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First Nun in History of TB Given Geshe Degree

DakiniDakini Veteran
edited July 2011 in Buddhism Today
Recently Venerable Kelsang Wangmo, a German nun, earned the prestigious Geshe degree from the Institute for Buddhist Dialectical Studies in Dharamsala, the first nun ever to do so. The Dalai Lama said that although the Buddha taught equality for women, subsequent generations have failed to follow the Buddha's example. His Holiness said that he has worked to provide more education opportunities and ordination for nuns, but that he's not able to effect change unilaterally; the agreement and cooperation of elders throughout the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy are required.

Tenzin Palmo, a British nun who founded a nunnery in India, said there are many obstacles and challenges to nuns wishing to attain higher education, respect, and higher positions of responsibility in a male-dominated tradition. She details her own experiences in her book, "Cave in the Snow".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michaela-haas/buddhism-women_b_862798.html

Comments

  • TalismanTalisman Veteran
    Good for her! Lets see what she does with it.
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    edited July 2011
    Let's hope it doesn't take another 2500 years for the next one, haha!
    (ok, maybe not so funny....)
  • KarmaDondrupTashiKarmaDondrupTashi
    Recently Venerable Kelsang Wangmo, a German nun, earned the prestigious Geshe degree from the Institute for Buddhist Dialectical Studies in Dharamsala, the first nun ever to do so. The Dalai Lama said that although the Buddha taught equality for women, subsequent generations have failed to follow the Buddha's example. His Holiness said that he has worked to provide more education opportunities and ordination for nuns, but that he's not able to effect change unilaterally; the agreement and cooperation of elders throughout the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy are required.

    Tenzin Palmo, a British nun who founded a nunnery in India, said there are many obstacles and challenges to nuns wishing to attain higher education, respect, and higher positions of responsibility in a male-dominated tradition. She details her own experiences in her book, "Cave in the Snow".

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michaela-haas/buddhism-women_b_862798.html
    About time. This is a huge issue.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    and utterly laughable and ridiculous that it is....
  • TalismanTalisman Veteran
    I agree @federica
    What kind of modern world do we live in that groundbreaking news consists of "A woman got educated!" /shame
  • YishaiYishai Veteran
    @Talisman

    I agree with you.

    SMH
  • zenffzenff Veteran
    Yes, me too.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Well, and the sort of sad thing about it is that it was a German nun, not a Tibetan. How much longer will it take for Tibetan nuns to overcome cultural conditioning and inferior status, to achieve the same as this nun? A friend of mine who spent a lot of time in Tibetan communities in India knew a woman studying in the same institute, and she said the atmosphere was REALLY hostile, the student (nun?) was made to feel unwelcome every day. One would have to develop a really thick skin to be able to put up with that for years. Either that, or figure out how to win people over, eventually.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited July 2011
    I see that point, Fed, but I think its a good news story for women to see what is occuring and men. Because apparently there is something in the climate making it difficulty or less culture to attain such education. If people see someone else do it they say, "hey I can do that too". For men it acclimates them which might include some simple stuff like more watering of seeds in up and coming woman, realizing their potential. I hope that is not patronizing to suggest that the culture and collective energies of all can expedite education. Education is a good thing.
  • NOTaGangstaNOTaGangsta
    It seems that there's always more attachment to fighting sexism with hatred and annoyance rather than putting positive energy into supporting insitutions that supports and already widely practices sexual equality.

    Guess the mind always prefers to fight the negative by being negative than support the positive by being positive.

    As for this comment
    "and utterly laughable and ridiculous that it is...."
    How smug and grumpy? Something positive is negative?
  • zenffzenff Veteran


    Guess the mind always prefers to fight the negative by being negative than support the positive by being positive.

    As for this comment
    "and utterly laughable and ridiculous that it is...."
    How smug and grumpy? Something positive is negative?
    Negativity is useful.
    When people work together you need a number of qualities. You need things like leadership, creativity, practical mind and also negativity.
    Negativity can prevent a whole organization from making a big mistake. It has the power to open up our eyes.
    Lack of it can be deadly.


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