Tibetan Buddhist nuns from 7 nunneries in India and Nepal taking their 2023 Geshema exams. The 2023 Geshema examinations began in Dharamsala, India on July 21st with 132 Tibetan Buddhist nuns taking part. This is a record number of nuns striving to obtain their Geshema degree. In 2022, there were 94 nuns taking various levels of the four-year exams.
The Geshema degree is the highest level of training in the Gelugpa tradition and is equivalent to a PhD in Tibetan Buddhism. It is the same as the Geshe degree for monks but the ending “ma” marks it as referring to a woman.
The exams take four years to complete, with one set held each year over two weeks. Nuns must take both written and oral (debate) exams and this video shows the nuns debating in front of their examiners. Four senior Geshe Lharampa from the great Tibetan Buddhist learning centers in South India are the examiners for the nuns’ oral debate examinations.
Candidates are examined on the entirety of their 17-year course of study of the Five Great Canonical Texts. They must achieve a score of at least 75 per cent during their studies to be eligible to sit the exams.
Until recently, this degree was only open to men; it was only formally opened to women in 2012. The first Geshema exams were held in 2013 and the first graduation ceremony was in 2016. As of the start of 2023, 53 nuns in the world hold this degree.
The Geshema degree enables Tibetan Buddhist nuns to become teachers, leaders, and role models. It makes these dedicated women eligible to assume various leadership roles in their monastic and lay communities reserved for degree holders and hence previously not open to women.
Video by the Dolma Ling Media Nuns.