Bhutan Plans Historic Bhikshuni Ordination as Global Peace Prayer Festival Begins
The Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan’s Global Peace Prayer Festival, a 16-day gathering running from 4–19 November* will include rare rituals, global peace prayers, and the historic ordination of 250 nuns, marking only the second time that full bhikshuni ordination has been conducted in Bhutan.
The Global Peace Prayer Festival will bring together senior monastic figures from across the Buddhist world, including His Holiness the Je Khenpo, Bhutan’s chief abbot and spiritual leader; the 12th Kenting Tai Situpa; the Ninth Gyalwang Drukpa; and Dorji Lopen Kinley of Bhutan’s Central Monastic Body. According to the organizers, the festival aims to offer blessings for planetary peace and harmony through a combination of ancient ritual practice and modern global outreach.
The festival coincides with King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan’s 70th birthday. Prime minister Tshering Tobgay told reporters: “Inspiration behind this festival is really a royal vision. His Majesty the King commanded that we conduct a Global Peace Prayer Festival based on our spiritual heritage, which is rooted in the tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism and His Majesty the King commanded this particular time because the world needs peace. . .” (ANI)
… From 15–19 November, more than 250 nuns from Bhutan and neighboring countries will receive full bhikshuni ordination at the Bhutan Nuns Foundation. This marks a significant moment for women in Buddhism, building on Bhutan’s first full ordination for Buddhist nuns held in 2022. The event underscores growing regional support for gender equality in monastic life and reflects Bhutan’s commitment to Buddhist renewal grounded in compassion and inclusivity.
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Buddhist Women: His Holiness the Je Khenpo Ordains 265 Buddhist Nuns from 14 Countries During Bhutan’s Global Peace Prayer Festival
In one of the crowning moments of the recent Global Peace Prayer Festival in the Kingdom of Bhutan, His Holiness the Je Khenpo presided over a historic ceremony in Thimphu from 15–19 November to fully ordain 265 Buddhist nuns. While 137 of the newly ordained bhikshunis are Bhutanese, 128 female monastics from 13 countries—Australia, India, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Nepal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, the United States, and Vietnam—participated in the ceremony organized by the Bhutan Nuns Foundation in partnership with Bhutan’s Central Monastic Body, the Zhung Dratshang.
This remarkable occasion marks only the second time that full bhikshuni ordination has been conducted in Bhutan, following the landmark first ordination ceremony held in Paro in 2022.*
His Holiness the Je Khenpo, Tulku Jigme Chhoeda, conferred the ordination at the Training and Resource Centre of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation (BNF) in Tshalumaphey on the outskirts of Thimphu. The BNF has been a guiding light and a principal actor in the restoration of full ordination for female monastics—a watershed moment in the path toward greater equality within the monastic institutions of Buddhism, and in manifesting the full flowering of the fourfold sangha of male and female monastics and male and female lay practitioners envisioned by Shakyamuni Buddha.
