The Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery was founded in 1979 by the renowned Buddhist teacher, Lama Yeshe, a teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist lineage of Gelugpas, the lineage of HH the Dalai Lama. The nunnery was established in Katmandu, Nepal by Tibetans who fled Tibet to practice their religion, which is outlawed by the Communist Chinese. Spiritual practitioners are imprisoned, tortured, and killed for practicing their faith.
The nunnery has now grown to over 200 women, housing female monastics from ages 13 to 40. To continue their monastic community, the nuns must find a way to support their growing ranks with food, medicine and shelter. The Women's Spiritual Liberation Tour is a an effort to preserve and share their spiritual culture, bless the environments in which they travel, inspire a spiritual path, create interfaith connections and raise funds for medical care, food, and shelter for Tibetan women-in-exile who seek a monastic spiritual path.
The Khachoe Ghakyil nuns are ground breakers in many ways, combining the devotion of traditional Tibet with the academic study now afforded to Tibetan women-in-exile, a luxury not given to many in the past. Tibetan nuns have access to learned monk/scholars with whom they study and learn traditional Buddhist logic, debate, and sacred arts. Nuns will have the opportunity to earn the highly regarded Geshe degree, the Tibetan Buddhist equivalent of a Doctor of Divinity, which takes approximately 25 years to complete
Ten nuns from the nunnery, specially chosen for their talents in the ritual arts, (none of whom speak English or have traveled away from the Himalayan mountains) will tour the United States with the Director of the tour and the first Khachoe Ghakyil nun, Thubten Dekyong, a Tibetan Buddhist nun who has translated internationally for many great Tibetan Buddhist teachers, and is highly regarded as a teacher in her own right.