Gebchak Gonpa at 14,000 ft.

“My prayer is to preserve and protect this female lineage of Gebchak Gonpa. My request to people throughout the world is to pray for the Gebchak lineage to be entirely preserved in the future.”
- Wangdrak Rinpoche.

In the remote mountain highlands of Nangchen (ནང་ཆེན།) in Eastern Tibet, there exists an extraordinary lineage of female spiritual practitioners at Gebchak Gonpa – the largest nunnery in Tibet and heart of a renowned meditation tradition unique to women.

The Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (yellow) lies within Qinghai province, China. Nangchen county (pink) is in the south.

Gebchak Gonpa is the mother nunnery of dozens of branch nunneries scattered throughout the region. It stands strong as a model community of more than 350 yogini-nuns exemplifying kindness, peace and joyful adherence to spiritual practice for the benefit of the entire world.

Many great Buddhist masters praise Gebchak Gonpa as being unrivaled in its spiritual training. Its nuns are famed for their accomplishments in profound yogas and meditation, while their compassion and dedication to the Dharma is remarkable.

One great master, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, praised the accomplishments of the Gebchak yogini-nuns. His memoirs, Blazing Splendor, has a chapter dedicated to them. Read excerpts.

Founding

Tsogyal and Tsoknyi Rinpoches, Pema Drimey & Wangdrak Rinpoche with Gebchak retreatants.

Men and women have an equal right to enlightenment, but for women that right often went unrecognized. The first Tsoknyi Rinpoche instructed his heart disciple, Tsang-Yang Gyamtso, to build nunneries so that women would have the opportunity to devote their entire lives to spiritual practice.

Tsang-Yang Gyamtso was a vanguard in Tibetan culture for taking the radical step to establish a community for women where they could gain full confidence in attaining enlightenment. He founded Gebchak Gonpa in 1892, adapting practices in the Ratna Lingpa tradition to specifically suit the female body.

At that time Gebchak Gonpa was the only nunnery of its kind. Women from every school of Tibetan Buddhism traveled from all over Tibet to be admitted. The nunnery grew to over 800 nuns. To this day Gebchak Gonpa retains its true non-sectarian character, where the nuns pray with devotion to masters of all lineages.

Read more about the Gebchak feminine tradition.

Support

Gebchak Gonpa has partnered with Dongyu Gatsal Ling Initiatives (DGLI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving conditions for Tibetan Buddhist female monastic communities. DGLI is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation and is the only organization processing donations specifically for Gebchak Gonpa in Tibet. DGLI is inspired by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo who was one of the first western women to be ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She is highly respected as one of the most accomplished western buddhist practitioners. Throughout the world she is considered a leading spokesperson on improving the status of monastic women, working tirelessly to this end.

The teaching and humanitarian activities of Tsoknyi Rinpoche III are spearheaded by the excellent work of the Pundarika Foundation. This foundation is vital in providing material support to the many branch nunneries of Gebchak Gonpa in Nangchen following the same tradition as the Gebchak nuns. A powerful documentary, Blessings, was produced showing many of these nunneries. Gebchak Gonpa, the mother nunnery, is included in the film as well as in Journey to Nangchen.

Gebchak projects

There are many ways to help the special projects of Gebchak Gonpa.
Traditional support is dwindling as nomad communities disperse and now the global community can contribute!

• Food & health care fund: Insufficient nutrition and health care has left the nuns vulnerable. Your contributions will ensure the nuns have their basic needs met.
• Sponsor prayers: In your name, nuns will dedicate their prayers for a year!
• Temple fund: Donations of any amount are welcome to help build a much-needed temple for the nuns.
• Yushu earthquake orphans fund: Help Wangdrak Rinpoche, a Gebchak lama, take care of 35 children who survived the massive earthquake that devastated the region in April 2010.