You wait all year for a nunnery, then three come along together

Pilgrimage to India 2

2018-10-19 - 2018-10-20
Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery
One of the substantial sub-themes of this pilgrimage was women and the Dharma. This involved us going to three different nunneries, all very different, all the same. Our first destination, after disembarking from the train into the fleet of taxis awaiting us, was the Taragarh Palace. We were in this very grand, tea station type hotel for one night, and as a base tor visiting the first of the three nunneries.

Dongyu Gatsal Ling temple

This first nunnery was Dongyu Gatsal Ling. This is the nunnery founded by Jetsunma Tensin Palmo. A most remarkable woman - described by one of my friends as "Jetsunma Palmo is THE example for all of us female practitioners who believe in making a contribution to the living dharma." She spent 12 years living in a cave, some of the time in strict retreat. Then asked to found a nunnery, which she did. The nunnery is now complete, the last addition, a cafe, was opened just before we arrived. The nunnery is intended for women of the Himalayan region, who have had no opportunity to encounter the Dharma before.

We visited Dongyu Gatsul Ling on two successive days. The first day was a visit to see the nunnery; attend the Guru Rinpoche puja (a very long one - four to five hours, that none of us attended fully); had lunch in the cafe, met up with the administrator and learnt a little about the place. The site is in Himachal Pradesh, in the hills at an elevation of  about 1750m. All the buildings are new, and fresh. They are in one of the simpler styles of Tibetan/Indian architecture. The style tits the location very well. The whole site is beautiful, with masses of plants, a backdrop of hills, a cleanliness that owed much to the lack of air pollution at the location (a substantial difference from Delhi). The atmosphere is one of intent, joyous busyness - all the nuns we encountered working hard, but evidently thriving on their life in the nunnery. A very friendly and welcoming place. There were one or two other visitors there, but only for very short periods, outside of the puja.

The second visit was to meet Jetsunma Palmo. She conducted the audience as a question and answer session. She was born in England, which made her English much more familiar to me (I was after all traveling with a group mainly of South Africans, with an admixture of Scots, an American, and a sole other English person). In all that she said, she was clear, definite, and displaying that most uncommon characteristic, common sense. I also took from her a sense of deep joy in the Dharma, and in her actions. A long, fascinating, and deeply touching session. A very great privilege to have encountered her and some of the results of her actions.

2018-10-31
Thosamiling Nunnery, Institute, and Retreat Centre

Another activity in the gardens

We visited this nunnery for part of the day. This one was built for international women following Tibetan Buddhism  living in India. It was founded by Venrable Tenzin Sangmo, a dutch nun. Located in a rural setting with a backdrop of hills, one of the most notable features is the very extensive gardens, including flowers, fruit, and vegetables.   
 
We were shown around the gardens by Tensin Sangmo. Being home to a wide range of nationalities, and having the gardens available, has led to a certain amount of competition between the cooks. The result of this is a vegetarian cook book with recipes from all over the world. I think everybody took the opportunity of buying one. Mine has yet to be put to use. The nuns provided us with tea and cakes. Again they were friendly, and thriving. They were also harmonious, as evidenced by the recording of their chanted prayers that they gave us. Massed chanting by women is a very different experience to that by men.

We also looked at the temple. The outside of this has paintings of female protectors. I gathered that this may be the only place where there are these representations. They all ride different, mostly mythical beasts. These are a different set from those provided to the male protectors.

biscuit scoffers

018-11-01
Karma Drubgyu Thargay Ling Nunnery

This last nunnery, also founded by an English nun, Freda Bedi (later Gelongma Karma Khechog Palmo) was rather older than the others. It is working at capacity, and needs renovation, and extension. Another community of dedicated, happy, welcoming women. This visit was more ad-hoc than the others. In addition, due to language difficulties, and communication problems, the nuns were a little unsure of who we were.

They did provide tea and biscuits. I felt guilty about us scoffing the biscuits, as it was likely that these were treats for the nuns.









There are photos of all three nunneries available at::https://chriswalton.smugmug.com/Travel/India/Three-nunneries/