Tibetan Buddhist nuns take exams for the Geshema Degree, July 2023

Tibetan Buddhist nuns from 7 nunneries in India and Nepal taking their 2023 Geshema exams. The 2023 Geshema examinations began in Dharamsala, India on July 21st with 132 Tibetan Buddhist nuns taking part. This is a record number of nuns striving to obtain their Geshema degree. In 2022, there were 94 nuns taking various levels of the four-year exams.
The Geshema degree is the highest level of training in the Gelugpa tradition and is equivalent to a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism. It is the same as the Geshe degree for monks but the ending “ma” marks it as referring to a woman.
The exams take four years to complete, with one set held each year over two weeks. Nuns must take both written and oral (debate) exams and this video shows the nuns debating in front of their examiners. Four senior Geshe Lharampa from the great Tibetan Buddhist learning centers in South India are the examiners for the nuns’ oral debate examinations.
Candidates are examined on the entirety of their 17-year course of study of the Five Great Canonical Texts. They must achieve a score of at least 75 per cent during their studies to be eligible to sit the exams.
Until recently, this degree was only open to men; it was only formally opened to women in 2012. The first Geshema exams were held in 2013 and the first graduation ceremony was in 2016. As of the start of 2023, 53 nuns in the world hold this degree.
The Geshema degree enables Tibetan Buddhist nuns to become teachers, leaders, and role models. It makes these dedicated women eligible to assume various leadership roles in their monastic and lay communities reserved for degree holders and hence previously not open to women.
Video by the Dolma Ling Media Nuns.

[@pinkmonkeybird2644]

I wish I were this disciplined, but I’m not. I have so much respect for them and wish them well.

[@SkyeRangerNick]

Thank you for having a record of this and sharing it with us. The culmination of the hard work of so many. A mighty stream.

[@TibetanNunsProject]

Glad you enjoyed it. The Dolma Ling Media Nuns do a terrific job capturing these important events.

[@SkyeRangerNick]

I only just now read the text that goes with this video. When I started watching the video 2 days ago, I was just completely on the edge of my seat. I did not even read the title carefully and thought only one nun was taking the exam; the oral exam. I have known the backstory and I have peeked in on the progress from time to time. Then I saw all the desks and with nuns taking their written exams. I exclaimed out loud something like "holy moly" when I realized how big this moment is, what this video is showing us samples of. The study takes time and the need for women degree holders is great. I am so grateful that this is blossoming.

[@domadolpo3222]

I am pleased to watch this episode...

[@LoanNguyen-jm7xl]

💕💕💕🙏🙏🙏

[@jamparinchen8136]

All the best ❤🎉❤

[@taidelek9994]

Impressive 👍

[@susunahoho5758]

❤❤❤

[@sangyalsangyal4559]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤ཛ❤

[@Khagun_Kalki]

Now monks and nuns have to learn Chinese in Tibet, pls don’t look at it in a bad light but as an opportunity to spread the dharma to main land Chinese in the Chinese language❤❤❤

[@Tibet-kt7hx]

བརྩོད་པ་སྟོང་པ་མི་ཚེ་སྟོང་པ་ཡིན་པ་ཆིར།

[@user-pb7uw5fg1f]

ཚང་མ་ལ་བཀྲ་ིས་བདེ་ལེགས

[@user-qf8ru5om7r]

ཆོས་གྲོགས་ཚོར་བྱ་བ་ལམ་འགྲོ་ཡོང་བ་སྨོན།

[@jigmatchostar4842]

ཧཧཧཧ