Summer vacation was over and the nuns returned to Samtenling Nunnery with renewed spirits. There were words of greetings, a lot of smiles and joy and laughter. On 30^th July 2009 all the nuns were back except for one nun from Darjeeling who was unable to travel due to a strike in that region. Palmo is now with us.

On August 5, Khenpo Thupten from Kagyu College came to the Nunnery to take the Soljong-Confession and lead the procession around the nunnery in meditation to begin the Yar Tsam, the Summer Retreat.

The nuns get up at 5 AM and start their morning prayers. They have lunch together in the Prayer Hall and they cannot engage in outdoor work to prevent killing the numerous insects during this season. They are also not permitted to leave the Nunnery. They fast in the evenings and cannot take any solid food after the noon meal. The nuns who are sick are permitted to take food in the evenings.

Classes started from August 11. We have added an extra class in the junior section and the three nuns in class 3 of Kagyu College have now been promoted to class 4. We now have 8 different classes plus the monastery class. Four monk teachers have joined us from Kagyu College, another Drikung monk, a graduate of Dzongsar College is with us as the fifth teacher and Geshe Ngawang Norbu from Sera Monastery is still with us as the Dialectic teacher. Ms. Shakabpa and two nuns who have attended Indian schools in Kinnaur and Ladakh are teaching English and Ms. Tsering Youdon continues to be the Math teacher. She is also taking classes in social studies.

Samtenling Nunnery now has 87 nuns from different states in the Himalayan regions of India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. We have decided not to take any extra nuns for the time being as the economic recession has also hit us.

On August 13, the former Administrative Board Members of Samtenling Nunnery and the former Directors of the Nunnery met to elect new Board Members. The Advisor of the Nunnery, Ms. Namgyal Taklha chaired the meeting and she was assisted by the Secretary, Ms. Namgyal Yudon. The latter two did not vote. Following are the members of the Board for the year 2009 to 2010:

Director                                   Yeshi Dolma

Disciplinarian                           Jangchub Dolma

Senior Umdze (dbu mdzad)      Rinchen Tsomo (Chant Master)

Junior Umdze Master               Konchok Dolkar

Nyerpa (gmyer pa)                   Konchok Dolkar (Steward)

Repre. of Monastery                Sonam Wangmo

With on-going workshops, talks to build confidence, self esteem and public speaking events, it is wonderful to see our nuns opening up and making decisions as well as take role in managing their own Nunnery.


Ms. Namgyal Taklha