The Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP), a US-registered charity based in Seattle and in the Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh, India, has announced the examination results for the record 144 Buddhist nuns who underwent various levels of the geshema examination process in August. The results include 13 new geshemas who will graduate this year
“The 2024 Geshema exam results are in!” The TNP said in an announcement shared with BDG. “During the summer a record number of Tibetan Buddhist nuns took various levels of the four-year exams for the geshema degree. Of the 144 nuns, 123 passed, which is an 85 per cent pass rate. All 13 nuns who took their fourth and final year of exams passed.”
This year’s exams were held at Jangchub Choeling Nunnery in Mundgod, southern India, from 21 July–15 August. As in previous years, the candidates gathered in advance for a one-month study period before the roughly two weeks of written exams and oral debates begin.* Last year saw 132 nuns take part.
“The geshemas are paving the way for other nuns to follow in their footsteps and the momentum is building,” the TNP emphasized. “Not long ago, this increased status of nuns was almost unimaginable and we are so grateful for your support to educate and empower these dedicated women!”
An earlier announcement from the TNP stated that 147 nuns were taking part in this year’s exams, but three were unable to take part, so the final number was 144—still a new record.*
“Educating women is powerful,” said the TNP’s founding director and special advisor, Rinchen Khando Choegyal. “It’s about enabling the nuns to be teachers in their own right and to take on leadership roles at a critical time in our nation’s history.”
The geshema degree is the highest academic degree in Gelugpa tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism and was only recently made available to Buddhist nuns.** 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. To date, 54 Buddhist nuns have earned this degree. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, geshema examinations were cancelled in 2020 and 2021, and resumed in 2022.***
“The geshema degree enables Tibetan Buddhist nuns to become teachers, leaders, and role models,” the TNP noted. “It makes these dedicated women eligible to assume various leadership roles in their monastic and lay communities reserved for degree holders and previously not open to women.”
A formal graduation ceremony for the 13 new geshemas will be held in November, after the annual inter-nunnery debate in Bodh Gaya. This will bring the total number of geshemas to 73 since 2012:
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 to graduate in November.
“We are grateful to the 159 donors to the Geshema Endowment, which funds the annual exams, including the Pema Chodron Foundation, the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Frederick Family Foundation, and the Donaldson Charitable Trust,” The TNP concluded. “Thank you also to everyone who sponsors a nun and helps them on their path.”
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.
* Tibetan Nuns Project Announces New Record for Buddhist Nuns Taking Geshema Examinations this Year (BDG)
** 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.
*** Tibetan Nuns Project Announces 10 New Geshema Graduates at Ceremony in Bodh Gaya (BDG)
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