Projects: Tibetans

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Kunsang Choling Nunnery

A devotion to give back

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Lama Gondup spent 18 years meditating in a cave, extraordinary even for a devout Buddhist monk. When he emerged, he sought the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who told him it was time for him to go into the world and do something useful. He returned to his native Nepal and, moved by the suffering of the poor, ethnically Tibetan Nepalese girls from the far west who were abandoned and starving, opened a nunnery in 1999 to shelter them and teach them dharma.

He has been the abbot and spiritual leader of Kunsang Choling nunnery for these girls ever since, and in the process has given them a whole new life.  More girls have come, drawn by the chance for an education and to study Buddhist teachings.  Now some 50 young nuns can recite long Tibetan Buddhist texts by heart, many excel at the sacred art of mandala painting, and Lama Gondup recently added a “Khenmo” program (equivalent to a PhD) for nuns ready to study at that level.  Amidst the laughter and smiles and sounds of prayer, Kunsang Choling is more than a school; it is a home, a family, a sisterhood, and a new beginning for these young women.

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