From Ordination to Education: Reconfiguring Female Religious Authority among Tibetan Nuns in Exile.

Abstract

The educational and institutional transformation of Tibetan Buddhist nuns in exile has significantly reshaped contemporary Tibetan Buddhism. The establishment of the Tibetan Nuns Project in 1987, the growth of institutions such as Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute, and the introduction of the 
Geshema degree have expanded opportunities for women’s religious education and leadership. Yet, full bhikshuni ordination remains unresolved within the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya tradition despite sustained deliberations and the encouragement of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. While scholarship often examines educational reform and the ordination debate separately, this paper asks: How is female religious authority being articulated and legitimised among Tibetan nuns in exile in the absence of full bhikshuni ordination?

Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork in Dharamshala, including interviews with Geshema Delek Wangmo, Geshema Tenzin Kunsel, and Youdon Aukatsang, observations at Dolma Ling Nunnery, and engagement with the Tibetan Nuns Project, this study examines women’s religious advance
ment alongside institutional publications, Vinaya literature, and scholarship by Karma Lekshe Tsomo, Ann Heirman, Judy Tobler, Rita Gross, and Anne Klein. It argues that the unresolved status of bhikshuni ordination has not prevented new forms of female religious authority. Tibetan nuns 
increasingly articulate religious advancement through education, scholastic attainment, institutional participation, and the language of the Vinaya, demonstrating how educational reforms and monastic institutions have reconfigured female religious authority within the normative framework of 
Tibetan Buddhist tradition