Since the tenth century, Buddhism has flourished in Ladakh — a vast and beautiful desert high in the northwestern Indian Himalayas. The purity of Buddha’s teachings has been well preserved by the Ladakhi people, who have been relatively isolated from the outside world until recently.

Ever since Buddhism has been practised in Ladakh, Ladakhi women have studied and practised the Buddha Dharma. Many renounced their families and material possessions to become Tibetan Buddhist nuns. Unfortunately, over time, this pious tradition was not adequately supported, and the number of nuns dwindled to near extinction. Due to the lack of nunneries  in which they could live and study, nuns continued to live with their families and were often exploited as domestic helpers and field labourers.

It became a custom for the families to have a daughter who shaved her head, lived a celibate life, and worked to serve the family — parents, siblings and eventually nieces and nephews. While these girls and women longed for a spiritual life, ironically, they were denied the precepts and the religious practices that support the life of a nun. Consequently, they were reduced to mere unmarried servant daughters, for whom the ordained life was but a dream.

Historically, nuns had a presence in Ladakh dating back to over 500 years and based their practice in a temple. However, the nuns had no designated accommodation facilities and lived with their families or in solitude from the community and worked as labourers for sustenance. These conditions remained almost unchanged until the 1990s.

By 1994, the traditions of Buddhist nuns and nunneries had seriously declined; moral and financial support  from villagers had ceased, they were given no respect or status by the community or even by the monastic institutions. As a result, the number of ordained women declined almost to extinction; there were barely 300 nuns in Ladakh by 1994. Having served their families for their whole lives, the overwhelming majority of these nuns were elderly and illiterate.

To sum up, Ladakh was at the brink of losing an integral part of its culture: The Nuns’ Sangha.

“I have spent my precious life serving; first my grandparents, then my parents, and finally my nephew and nieces. I am praying everyday that the younger nuns receive in the future the religious instruction and education that I never had the opportunity to receive. I am praying for their success.”                                          A nun who attended the 3rd Vinaya seminar, 1998