Female practitioners and nuns have always played an important role in Tibet, and there have been many enlightened female teachers. Since the Tibetan diaspora, very few nunneries have been built outside of Tibet.
Nestled in the rugged hills south of Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, in a secluded area known as Sissinang, Shechen Orgyen 
Chodzong Nunnery is one of the few facilities in Bhutan where women can study and practice. It was the first monastic center founded by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche after he left Tibet. He gave numerous important teachings there and its beautiful temple frescoes are painted according to his instructions.
In 1998, Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche and Khandro Lhamo, (1913-2003) the wife of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, expanded the nunnery’s facilities to include a modern kitchen and dining room, a library, additional living quarters for the nuns and resident teachers, a wing for elderly nuns, a stupa. A larger temple is currently under construction.
Over one hundred nuns, mainly Bhutanese live, meditate, and study at the nunnery under the guidance of Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche and Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche. The nuns conduct all the ceremonies and perform sacred music and dance in the Shechen tradition. There are numerous drupchens (nine-day ceremonies) performed throughout the year, as well as nyungnes, and an annual summer retreat.
Graduates from Shechen Philosophical College teach extensive courses of meditation and study, including and a nine-year shedra (college) course at the nuns’ college also located on the grounds. This training equips the nuns to eventually return to their communities to teach and to also teach at the nunnery.
Nuns can also do three-year retreat at the nunnery’s retreat center. Their meditation practice is the termas (rediscovered teachings) of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Four nuns have learned solar engineering in the Barefoot College in India and have installed solar electric systems in Shechen’s Nepal retreat center and in surrounding villages.
The flourishing of Shechen Orgyen Chodzong as a place for education for women is a revolutionary step in the establishment of equality for women practitioners in the East.
Shechen Ngenlung Drechaling
In 2004, a smaller branch-nunnery, Shechen Ngenlung Drechaling, was founded in the remote area of Phobjikha (Valley of the Cranes). It provides an education for the young girls and women who are just entering monastic life. The girls are taught by elder nuns from Shechen and educated in both monastic and secular subjects. There is a beautiful small temple on the site which is a sacred place visited by many great masters of the path including Guru Rinpoche.
Both nunneries provide the nuns’ complete education in addition to covering all expenses for their food, medical care, shelter, and clothing.
Our sponsorship program directly supports the nuns in their education and practice.
Your help is needed to give women of all ages an opportunity to study and teach and keep alive the wisdom tradition of Tibet for the next generations.
