- Tathālokā Bhikkhunī
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 5 hours ago
Tathālokā Therī
February 5, 2026
"'Complete – Grateful – Responsible:' Mahāprajāpatī, and the new Geshemas & Gelongmas"
. . . special dedicated post no. 3 of 7*. . . offered in honor of the final 7 days teaching of Mahā Gotamī leading up to her Parinibbāna 🌗✨ Feb 8th-9th
. . .
Even as we were entering the final month countdown of preparations for our Footsteps of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī: Honoring Women in Dhamma Pilgrimage, great events were also unfolding higher in the Himalayas in Bhutan.
"From 14–20 November 2025, around 270 nuns received Gelongma [Bhiksuni, Bhikkhuni] Ordination in the Mulasarvastivada* tradition in Bhutan. This was the second year that His Holiness the Je Khenpo, the main spiritual authority in Bhutan and renown Vinaya expert, has granted ordination."
[*The Mulasarvastida Vinaya is one of 3 ancient Sravaka (Pali: Savaka) 'Early Buddhist' Vinaya traditions which has maintained an unbroken ordination lineage up into this present era. The other two are the Mahaviharavasin - the Pali-text Theravada Vinaya lineages preserved and passed down in South & Southeast Asia, and the Dharmagupataka Vinaya lineages preserved and passed down in East Asia. The Mulasarvastivada Vinaya lineages were once widespread in India as well as in Southeast Asia, and have been preserved in the Himalayan traditions.]
It has been a 'watershed' year, with the highest number of Himalayan traditions Buddhist nuns receiving 'Geshema' degrees as well, the equivalent in Tibetan Buddhism to a doctor of philosophy.
A stunning statue* of Mahāprajāpatī Gotamī was prepared and offered at the site of the November 2025 historic ordinations in Bhutan, supported by both the Queen Mother and The Bhutan Nuns Foundation together with the most venerable Royal Preceptor and leader of the གཞུང་གྲྭ་ཚང་། The Central Monastic Body of Bhutan, the Je Khenpo.
This holy site has been revered from long ago in connection with the legendary bhikkhuni Gelongma Palmo, who came from mainland India to the Himalayas, and is acclaimed as the founder of the still widely-followed 'Nyungne' practice tradition -
"Her names are given variously as Lakṣmī or Pelmo (dpal mo), meaning "Glorious One," or "Good Fortune"; Śrīlakṣmi or Pelden Pelmo (dpal ldan dpal mo), meaning "Illustrious Glorious One"; Lakṣmīṃkarā, or Pelden Dzema (dpal mdzad ma), meaning "She who Makes Good Fortune"; Pelden Lhamo (dpal ldan lha mo) meaning "Glorious Goddess," and others."
Many of the nearly 300 newly-ordained bhiksunis (Tibetan, gelongma), from Bhutan, Tibet, elsewhere in the Himalayas and around the world, expressed feeling a profound shift with their higher ordination. After the first bhiksuni higher ordination in Bhutan in June of 2022 on National Nuns Day and the Queen's Birthday, one new gelongma expressed:
"I never thought this would be possible in this lifetime. I prayed only to be reborn as a man so that I could receive Bhikkhu ordination. I am deeply grateful that this became possible in this very life."
In the Buddhistdoor Global - BDG "Reflections" article linked to here, I learned:
"From the outset, Her Majesty the Queen Mother envisioned a global Training and Research Centre where Buddhist nuns from around the world could come together to learn and grow in solidarity. Although still under development, the center was able to host the second bhikshuni ordination in November 2025—an important milestone and a profound fulfillment of this long-held vision."
It is acknowledged:
"Sustaining the lineage is now of paramount importance....Continuous Vinaya education, regular rains retreats, mentorship, and strong institutional support are essential to preserving the integrity and sanctity of the bhikshuni ordination. We therefore humbly appeal to established Bhikkhunī Saṅghas around the world to guide, mentor, and walk alongside these newly ordained sisters."
New Bhutanese bhiksuni Gelongma Chojay Wangmo reflects:
"I never imagined that I would one day become part of the true Sangha community.
"I was deeply inspired by the unwavering support of Her Majesty the Queen Mother for women, and by Dr. Tashi Zangmo’s constant emphasis on the importance of bhikshuni ordination for women within the Sangha.
"I came to understand that fully ordained bhikshunis can bring about profound and positive change within society.
"This vision has been a great source of motivation for me.
"I am truly blessed to be part of the authentic sangha of the Buddhist community."
From Europe, new bhiksuni Gelongma Ngawang Dolma recollects:
"The second most emotional day, after the ordination itself, was the day of the alms round that began at the home of the King and led through Thimphu. I had expected a few people along the way—perhaps offering an apple or an egg, but I could not have imagined what truly happened. First, we received a generous offering and warm personal congratulations from the Fifth King and the Gyaltsuen, which was so kind and touching. Then we continued into Thimphu, and to my astonishment the streets were filled with hundreds, even thousands of people who were overjoyed to see us and who offered alms with such devotion. It was beyond anything I had imagined—deeply moving and indescribably beautiful."
"Now, I feel a deep responsibility to be an inspiration for future nuns. As new gelongmas, it is our responsibility to uphold the vows with integrity and understanding, and to be examples for the younger [bhiksunis] who will follow."
This "Reflections" article contains so many gems of inspiration and compassionate understanding, in the authentic voices of those who were intimately involved - i encourage those with interest to read it as a first-hand source of understanding.
. . .
Last, beyond what you can see in the preview window, i have included the cover of a book, "The Dakinis' Treasury of Wisdom." We have learned so much about the ancient bhikkhuni disciples of the Buddha from the Pāli-text traditions and those preserved in Chinese. We have barely scratched the surface of those preserved in the Tibetan / Himalaya canons. What little we have seen yields up fresh new insights, touching on long unaddressed questions in useful ways that bring important shifts. I look forward with interest to the translation of this rumored to be '1000 page' volume, which begins with ancients, and covers outstanding women Buddhist masters of the of the past two and half plus millennia. The work of the team of nuns and monks who made the effort to research and compile the material is enormous and outstanding - the effort to translated into English would be small - but no less worthy. As with sharing the Blessed One, the Buddha's own '8400' teachings.
Mangalaṁ Jayantu!
Wishing myself and all victory blessings in the 'true blessings of the Sangha' - and that which is most noble and worthy in this precious human life,
✍️ Tathālokā Therī at Dhammadharini
*offering the third of seven offerings in commemoration of the final seven days of teaching of our most venerable founding mother, first fully awakened bhikkhuni - bhiksuni - gelongma, leading to ultimate nirvana, nibbāna.
Namo Ratanatrayaya!
This is Volume 1 of "A Compilation of the Life Stories of Great Female Masters" (མཁའ་འགྲོའི་ཆོས་མཛོད་ཆེན་མོ།), a 53-volume collection of writings by and about pre-eminent female Buddhist masters - 💫🌹 beginning with Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī 🌹💫
Title: Skyes Chen Ma Dag Gi Rnam Thar Phyogs Bsgrigs Padma Dkar Po'i Phreng Ba (A Garland of White Lotuses: A Compilation of the Life Stories of Great Female Masters).
Publisher: Larung Arya Tare Publishing House and Tibet People's Publishing House.
Total Volumes: The complete collection comprises 53 volumes.
Year of Publication: The entire collection was published around 2017.
མ་ཧ་པ་ཤ་པ་ཏི། skye dgu’i bdag mo chen mo
སྐྱེ་དགུའི་བདག་མོ་ཆེ། ma ha pa sha pa ti
སྐྱེ་དགུའི་བདག་མོ་ཆེན་མོ་གཽ་ཏ་མཱི། skye dgu’i bdag mo chen mo gau ta mI
སྐྱེ་དགུའི་བདག་མོ་ཆེན་མོ། skye dgu’i bdag mo che
mahāprajāpatī gautamī | mahāpajāpatī gotamī
