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Our History

Preface

Karma Chokor Dechen (KCD) Nunnery is a Karma Kagyu institution founded by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, and Ani Karma Chotso in 1982. The nuns at KCD are direct disciples of His Holiness the Karmapa (head of the Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism). KCD is unique as the only nunnery of female practitioners directly serving His Holiness the Karmapa, distinguishing them from other Kagyu nunneries in India, Nepal, and Tibet.

 

In Tibet

The nuns of KCD nunnery were originally His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s nuns. Prior to leaving Tibet, they did not have a nunnery of their own - instead they lived and worked alongside Tsurphu Monastery, the seat of the Karmapas. Tsurphu Monastery was built in 1187 by the first Karmapa, His Holiness Dusum Khyenpa, and is located in the Tolung Valley, 70km from Lhasa, Tibet. Some of the nuns had served elsewhere before moving to Tsurphu to serve HH Karmapa, and some joined as young novices. Ani Minjur, the longest surviving nun from Tibet (who passed in 2017), recalled that her family moved to Tsurphu when she was a child, after being invited by HH 16th Karmapa to manage his farm and care for his yaks and sheep. She was already a novice nun and would care for the animals in summer and go into meditation training and retreat in winter.

During the 1940s and 50s, the nuns lived in a small retreat centre built into the caves above the main monastery . These caves had been favoured by previous Karmapas for meditation retreats. The nuns were responsible for caring for HH 15th Karmapa’s wife, Khandro-la Urgyen Tsomo, who had taken robes and moved into the retreat centre after the death of HH 15th Karmapa. Khandro Urgyen Tsomo was a great ‘female master’ (Khenpo) of Buddhism in her own right, and was believed to be the reincarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal, the wife of Padmasambhava (who brought Buddhism to Tibet in the 8th Century). She was known as “the Great Dakini of Tsurphu”. She had six attendant nuns in the late 1950s - Ani Karma Chotso, Ani Ozer, Ani Ngawang Tsomo, Ani Minjur and her two sisters Ani Tsultrim Wongmo and Ani Palmo. Khandro-la and her nuns studied and practiced meditation, following in the footsteps of previous Karmapas.

HH 16th Karmapa made a point of caring for the nuns just as he cared for his monks. In an unusual departure from traditional Tibetan hierarchies, HH 16th Karmapa did not consider nuns to be second class practitioners. In an interview with Gerd Bausch in 2013 (a few years before her passing), Ani Mingyur remembered:


"There was a small cave with about ten nuns in retreat, including the 15th Karmapa’s consort. Sometimes we invited Karmapa and he visited us. He explained the Ngöndro to us and always asked how we were doing and how our practice and our understanding were advancing. In Tsurphu he gave many teachings and initiations—such as Mahākāla, Padmasambhava, Chenrezig (Avalokiteśvara)—which we all got together with the monks. Even though it was unusual in Tibet at that time for nuns to receive many teachings, Karmapa clearly recognized that their spiritual progress required that they receive the same education as the monks."

Ani Karma Chotso, founding Abbess

Ani Karma Chotso, founding abbess

Ani Minjur and her sister Ani Palmo

Ani Minjur (L) and her sister, Ani Palmo (R)

Khandro Urgyen Tsomo

Khandro Urgyen Tsomo, "The Great Dakini of Tsurphu" 

Leaving Tibet

In 1959, it became clear that Tibet was no longer safe under Chinese occupation. On March 14th 1959, His Holiness the 16th Karmapa fled Tibet with around 160 others. The group included His Eminence Shamar Rinpoche, Lama Choying Rinpoche, several other incarnate lamas, HH 15th Karmapa’s wife Khandro Urgyen Tsomo and her six nuns, as well as many other monks, nuns and lay people. Carrying the most precious shrine objects, texts and relics from Tsurphu, they crossed the mountains on foot, walking all night and hiding during the day, and performing puja ceremonies at each stop. The group managed to stay just out of reach of Chinese soldiers, and the whole journey across the mountains took 21 days. One of the nuns (Ngawang Tsomo) was accidentally separated from the group during the journey and ended up in Nepal. It was too difficult to find and re-join the other nuns so she stayed in Nepal, and eventually married and had a family.

Recalling the exodus, Ani Minjur explained,


“When the Chinese war was coming, Karmapa knew it and he sent the Dalai Lama a letter saying that they had to leave. The invaders wanted to destroy a big bridge that was necessary for the Karmapa and the Dalai Lama’s flight from Tibet. The Khampa Army fought against the communist soldiers and protected the bridge. When we later fled ourselves, the Chinese followed us, so we were very afraid. We threw rice blessed by Karmapa and recited “Karmapa Khyenno.” Very thick clouds and fog came up, and the soldiers didn’t see us anymore”.

HH 16th Karmapa and the remainder of his group initially crossed from Tibet into Bhutan, then travelled to Sikkim. There was already a Kagyu monastery in Rumtek, Sikkim (now known as the “old” Rumtek monastery), which had been used by Kagyu monks for study since 1734, but it was largely in ruins. HH 16th Karmapa chose to settle here, and he and HH 15th Karmapa’s wife were able to reside in the remnants of the old monastery while land-clearing and building of the new Rumtek monastery commenced. However, there was no room and no means to feed and support most of the monks and nuns, nor the lay people who had travelled with them. The early years were very difficult, with thousands of refugees (including ordained Sangha) needing to be urgently housed and fed while the Tibetan Government-in-Exile was being established. The existing gompas in India and Nepal were nowhere near big enough to house all the members of the Sangha who left Tibet, so most had to spend some years working in various industries. Many monks (including high lamas and renowned meditation teachers) joined the Indian Army during this time. The nuns found themselves alongside many other Tibetans in a refugee camp in Himachal Pradesh, and joined a road-building crew in order to support themselves.

In 1961, HH 15th Karmapa’s wife, Khandro Urgyen Tsomo died, in the old Rumtek monastery. The new Rumtek monastery was still under construction. Some time after this, the King of Bhutan very kindly offered space for the Karmapa’s nuns in one of the monasteries in Bumthang, and so they moved there for ten years.

Refugee nuns in Bhutan

The original nuns (with other refugee nuns) in Bhutan 

Ani Minjur and her sister

Ani Minjur (L) with another of her sisters, in Bhutan

Building KCD

Once the new Rumtek monastery was built and more housing became available, Karmapa wrote to the nuns and asked them to return from Bhutan. To start with, they lived in a small house near the new Rumtek monastery. During this time some more girls joined the order – some from families of Tibetan refugees living in the local village, some from Nepal. In the mid 1970s, HH Karmapa offered the nuns two choices of land to build a nunnery. One piece of land was in Rumtek and the other was in the village of Sang, which is 12km further from Rumtek. The nuns wanted to stay close to HH Karmapa so they chose the Rumtek land. The nuns travelled throughout India to raise funds to build the nunnery. In addition, HH 16th Karmapa introduced them to one of his key American supporters, Grace McLeod, and asked Grace to help raise money for the building project. She was introduced to the nuns with the words “This is your mother, she will build you a home”. She raised US$21,300 – a very large portion of the building fund. The nuns called her Ama-la (Honourable Mother) and she is still remembered with gratitude as the first international sponsor for KCD nunnery.

Building the nunnery

Building the nunnery, circa 1984

Ani Karma Chotso and Ani Minjur with young novices

Ani Karma Chotso and Ani Minjur, with young novices, outside the first nunnery buildings (circa 1983)

KCD Nunnery around 1990

KCD Nunnery circa 1990

Grace McLeod

Grace McLeod, 'the mother of KCD nunnery'

The nuns worked as building labourers alongside local workmen and an engineer to build the first buildings of KCD, which were completed in 1982. To start with, the nunnery had only a small accommodation building of four bedrooms, a kitchen, and a gompa (prayer hall). Between 1982 and 1985, another small accommodation building was added, as well as a school room. Between 1982 and 1993, the nunnery gradually grew to house about 30 nuns.

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Leadership

Ani Karma Chotso remained the Abbess until her death, overseeing the flight from Tibet, the fundraising and the building works to establish KCD nunnery. She passed away in 1997, in Kalimpong. Following this, Ani Minjur (from the original group from Tibet) managed the nunnery for several years, but because she was also quite elderly, she gradually handed over some of the management tasks to Ani Karma Tsultrim Palmo. Ani Karma Tsultrim Palmo joined the nunnery as a young girl in 1988, and is the niece of Ani Ngawang Tsomo, the nun who was separated from the rest of the group when fleeing Tibet. She nursed all five of the original founding nuns through their passing and took on the teaching of the young novices as they arrived. Ani Minjur handed over all the administrative responsibilities of the Abbess role to Ani Karma Tsultrim Palmo in about 2010, but remained the spiritual head of the nunnery until her passing, in April 2017.

Ani Karma Chotso

Ani Karma Chotso

KCD nuns in the late 1980s

This photo (taken in the late 1980s) shows all three Abbesses of KCD Nunnery (as well as two of the other founding nuns, and some of the new nuns who arrived in the early years of KCD). Founding Abbess Ani Karma Chotso stands second from the left in the back row, with Ani Palmo, one of the other founding nuns, to her left. Second Abbess, Ani Minjur, stands just in front of her (third from the left in the middle row) - to her left is Ani Tsultrim Wangmo. Ani Karma Tsultrim Palmo, the current Abbess, is the young girl second from the right in the front row. 

Recent Challenges

In 1981, HH 16th Karmapa died, sadly passing before he could see the legacy of his nunnery buildings completed. In time, the search for the next Karmapa began. In 1993, political issues arose due to a dispute over the recognition of his reincarnation. This caused a great deal of difficulty for all Karma Kagyu monasteries and nunneries but was even more difficult for those around Rumtek, especially those directly reporting to Karmapa. The turmoil that arose resulted in many nuns leaving the nunnery (and in fact many left the order entirely). Only the original five elder nuns and Ani Karma Tsultrim Palmo (still a young girl) remained at KCD nunnery. It has taken many years to rebuild the nunnery population back to adequate numbers and this is still a work in progress.

However, in recent times there have been efforts to resolve these issues, and KCD nuns remain hopeful that this will succeed. They hope that one day the leaders of the Kagyu sect can once again return to Rumtek. They retain a strong relationship with the monks of HH Karmapa and HE Sharmapa, whose monastery is nearby. The nuns continue to pray for peace for the Kagyu community – and the whole of the world.

Historical Photo Gallery

Source Material

We are very grateful to Gerd Bausch for providing copies of his notes from his interviews of Ani Minjur, completed in Rumtek, Sikkim, December 23 & 25, 2013. Further oral history was compiled during interviews with Ani Karma Tsultrim Palmo by Emily Harper, in Rumtek, Sikkim, in April 2024. ​Supporting information has been drawn from the following sources: 

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