Buddhist educational opportunities for nuns have lagged far behind their male counterparts for centuries. Nagi Gompa nunnery is dedicated to giving nuns educational and practice opportunities equal to those of the male monastic community.
At Nagi Gompa, all of the young nuns enter into a comprehensive monastic educational program that spans eight years. In 2016, the nine-year university program available to the Ka-Nying monks was also instituted at Nagi Gompa, giving our nuns the opportunity to become top-tier scholar-practitioners.
The nuns begin with a fundamental education in which they intensively study elementary Dharma texts and take courses on reading and writing the Tibetan, Nepali and English languages. In middle school, they continue to develop their compositional abilities while simultaneously studying important Buddhist classics, such as The Way of the Bodhisattva and The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. They also learn traditional complex ritual arts. The nuns of Nagi Gompa are particularly famous for chod, a form of musical meditation, which they have performed around the world.
After this mandatory primary and secondary education, some of the nuns will go on to complete the nine-year university program. Highly learned Khenpos from Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling rotate teaching positions at Nagi Gompa. The program is demanding; the Nagi Gompa nuns study nine months each year, five-and-a-half days each week, and undergo rigorous examinations. They study, debate, and contemplate the teachings of the Buddha, thereby adding a thorough scholastic and scriptural dimension to the disciplined practice environment of the hermitage.
Our goal is to support these educational initiatives by constructing new, high-quality classrooms. These classrooms will provide dedicated spaces for the nuns to become knowledgeable protectors of the words and teachings of the Buddha. As more nuns develop into learned scholar-practitioners, the impact on the Buddhist world will be dramatic.
Please support the Nagi Gompa nuns by helping us provide further opportunities for them to study at a level traditionally reserved for monks.