Tibet College of Buddhism marks 10th anniversary

A conference was held at the Tibet College of Buddhism in Lhasa, Tibet autonomous region, on Friday, to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the college.

Representatives from the region's key monasteries, monks and nuns of the college as well as officials from the regional government and the Tibet Branch of the China Buddhism Association attended the conference. 

Founded in 2011, the Tibet College of Buddhism has grown into a high-quality institution of Tibetan Buddhism. More than 1,000 students from different monasteries of the region have graduated from the college, and more than 2,600 monks and nuns have attended various training courses.

As a historical breakthrough in Tibetan Buddhism, it opened a nunnery department in 2014, providing equal opportunities for nuns to receive modern education while practicing their religious beliefs.

"More than 330 nuns have graduated from the college, and 30 outstanding nuns from the latest graduates have been selected to receive further learning of Buddhism philosophy and modern sciences as a four-year system," said Drukhang Thubten Khedrub, head of the Tibet College of Buddhism, adding these nuns will learn the Five Great Volumes of Tibetan Buddhism.

Tsondru Tsomo, a nun from the Samye Chimphu Wentsa Monastery of the region's Lhokha city, said she finished studying four years in 2020, and she was chosen to receive further education for another four years in2020.

"We are provided with teachings of different schools of Tibetan Buddhism, logic, history, politics, Chinese, computer, and sometimes English," said the 44-year-old.

"I have been practicing Buddhism in a small monastery for decades, but we do not have the chance to learn the Buddhism teachings apart from chanting and meditation. Here in this college, I had the chance, so I am very pleased with this college," she said with a big smile.

"We are told that after our graduation after four years, we may have the chance to become a candidate of the Geshe Lharampa – highest academic degree of Tibetan Buddhism, and I am pretty excited about it."