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Tibetan Nuns Project
I visited India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following — which I wrote in a travel journal in Dharamshala, India, at the Dolma Ling Nunnery — is from my 2008 trip.
We took several taxi cabs to the Dolma Ling Nunnery, a large grouping of two- to three-story white and red buildings that look new. The architecture was simple and streamlined but impressive. We met up in front of the main building, and a couple of young women in chupas led us in. We walked across an attractive paved courtyard with steps and bushy plants. Surrounding the courtyard were white columns forming a sort of cloister. We climbed the steps into one of the buildings and entered the main hall of the Dolma Ling Nunnery.
The main hall is set up like a traditional Tibetan prayer hall, with long red cushioned benches facing each other and running parallel to the length of the room, and with a dais at the far end of the room, facing the doors. In the center of the dais was a brocade-draped throne displaying a large, framed photo of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Behind the throne was a huge, colorful appliquéd tapestry, and to either side of it were glass cabinets holding traditional manuscripts and…