Nuns Project organizes our sponsors and donors for 2003. Now in Tashi Yangzom - India donations from around the world to their seventh year of support for the Nuns Aya Miyashita -USA provide basic support–food, clothing, Project, the Heinrich Boll Foundation of Germany is providing running costs for Many thanks to the following people housing and medical care–for Tibetan who contributed to the Buddhist nuns and nunneries of all tradi- Dolma Ling. Also in their seventh year of design, content, and editing of this newsletter: tions. Of the nunneries we work closely generous assistance, the Norwegian Tibet with, Dolma Ling is non-sectarian, Shug- Committee Women’s Group is sponsoring Diane Nelson teachers’ salaries and educational materi- Philippa Russell sep is Nyingma, Geden Choeling is Geluk, Alyson Prude Tilokpur is Kagyu; we also support nuns als for all four of the Dharamsala nunner- Debi Goldman at the Sakya nunnery in Dehra Dun. We ies with which we work. We have received Ven. Lobsang Dechen grants from the Lolwe Foundation of Jovielle Gers offer sponsorship to nuns living in retreat on the hill above Dharamsala and provide Denmark to help with special projects at a small monthly stipend to nuns recently Geden Choeling and Damo nunneries. Thanks to the Heinrich Böll Foundation for This year the Hershey Foundation and providing the computer and scanner that have arrived from Tibet until they can find a enabled the production of this newsletter. home in exile. We are now receiving in- Chindak of Germany, a charitable arm creasing numbers of nuns from the Hima- of the Rigpa Foundation, have given us WEBSITE: www.tnp.org layan border regions of Ladakh, Zanskar, substantial contributions towards the construction of the new Shugsep nun- India: c/o Dolma Ling Spiti, and Kinnaur. Nunneries there are few and poor, so many young women nery. Finally, we wish to recognize all of PO Sidhpur 176057 the individuals who continue to donate to Dist. Kangra, H.P. make the trek to the Dharamsala area Email: [email protected] seeking education. We currently support the Nuns Project year after year as well as Ph: (1892) 246419 over 100 nuns from these border areas. the new friends we made in 2003. It is you Nuns arriving from Tibet and the who support the nuns and make the suc- USA: 2288 Fulton St., #312 Indian border regions need more than cess of our projects possible. Thank you! Berkeley, CA 94704 food and shelter. Most arrive illiterate Email: [email protected] and lacking the skills they need to sustain Ph: (510) 647-3423 themselves and their religious practice in The Tibetan Nuns Project is a 501(c)3 organization. their new environment. A central aspect All donations are tax-deductible in the U.S. of the Nuns Project, therefore, is to assist them in their educational efforts. To this 2 Who Teaches the Nuns? education, there are very few nuns who are qualified to teach. One of our ongo- ing tasks, therefore, is the recruitment of qualified teachers for the various nunneries that we support. The teachers we employ are both mo- nastic and lay. Monks (often geshes and khenpos) from the large monasteries and training institutes of the various Buddhist traditions teach Buddhist philosopy and debate. The nuns also learn ritual arts such as butter sculpture and the creation of sand mandalas from monk instructors. English is taught in the nunneries by lay women and men educated in the In- dian university system. For Tibetan language, we employ mostly young men and women who have come from Tibet in the past ten years. Recent refugees often have Geden Choeling teachers stronger Tibetan-language skills than their The long-term goal of the Tibetan Nuns Indian-raised counterparts, and once they Project is to establish and support edu- have completed a teacher-training course The first nun teaching Tibetan at Tilokpur cational curricula and opportunities for at nearby Sarah Institute (a branch of the Tibetan Buddhist nuns. Because histori- Institute of Buddhist Dialectics), we and munity hire them to teach Tibetan lan- cally nuns have not had access to formal many other institutions in the exile com- guage, literature and grammar. Leadership in the Nunneries Tibetan Buddhist nunneries have their makes the daily water offerings, lights the own democratic system of organization butter lamps, escorts visitors, and keeps and authority. The internal affairs of the the temple clean. nunneries are handled by the nuns them- Nyerba–kitchen managers do the selves according to traditional positions of purchasing for the kitchen and are often authority which include: directly involved in cooking. Umdze–the chanting master leads the Who holds these posts is determined pujas. She must know all of the chants by by election, and different nunneries have heart as well as how to perform the vari- slightly different policies regarding the ous rituals. length of time nuns serve in these offices. Gegu or Chötrim–the disciplinarian The position of nyerba, for example, is keeps track of attendance at pujas and usually a full-time job that two nuns hold other ceremonies. She organizes work for one or two years. At Dolma Ling, parties and writes passes for nuns who however, it is a month-long rotation in need to leave the nunnery when the ab- which all nuns participate two by two, bot is away. She is responsible for keeping thus allowing them to keep up with their track of the nuns and handling infractions studies. of nunnery rules. In the Dharamsala nunneries there are Changdzö–the treasurers are respon- also practical posts such as secretary, of- sible for nunnery finances and property. fice helper, heath-care worker and water Their duties include receiving and distrib- filtration system manager. These duties uting offering money, running the nun- require additional training and are usually nery store and making purchases for the long-term appointments. All positions A puja at Geden Choeling nunnery. of authority come with additional obliga- Gönnyer–the keeper of the temple tions, yet the nuns accept them gracefully 3 Finishing Dolma Ling Nuns and lay students help with construction during regular work periods Completed classrooms of the Dolma Ling is almost complete! Over the We are also beginning the last of Dolma past two years the Norweigan Tibet Com- Ling’s structures, the office building, mittee Women’s Group provided funds for which will also provide a welcoming four new classrooms in the sixth and final entrance to the nunnery, a reception area wing.

Load more