These nuns arrived destitute, mostly illiterate, traumatized, and in ill health. They arrived to a refugee community in Dharamsala with little or no resources to receive them.
The Tibetan Women’s Association and the Tibetan Nuns Project sprang into action to help them. Today some of these women are teachers, leaders, and Geshemas, holding the highest academic degree in their tradition.
Their story reflects the power of your support.
These nuns, and hundreds like them, escaped on foot over the Himalayas in search of a safe place to practice their religion.
However, the escape of this group was just part of their epic journey together.
In 1989, they were part of a large group of pilgrims from Lithang whose aim was to visit the sacred sites in Lhasa, a distance of 1,200 miles. For centuries, such rigorous pilgrimages have been practiced in Tibet as a way to transform one’s consciousness and to gain merit.
Walking from Lithang to Lhasa would be an extraordinary feat by itself. However, the pilgrims had decided to travel the entire distance by doing prostrations—stretching out full length on their fronts and then getting up and stepping to where their hands had been and then repeating that hundreds of thousands of times.
The nuns in the top photo did hundreds of thousands of prostrations on their epic journey, covering a distance of 1,200 miles. This photo, courtesy of Olivier Adam, shows a Tibetan nun and lay people doing prostrations in front of a holy site.
“The pilgrimage to Lhasa took two years to complete because we did prostrations all along the way,” says Delek Palmo, who earned her Geshema degree in 2016.
“We would do prostrations in the rain and our clothes got wet and dirty and we could not wash them out every day.”
Tragically, the lack of religious freedom and basic human rights in Tibet meant that the pilgrims could not reach their goal.
When the 170 pilgrims reached the outskirts of the sacred city of Lhasa, Chinese Security Forces refused to let them enter the city. Instead, the police loaded them into trucks and interrogated them for hours at a police holding center.
After changing course to Mount Kailash, most of the pilgrims decided to escape to freedom in India.
Winter had begun and the group was ill equipped. They did not have winter clothing, proper shoes, or even enough food to eat for such an expedition. The journey took 27 days.
Forty-two nuns arrived in Dharamsala seeking sanctuary and a nunnery in which to study and practice.
This archival photo shows Delek Palmo, one of the nuns who escaped from Tibet, sitting on a donated bed frame. Over 700 Tibetan nuns in India continue to need your support for such basic necessities as food, shelter, and education. Photo courtesy of Susan Lirakis.
Yes, I would like to help a nun.
Tibetan nuns continue to need help with the necessities of life. Their needs are very simple—basic food, a roof over their heads, a bed to sleep in, nuns’ robes, education, and a safe place to practice their religion.
Will you consider sponsoring a nun today? The cost is just under $1 a day and will provide a nun with the support she needs to reach her potential.
The nunneries in India have gone through annual enrollment and we need many more sponsors.
If you are unable to commit to a full sponsorship, please consider becoming a monthly donor at any amount or making a single gift to our area of greatest need.
Sadly, we are not able to change the situation inside Tibet, but you can help save the Tibetan religion and culture by supporting the Tibetan Nuns Project.
As one nun said, “Inside Tibet you can wear red, but you can’t fully practice.” To study Tibetan Buddhism, you need freedom—safe and free access to study and to receive the teachings.
Thank you for helping these dedicated, brave, and compassionate women!
Our first 35 new sponsors will receive a lovely thangka print!
This photo shows the impact of sponsorship gifts. Taken earlier this year, these are some of nuns from Lithang whose escape is described above. They were some of the first nuns in our sponsorship program. Three of them are now Geshemas, including Delek Palmo (back far right and in the B&W photo above).
Please consider becoming a sponsor or monthly donor today. THANK YOU!
DONATE on their site at https://tnp.org/
Top photo courtesy of Olivier Adam.
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Our mailing address is:
Tibetan Nuns Project
815 Seattle Boulevard South #216
Seattle, WA 98134
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