FULL ORDINATION OF NUNS IN BHUTAN 2025 (Part IV): Report on full ordination of nuns in Bhutan by 70th Je Khenpo, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa’s previous initiatives, meeting Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo in Bhutan, and why it is so important for the “health” and future of the Buddhist community

“The inclusion of nuns’ ordination in the Global Peace Prayer events is especially significant because I believe women inherently bring peace. They have never been the creators of war throughout history.” –Dr. Zangmo, Bhutan Nuns Foundation, 2025.

“We would like to start the process of reviving the bhikshuni ordination next year—first within the Kagyu lineage. We had hoped to begin this year but it didn’t work out, so we will try to begin next year.”-17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (2016)

“We need to recognize that the most important qualities of today are those that most societies consider as being ‘feminine:’ communication, listening to the needs of others. The coming era will be more ‘feminine’ and women will make a greater contribution.” The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out, 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (2016)

Introduction

HH 70th Je Khenpo with the Bhutanese royal family on the first day of the full ordination of nuns, 15 November 2025.

I was recently in Bhutan for the Kālacakra empowerment and was able to see the Buddha’s relics as well as research the current situation regarding eating and killing animals there. Despite the notable lack of female guests on the main stages of the Global Peace Prayer event, this was balanced by one of the other main events in Bhutan: the full ordination of 265 Tibetan, Bhutanese and Himalayan nuns there by Je Khenpo ( 15–19 November). It was reported that 137 of the newly ordained bhikshunis are Bhutanese, with 128 female monastics from 13 countries—Australia, India, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Nepal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, the United States, and Vietnam. The ceremony was organized by the Bhutan Nuns Foundation in partnership with Bhutan’s Central Monastic Body, the Zhung Dratshang. Special guest of honour was Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (see below).

It was the second time that full bhikshuni ordination has been conducted in Bhutan, after the first ordination ceremony was held in Paro in 2022. HH Je Khenpo conferred the ordination at the Training and Resource Centre of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation (BNF) in Tshalumaphey on the outskirts of Thimphu. Three nuns were ordained together at a time, with about 60 monastics receiving ordination on each day of the five-day ceremony. Although the ordination was privately performed by Je Khenpo, members of the public were able to offer donations or volunteer their time.

Fully ordained nuns going on a symbolic alms walk in Thimphu, Bhutan. 20th November 2025.

The event culminated in the newly ordained nuns going on an alms-gathering walk to the centre of Thimphu, Bhutan with masses of the public handing out offering to the nuns, as was the tradition in the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, when monastics were totally without any possessions or money, and were completely reliant on “begging for alms” daily for food, clothing, shelter and so on.

These days, monastics eat out in expensive cafes, restaurants, with iphones and tablets, that some laypeople would love to afford (ha ha), however, the alms offering event symbolises the fact that monastics are still reliant on laypeople for their sustenance, even though it is unlikely that the Buddha intended monastics to have such worldly lifestyles and material possessions when joining the monastic sangha. The Vinaya rules were intended to reduce worldly desires and lifestyles of monastics, not increase them. More on that in another article perhaps!

Here is a short video that the Bhutanese media outlet, Kuensel made of the alms walk.

Full ordination of nuns: the debate and issues, 17th Karmapa’s announcement to restore full ordination for nuns, 2015 and pioneering teachings and initiatives about the ordination of nuns in Karma Kagyu and in India

The Bhutan Nuns Foundation, is a non-profit organization, established in 2009 and administered by Buddhist activist and executive director Dr. Tashi Zangmo, has been crucial in its support of the empowerment of women and the movement for female ordination and improving the daily lives of Buddhist nuns in Bhutan and their access to basic and higher education. Here is a short video of Tashi Zangmo speaking about the nuns ordination in Bhutan 2025.

However, the debate about making sure that nuns in these traditions have full ordination has been ongoing for many years now and is something HH 17^th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje has also been particularly active and vocal about the unequal status of nuns from 2014 onwards, in words and actions (see here for my (2020) summary of his activities in that respect) . Up until that time, the 14th Dalai Lama and no other lineage head or master had called for the full ordination of nuns, or to improve their status. For example, in 2014, the 17th Karmapa gave this speech on the nuns and why he was starting the Arya Kshema annual winter gathering for debate and teachings for nuns in the Karma Kagyu tradition.

The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje in 2017 with nuns from one of the oldest Karma Kagyu nunneries established in India, by the 16th Karmapa’s student and translator, Freda Bedi (Ani Palmo). For my research article about this nunnery and the Gelongmas there, see here.

17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (2014) giving a speech about the founding of the Arya Kshema event for nuns in Bodh Gaya, and the history and status of nuns in Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, see here.

In 2015, the 17th Karmapa “made the historical announcement that, beginning in 2016 [His Holiness] would take concrete steps towards restoring nuns’ vows in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.” The Karmapa said:

“When the Buddha gave women the opportunity to ordain, he gave them everything they needed in order to practice all the paths and levels in their entirety. There are many people these days who are afraid that it would harm the teachings if women were ordained and in particular if they are given the bhikshuni ordination. But I think there is absolutely no need to have such suspicions, because the Buddha has already allowed it.”

A report about this announcement with his full comments can be read here.

In 2016, the 17th Karmapa gave an interview where he discussed how they would start giving full ordination of the nuns, with Tibetan fully ordained monks and Chinese fully ordained nuns giving the ordination. Sadly, due to various unknown reasons this initiative was unable to ever really get going, for reasons perhaps know only to the 17th Karmapa himself.

For example, see the 17th Karmapa’s ground-breaking speech about the historical status of nuns in the original Buddhist sangha, but then how in Tibet (although there were a few examples) the full ordination was “lost” for them at some point in history, particularly during Gelugpa rule (it seems). In 2015, the 17th Karmapa also discussed the status of women and nuns at Harvard University, USA with esteemed scholars, such as Prof. Janet Gyatso (see video here).

Also, the 17th Karmapa’s impressive original research teachings (2022) on fully ordained nuns in Tibet, and what the different Vinaya traditions say about who can give nuns full ordination (monks and nuns).

In fact, in 2023, I did my own research on the few existing Gelongmas in India at Tibetan nunneries, at the nunnery of Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and at the nearby Tilogpa Nunnery in Where are the Gelongmas?, named after the famous Indian Mahasiddha, Tilopa with his meditation cave nearby (founded by the 16^th Karmapa’s translator, Freda Bedi), it was clear that the few Gelongmas there were had been kind of lost and were not getting much support to keep and maintain their vows. In fact, worse than that, they were not be treated with the full accord and respect of fully ordained monks. The academic research on this (as I cited in my article) also clearly shows that the main resistance to nuns getting full ordination in Tibetan Buddhist exile was from the Gelugpa lineage. However, as Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo pointed out to me when I asked her why only a fully ordained monk is able to give the full ordinations to nuns, and not a nun or both a nun and monk, she explained (as the 17th Karmapa had taught in 2022) that in that particular Vinaya tradition, only nuns who had been fully ordained for at least twelve years could give full ordinations to other nuns, so until that time it had to be fully ordained monks.

However, the 17th Karmapa also explained (in 2019) that he wanted to take both the novice and full ordination again with a Karma Kagyu teacher and in suitable circumstances and what it means to actually receive monastic vows. See video I made of this speech with English subtitles here. So, the 17th Karmapa would not have been able to give nuns full ordination because of his not being fully ordained himself.

Why is full ordination for nuns important for the Buddhist community?

The reason full ordination is essential to re-establish for the nuns, is because until and unless there are as many (if not more) fully ordained nuns in the monastic community, there will never be a parity of status between the nuns and monks.

Thus, the actions by Je Khenpo, although seemingly still men giving women what they should always have had in the first place might seem like more patriarchy served up as female empowerment, the reasons are complex. Nonetheless, due to the delaying and inaction of the Tibetan Buddhist lineages in exile India on this issue, with some nuns being even discouraged by monks in their communities to take such vows, Je Khenpo’s ordination of nuns, which also happened last year in Bhutan, is an excellent and admirable move in the right direction.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and the nuns ordination in Bhutan 2022 and 2025

Meeting Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo during a break in the full ordination of the nuns, Thimphu, Bhutan (18th November 2025).

Meeting Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo during a break in the nuns’ full ordination ceremonies, Thimphu, Bhutan. While the nuns had gone to Paro Tagtsang, Jetsunma gave me a generous and interesting two hour private audience (18th November 2025).

Before the ordination ceremony took place, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who has been key in promoting the status of nuns in the tradition (including founding one of the best nunneries in Himachal Pradesh, with the most spectacular display of artworks of female deities, practitioners and students of masters, like Milarepa, I have ever seen) posted a video of her speaking about the forthcoming ceremony and her concern that after the Global Peace Prayer, then the Kālacakra empowerment, the 70 year old Je Khenpo may be exhausted for the nuns ordination.

However, as I wrote before about the Kalacakra empowerment (Day One) teaching, Je Khenpo’s stamina, energy, clarity and so on was amazing, and he continued on to do the nuns’ ordination every day for hundreds of nuns.

The Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) also conducted this interview with Jetsunma, see whole video (25 mins) here.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo giving a short interview to the Bhutanese Broadcasting Service, in Bhutan (November 2025), see here.

The 82 year old Jetsunma also kindly arranged a private audience in her busy schedule (when I requested an audience) and we had a lively and interesting discussion alone for almost two hours! How fortunate. Here are a couple of photos I took of our meeting.

Jetsunma herself took the full ordination in Hong Kong in 1973, after taking the novice nun vows with the 16th Karmapa. In a FB post on 10th November, she recounts:

“I received my novice (or getsul) ordination from HH 16th Gyalwang Karmapa. At that time, the thought in my mind was, what a pity that that’s as far as we could go. That there was no opportunity to go further, that as a woman one was stuck at the level of being just a novice.

Then some years later, I heard from Freda Bedi that she had just then gone to Hong Kong to receive the full ordination, the Bhikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage, which is a completely perfect, pure lineage, but nonetheless a slightly different lineage to the Tibetans’.

So then I decided to do that too, because it was obvious that the Tibetans were never gonna get themselves together. And so I went to Hong Kong. Of course, everything was in Chinese, and I wore their traditional black robes and so on. But the ordaining master was a very lovely monk, older monk. You could see he was someone with very great inner qualities. And so I was quite happy to take ordination from him.

And of course, when I came back, I mean, nobody could care less. Khamtrul Rinpoche had supported my choice, saying it would be a good thing to do, but he wasn’t there. And other people sort of said, “We heard you went and took Bhikshuni or something, right?” Looking very… sort of, “What did you do that for?” They weren’t opposed, but they were basically a bit puzzled. It was a time when there were very few nuns in India and they didn’t really have a role to play in the way that they do now. So it was kind of indifferent times for nuns. Most nuns didn’t even wear robes, they wore maroon chubas, and were living in very, very difficult circumstances and also did not get any education.

I was living most of the time in Lahaul at that time, so it didn’t really matter. I mean, you’re living there all by yourself, so it’s not that anything outwardly changed. But inwardly, it was a great sense of completion. It was just a good feeling that now one was truly a daughter of the Buddha, and that satisfaction to be genuinely part of the Sangha.”

Conclusion: Bhutan leading the way on nuns in the Tibetan and Himalayan traditions

HM 5th Drug Gyalpo King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, giving alms to the fully ordained nuns on their symbolic alms begging round of Thimphu, Bhutan. 20th November 2025.

In that respect, the Kālacakra empowerment and the nuns’ ordination were a symbolic way of allowing nuns that “great sense of completion and belonging” to the monastic community. In addition, despite public statements that the 14th Dalai Lama wanted to further the status of nuns and women in the tradition, other than the Geshema qualifications, there has been no change in Tibetan Buddhist exile on the ordination of nuns.

In fact, as Nicola Schneider wrote in her academic research on the initiatives to try and get ordination for nuns in India by the 17th Karmapa, it was the Gelugpas who stalled and blocked it for various reasons. Preferring instead for nuns to become Geshemas. However, this does not deal with the fundamental status of nuns in the Buddhist community. In terms of Vinaya, the seniority of monks and nuns is decided not by age but by the level of vows and how long one has held those vows intact.

Thus, this long overdue initiative by Je Khenpo and the Bhutanese Royal Family and government, demonstrates that Gelugpa domination of Tibetan Buddhist matters on nuns is also coming to an end. As despite Gelugpa Geshe attempts to stall and block the full ordination of nuns, even though the 17^th Karmapa tried to push it through in Bodh Gaya, fortunately their “endless debates” on the matter could not reach the sacred Buddhist land of Bhutan. A country that, after all, was founded on the roots of Gelugpa-Mongolian violence, invasion and persecution of Drugpa Kagyu, Nyingma and Kagyu in particular. Hence why Bhutanese people informed me that there is no Gelugpa monastery in Bhutan, and that they are forbidden from “setting up shop” there, so to speak.