Samtenling Nunnery - Education

At present the Nunnery is divided into Retreat, College and Monastery. Some of the older nuns as well as some of the new ones who find it difficult to study along the college curriculum get the chance to receive appropriate education in the monastery section.

The nuns in the Monastery attend the same Dharma classes as the nuns of the college, but they have separate classes for Tibetan, English, Mathematics and General Knowledge.

The college nuns study at Samtenling, but they have the same subjects as the monks at Kagyu College. This year we have two nuns in class seven and one is also taking the revision classes. The monks and nuns meet once a month at the College to debate on Buddhist philosophy.

They attend to special prayers on request from the outside community for their loved ones and friends, and later in the afternoon they join the other nuns as a group for the daily prayers.

Each Sunday after the Dharma classes, the nuns attend our so-called Sunday Club, where they have one and half-hour classes of their choice. At present the Sunday Club offers classes for Computer, Hindi, Art, and Rituals. Late afternoon is spent cleaning around the Nunnery and Monday is a holiday.

Six graduate monks from the Kagyu College are teaching the nuns Buddha Dharma, Dialectics and Tibetan language. Khenpo Tsultrim Namdhak is headmaster for a period of two years. We have two Tibetan lady voluntary teachers Ms. N. Shakabpa and Ms. T.Y. Tsarong, both graduates from USA teaching English and General Knowledge.

We have thirteen nuns in the three years, three months and three days retreat led by Drupon Sonam Kunga.