Anyone who has seen Chenrezig Institute will agree that its peace and beauty provide an ideal environment for the pursuit of meditation and intensive Dharma practice. The idea of a separate nuns’ community at Chenrezig Institute has been “in the air” for some time and now such a community is really taking shape with some concrete developments.

The three nuns who have been living for some time at C.I.  – Yeshe Khadro, Margaret and Thubten Lhundrup (Hilary) – were absent for some months earlier this year to attend the Dharma Celebration in India. During this time we met with IMI (International Mahayana Institute) nuns from many countries to discuss the development of nuns’ communities in Europe and Australia. Lama Zopa Rinpoche appointed Marga­ret as director for the Australian project.

Now we are all back “home” and our numbers are augmented by two newly-ordained nuns: Jampa Khadro, formerly Angela Vecchi, a long-time resident of C.I., and Tenzin Wangmo, formerly Carolyn Murdoch, from Sydney. Ailsa Cameron is expected to arrive any day now to make a sixth. Most impor­tant, with the arrival of Geshe Tashi Tsering from Sera Monas­tery in India, we have a kindly and highly-qualified abbot and spiritual teacher.

Existing Assets

We also have land – a piece of Chenrezig Institute which was selected by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and blessed for a nunnery site during his visit in 1987, and we have a supportive lay commu­nity in the institute. The nuns are able to use the large gompa adjacent to our piece of land. The physical situation is idyllic – a landscaped sub-tropical garden with views of forested hills and distant sea. Nevertheless, even with all these advantages, there is still much to be done for the project to be actualized.

A communal life has already been organized with regular attendance at pujas, our own communal dining/living room and planting of a hedge to ensure privacy. We are presently being housed in very small huts belonging to the institute. Now with a nuclear community already in place, it has become a high priority to develop separate housing for the nuns.

Building Plans

Prior to the Enlightened Experience Celebration a small start had been made in fundraising and looking at building plans. Plans for the first houses are already nearing completion, with the help of professional women Annette Catchpole and Sally Dudgeon, so that we will be able to start building as soon as the funds are available.

The steep site seems best suited to a scattering of small buildings, single and possibly some duplex cabins. This will provide a suitable environment for the Kadampa hermitage-style practice with emphasis on meditation, envisioned by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for this monastery. Those interested in knowing more about the guidelines for such a monastery can read the text by Pabongka Rinpoche at the back of the FPMT Handbook.