Feminine Wisdom, Sustainable Peace, and Unsung Agency: Contemporary Tibetan Bhikkhunī Saṇgha in Exile as Faith-Based Healers of Conflict Trauma

By: Mr. Sourajit Ghosh, Ph.D. Scholar, School of Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions, Nālandā University
The Need for a Gender-Inclusive Policy in Administrating Spiritual Cultural Spaces

Misinterpretation of religious texts, rigid ideologies, and differences in the analysis of philosophical traditions—often shaped by societal conditioning—give rise to gender-based discrimination, gender-based violence, and male dominance in religious life. This intensifies the suffering of women as they struggle to define women-friendly spiritual spaces and pursue spiritual aspirations. Faith-based frameworks must empower women to practice religion in ways that resonate with their lived realities, free from androcentric bias.
A central question emerges: Why do women lack decision-making authority within religious frameworks when women have always actively led participation in rituals and festivals across societies? Ethical values and spiritual practices—deeply rooted in faith—are largely embodied and transmitted by women through caregiving, emotional support, and community well-being. Yet, in most traditions, religious authority rests with men, religious councils are predominantly male, sacred texts are edited and interpreted by men, and religious norms reflect male‐centric narratives.

The order of Buddhist nuns was founded by Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the Buddha’s maternal aunt, along with five hundred Śākya women—an early example of women leading a spiritually driven movement and breaking household-based gender roles. Today, female renunciants exist across India, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Myanmar, Taiwan, China, and Japan. Tibetan nuns, however, are not fully ordained due to the absence of a required quorum of fully ordained nuns for dual ordination. Their lack of full ordination restricts access to higher philosophical education readily available to monks. Although HH the 14th Dalai Lama and HH the 17th Karmapa have long advocated full ordination for Tibetan nuns, this aspiration remains unfulfilled.
After the Cultural Revolution and the Chinese control of Tibet, many monks and nuns fled to the Indian Himalayas. As refugees, Tibetan nuns experience the compounded struggles of displacement, maintaining monastic discipline, accessing basic necessities for ritual practice, and navigating extensive monastic legal restrictions.
In this context, an urgent question emerges: How can the Government of India and the Central Tibetan Administration adopt women-friendly policies to protect the spiritual autonomy of Buddhist nuns in exile and support transnational Buddhist women practicing in India? Both Indian and Tibetan authorities must act to preserve this living women-led spiritual movement, which strengthens identity formation, enhances Buddhist diplomatic heritage, and deepens shared Asian interconnections.

Women experience conflict and post-conflict trauma differently from men. Women often prioritize family and community well-being and shape religious spaces that unify beliefs through ritual, care, and emotional labor. The presence of Tibetan nuns in India offers a unique opportunity: India is the historical homeland of Buddhism and holds the legacy of the first Buddhist women renunciants seeking independent spiritual quests.

Why Include Faith in Women-Friendly Foreign Policy?

Policy makers must ask why women experience conflict differently and how governance frameworks can address this gap. Women’s voices have long been overlooked in discussions on faith, conflict, and the role of religion in healing trauma. Women’s reliance on faith as a resource for peace, resilience, and dignity—while navigating discrimination based on gender, caste, and social status—requires deeper examination through multidisciplinary research.
Society often stereotypes religion as a source of division while ignoring the potential of shared faith-based values to strengthen unity in diversity. Feminist foreign policy is urgently needed in countries hosting war-affected or displaced communities. Women in displacement who hold strong religious values often foster social cohesion, bridge cultural divides, and show greater compassion and emotional intelligence toward host communities.

In the Tibetan exile context, nuns serve as caregivers, educators, and spiritual role models for young Himalayan women. They embody dignity, wisdom, and independence in spiritual life, providing a women-friendly model of agency. Displacement causes emotional strain and cultural dislocation, yet shared Buddhist values—generosity, compassion, merit-making—allow women across Asia to form bonds beyond national boundaries. Identifying as “daughters of the Buddha” fosters belonging, unity, and appreciation for women’s contributions to ethical teachings and peace.
History demonstrates that women have held diplomatic and spiritual authority. After the Kalinga War, Emperor Aśoka embraced Buddhism as a form of diplomacy and commissioned his daughter Mahatherī Sanghamittā as a peace ambassador. She carried the Bodhi tree sapling from India to Sri Lanka—symbolizing cross-border spiritual diplomacy led by a woman. This historical example illustrates the strength of women-inclusive policies in peacebuilding.
The Buddha himself challenged patriarchal norms. In the Pāli Canon, he encouraged King Pasenadi to rejoice at the birth of his daughter, affirming that a girl may possess greater wisdom than a man. He recognized women’s capacity to attain deep spiritual realization and propagate the Dhamma. Early nuns such as Bhikkhunī Khemā and Bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā were acknowledged as foremost in wisdom and meditative ability. The Buddha’s Dhamma is fundamentally non-dual and rejects discrimination based on biology.

Way Forward and Suggestions
1. Connect nunneries in remote Himalayan regions with international faith-based networks so they can serve as hubs for girl-child education, skill-building, prevention of gender-based violence, monitoring, and evaluation.
2. Include Buddhist nuns in cultural diplomatic missions, interfaith and interreligious dialogues, and ensure their representation in religious councils.
3. Recognize Tibetan nuns in the Himalayas as key contributors to environmental conservation and as teachers of skills for Himalayan women.
4. Form women-led monastic councils, supported by governmental ministries, to develop policies for healing conflict trauma, particularly for women and children.

REFERENCES
Primary Sources
Grim, Brian & Jo-Ann Lyon — “Religion Holds Back Women or Does It?”
Bhikṣuṇī Jampa Tsedroen — Buddhist Nuns’ Ordination in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Tradition
Samyutta Nikāya 44.1 — Khemāsutta
Samyutta Nikāya 3.16 — Mallikāsutta
Samyutta Nikāya 5.5 — Uppalavaṇṇā
Majjhima Nikāya 142 — Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅga Sutta
Arahat Saṅghamittā’s Story
Azza Karam — “Religion Is Underestimated”
“Peaceful Masculinities” — USIP
Azza Karam — Role of Women in Faith and Diplomacy
Women’s Meaningful Participation in Peace Processes — UN Women

Secondary Sources
Bhikkhu Anālayo — The Cullavagga on Bhikkhunī Ordination
Kansas A. & Kartin Müller — Immigrant Women’s Economic Outcomes in Europe
Massey & Espinoza Higgins — The Effect of Immigration on Religious Belief and Practice
Sylwia Urbańska — Religion in Gender and Migration Studies
Tsedroen & Anālayo — The Gurudharma on Bhikṣuṇī Ordination
Warner & Walker — Thinking about the Role of Religion in Foreign Policy

Online Sources
Dalai Lama — Introduction of Bhikṣuṇī Vows
Thosamling Nunnery
Tibetan Nuns Project
Women Between War and Peace — UN Women