There are some extraordinary individuals who, through compassion, perseverance, and vision are able to move their whole tradition and culture forward in wisdom. Dr. Ven.Tsering Palmo is one such person. A Ladakhi nun, she first became a doctor or amchi in traditional Tibetan medicine. Seeing the many needs of women religious in Ladakh, she then founded the Ladakh Nuns Association in 1996.

At that time, women who wanted to live as nuns endured great hardship. There was no education, no support and a general lack of respect towards nuns. Through the Ladakh Nuns Association, Ven. Tsering Palmo established a community with a vision of engaged Buddhism. Over time, living facilities with temples and education for the nuns arose as did her commitment to health care systems for the greater public. She invited the nuns to become doctors of traditional Tibetan medicine, and to train in conflict resolution along with their spiritual education.

Now she has built a hospital/hospice and mobile clinics for disaster relief and and remote care. The community of nuns (which now includes lay women) flourishes as socially engaged Buddhists providing many aspects of health care to their community. Palmo has extended her vision to a newly completed hospital allopathic medicine, traditional Tibetan medicine and a hospice.

This Sunday Dr. Ven. Palmo will speak about her life and the community of nuns she established as well as her ongoing vision for the development of engaged Buddhism through medical and healing practices. Her talk will be available on our youtube channel following the event.

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