Give a warm welcome to our new teacher, Geshe Tenzin Lhadron!

Geshe Tenzin Lhadron of Jamyang Choling Nunnery (Dharamsala, India) has agreed to come join us at the Forest of Wisdom to be our first ever Resident Teacher! She was in the first group of nuns to ever complete the intensive (roughly) twenty-year course of study of Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and logic, receiving the degree of Geshe in 2016.

We are working hard to get Geshe la here as quickly as possible, but the visa process will take some time. We expect her to arrive this summer, and are extremely excited and delighted that she has accepted our invitation to join the Forest of Wisdom!

Geshema Lhadron’s Full Biography:

Geshe Lhadron (Chopa Tenzin Lhadron) is from Zanskar Valley in the Union Territory of Ladakh, India. At the age of 13 she received teachings and Kalachakara Initiation from His Holiness the Great XIV Dalai Lama at Duzin Podang Pipiting in Zanskar. His Holiness’s teachings and advice inspired her to make her journey to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh to pursue the study of the essence of the Buddha’s teachings on Wisdom and Compassion, based in reason and logic. 

She was fortunate to have the precious opportunity to join in the first group of nuns at Jamyang Choling Institute, an educational institute for Himalayan Buddhist Women in Dharamsala, India founded by Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo, an American nun. Starting from 1989, for about 23 years she received comprehensive education in the five major Buddhist philosophical texts of the ancient Indian Nalanda Buddhist Tradition from many great practitioners and learned teachers of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (IBD) and Namgyal Monastery in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala. She enrolled in the first group of nuns who set in the historic Board of Geshema Degree examinations in 2013 and successfully completed them in 2016 and received the prestigious Geshe degree from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2016.

In addition, she was very fortunate to received many precious teachings, Empowerment and Initiations of Buddhist Tantric teachings from His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama at the main Temple in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala as well as in other Buddhist sacred places such as Bodh Gaya in Bihar, Varanasi in UP, Amravati in Andhra Pradesh. She also attended most of the teachings, Empowerment and Initiations when His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave at Monastics Universities of Tibetan Buddhism in such as Sera, Drepung, Gaden, Tashi Lhunpo, Gyuto and Gyumed Tantric Colleges and different Tibetan Settlement in South India and Leh Ladakh. She has also participated National and International Conferences, seminars, Tibetan Religious Conferences, workshops and presented papers both in the West and in Asia.

Currently, she is serving as an Indian National Sangha Council member of the Indian Himalayan Council of Nalanda Buddhist Tradition and is involved with the work of the Himalayan Buddhist Culture Association, whose work is preserving and promoting the ancient Nalanda and Tibetan Buddhist Tradition in communities in the Indian Himalaya regions and elsewhere.

Geshe Lhadron believes that the Ancient Nalanda Buddhist Tradition is as vast as infinite space and as deep as the limitless ocean. Therefore, she is continuously studying with peerless teachers including His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Geshe Dorji Damdul-la, as well as teaching others in the different Nunneries and individual students.