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Sponsorship for nuns is $25 a month or $300 a year per person for food, shelter, health care and education. One hundred percent of the funds you send to the Tibet Fund for sponsorship or general support goes directly to the earmarked Nunnery or to the Department of Religion and Culture. Please read the institutional profiles below and then click on the link to select the nun you wish to sponsor.
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DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION AND CULTURE
 SPONSOR A NUN FROM THE DEPT. OF RELIGION & CULTURE PROGRAM
The Department of Religion and Culture seeks to preserve and promote
Tibet
’s spiritual and cultural heritage, which is on the verge of extinction in its own homeland. Since 1959, the Tibetan community in exile has established more than 200 monasteries and nunneries with an enrollment of more than 20,000 monks and nuns. Over the past 20 years, due to restrictions imposed by the Chinese government in their homeland, nearly 10,000 monks and nuns have escaped from some of the most remote regions of
Tibet
to pursue a religious education in freedom and peace in exile. Most are between the ages of six and 25 years and they leave everything behind, including families. They travel on foot over the Himalayan passes for many days and nights with limited food and sleep. Since the religious communities are already experiencing financial strain, it is impossible for them to take on newcomers without additional help. The Department of Religion & Culture thus provides hundreds of monks and nuns with a modest stipend to help defray the impact of new arrivals on the monastic institutions. The Tibet Fund, on behalf of the Department of Religion & Culture, needs your help to provide financial assistance to these monks and nuns. Please consider becoming a sponsor.
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DOLMALING NUNNERY
SPONSOR A NUN FROM DOLMALING NUNNERY
Currently, 200 nuns live and study at Dolma Ling. There are many more who would like to be a part of the nunnery. Dolma Ling plans to eventually house and educate 275 nuns. Dolma Ling is unique in that it offers a 15-year curriculum of traditional Buddhist philosophy and debate along with modern courses in Tibetan language, English, mathematics, computer skills and basic medical training. The nuns also have access to sacred arts such as sand mandala and butter sculpture. Dolma Ling is open to those from all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and is the first of its kind to offer this sort of education to Tibetan women. Dolma Ling is also the site of several pilot self-sufficiency projects in tailoring, weaving, the braiding of freedom bracelets, and papermaking (by recycling waste paper for making cards and envelopes). Six two-story buildings linked by verandas and courtyards are now serving as housing and classrooms, in addition to an infirmary, kitchen, dining hall, library and temple. There is a complete water treatment and sewage system in place. For further information about Dolma Ling, please visit: http://www.tnp.org/nuns/dolmaling
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JAMYANG CHOLING INSTITUTE
SPONSOR A NUN FROM JAMYANG CHOLING INSTITUTE
Jamyang Choling Institute (JCI) is an innovative education project that nurtures the spiritual and intellectual potential of Buddhist women. Operating under the auspices of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Department of Religion & Cultural Affairs of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, JCI was founded in 1988 to educate Himalayan Buddhist nuns and laywomen who would otherwise have no opportunity to receive any formal secular or spiritual education. Currently there are 103 students and 7 teachers at JCI. The students range in age from 11 to 53 and come from various parts of the Himalayan region, including Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Ladakh, Zanskar, Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur, Garhwal, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. The Institute has a program that requires over 17 years of intense study to complete and is equivalent to the program of study required for a doctorate in Buddhist philosophy. The program not only covers Buddhist philosophy but also includes courses in meditation, Tibetan, English, Hindi, and computer and administration skills. Click here to read more about the Nunnery.
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LADAKH NUNS ASSOCIATION
SPONSOR A NUN FROM LADAKH NUNS ASSOCIATION
The Association’s vision is for the nuns of Ladakh to act as Dharma teachers, as active social workers and as Amchis (Tibetan Medicine practitioners) within their communities. Their objectives include: To provide training opportunities for nuns in both monastic and secular education, as well as to improve life skills; To develop skills in Tibetan medicine so that nuns can take more responsibility for their own health and that of others; To train nuns to be Dharma teachers; To provide opportunities for Ladakhi laypeople to receive Dharma teachings; To explore ways nunneries can be self-reliant; and To renovate existing nunneries and establish new ones. Visit their website to learn more.
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KEYDONG THUKCHE CHOELING NUNNERY, NEPAL
SPONSOR A NUN FROM KEYDONG THUKCHE CHOELING NUNNERY
The Keydong Thuk-Che-Cho-Ling Nunnery, originally founded in the southwest Keydong region of Tibet, today lives on in exile in Kathmandu, Nepal. Established formally in 1982, the Keydong Nunnery exists due to the perseverance, courage, and dedication of a core group of women monastic’s who having fled Tibet in 1959, made the arduous journey across Tibet to found a new home for their nunnery. They first settled in the remote village of Helambu, Nepal, near the Tibet border, but it was overcome by floods in a monsoon in 1980 and so again these women moved on, determined to again reestablish their home. With the assistance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the local Tibetan Welfare Office, friends and other lay people, the nuns settled in Kathmandu. They were able to purchase a small piece of land and an old house. This was the beginning of the impressive nunnery that exists today in the heart of the Swayambu district of Kathmandu. The Nunnery houses over 120 Tibetan nuns from Tibet, India, and Nepal.
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