Contemporary Women, Traditional Rituals and Well-rounded Education: Tekcholing Nunnery and its Redefined Buddhist Monasticism

This paper presents the educational systems at Tekcholing Nunnery in Boudhanath, Nepal as an example of unconventional (redefined) Buddhist monasticism. I share how the nuns incorporate and integrate traditional Buddhist ritual education, contemporary primary and secondary education in language, math, and science, and perhaps most influential, an unspoken education of affect of care. I suggest that these women live in an “emotional community” as described by Christine Durea in her “Translating Love” (Durea, 2012). This material is based upon my fieldwork from 2023 – 2024 as I lived, practiced, and interviewed several of the nuns at the nunnery along with supporting these moments with an affective theoretical perspective. The combination of these three educational frameworks cultivates women who bridge traditional Kagyu Buddhist ritual practices to mastery of several languages, math, and science with a deep connection to their community that sustains and perpetuates the monastery and its larger international Buddhist community.