Dongyu Gatsal Ling Initiatives, Inc

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Dongyu Gatsal Ling Initiatives, Inc Inspired by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, in support of female spiritual advancement, now and for the future

Dongyu Gatsal Ling Initiatives is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the education standards and living conditions of Tibetan Buddhist female monastic communities by increasing public awareness about the challenges they face and raising funds to strengthen their present and future stability.

We all know that if we are doing something which we enjoy, we don't need coercion. If we’re reading a book we enjoy or w...
10/22/2026

We all know that if we are doing something which we enjoy, we don't need coercion. If we’re reading a book we enjoy or watching an interesting movie, nobody has to force you. The mind goes there and stays on the book or the movie because the mind is interested. So therefore, it is very important for us to develop that quality of really being interested in what we're doing, really wanting to do it, enjoying it. And so the way to tame this wild horse mind is to get the mind relaxed and centered, peaceful and enthusiastic to be trained.

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Mid-terms exams at Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery, February 2026

All beings have the potential to awaken. Might take a long time or it might be next moment, but we all have that potenti...
10/15/2026

All beings have the potential to awaken. Might take a long time or it might be next moment, but we all have that potential because it is our true nature. We're not getting in something from outside. We're just uncovering something which is within us.

When the texts talk about no self, it is actually very positive. It's saying don't be deluded by the present embodiment, your present personality. It's like an actor playing a part and if he's a good actor, he plays a part. Absolute conviction. But when he comes off the stage, if he still thinks he's Hamlet, he's got problems.

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

DGL nuns playfully recreate Mahaprajapati’s levitation, Lhabab Duchen 2023

We're dreaming the dream of ignorance. We need to wake up. While we're sleeping, we really believe our dreams. But when ...
10/08/2026

We're dreaming the dream of ignorance. We need to wake up. While we're sleeping, we really believe our dreams. But when we wake up, we are in a completely different level of consciousness. From an enlightened point of view, our ordinary everyday consciousness is like being asleep. So the whole of the spiritual path is really a process of waking up and sometimes we wake up and then we fall back to sleep.

But even though we fall back to sleep, we have that memory of the awakened state, even if it only lasts for a finger snap.

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Photo: From the Lama Dances at Khampagar Monastery, Tashi Jong, April 2025

I think it’s very important for people to recognize that just as we ourselves wish for a sense of well-being and happine...
10/01/2026

I think it’s very important for people to recognize that just as we ourselves wish for a sense of well-being and happiness and don’t want to be made miserable, so does everybody we meet. We’re actually very connected, including animals, in our wish for inner well-being and not to be hurt. What if people just thought about that, you know, just sitting in a theatre or on a subway? What if we were conscious that all the people around us, whatever they might look like, in their heart of hearts, really want to feel okay? What if your first thought for everybody you meet is not judgment but “May you be well and happy”? If we could manage that much, it would change the world, wouldn’t it?

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo in conversation with Gloria Steinem, published on Lion’s Roar

Photo by Caterina De Re, 2011

Gloria Steinem & Tenzin Palmo at Tibet House, NYC.

You know, many people ask about how to deal with anger. Why? Because anger is uncomfortable. We are not at peace when we...
09/24/2026

You know, many people ask about how to deal with anger. Why? Because anger is uncomfortable. We are not at peace when we're angry. It creates conflict and it is a very uncomfortable state. But very few people ask, how to overcome my greed. Why? Because greed, if it is sometimes satisfied, is pleasurable. We think, of course we don't want to be so greedy, but it's nice getting what we want. And so people don't put the effort into overcoming the greedy, grasping, attached mind that they would put into overcoming anger. But the Buddha said that although anger is eight times more negative in its karmic results than greed, it is also relatively easy to get rid of because we don't like it. Whereas greed is extremely difficult to uproot.

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Sometimes, what people need is just attention. What they need is someone to listen to them, to hear their pain, not just...
09/17/2026

Sometimes, what people need is just attention. What they need is someone to listen to them, to hear their pain, not just dismiss it. Generosity comes at the beginning and it’s important in our lives—the quality of our lives. Whether we are close-hearted or whether we are open-hearted depends on us. The first gesture of an open heart is the sense of generosity and giving.

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Everything's going to pass. When we die, we leave everything behind. Right? We take nothing with us except our basic con...
09/10/2026

Everything's going to pass. When we die, we leave everything behind. Right? We take nothing with us except our basic consciousness and our karma. That's it. People, possessions, position—gone. And depending on the extent of our grasping and attachment, the more pain we're going to feel. So this doesn't mean, when things come our way, we cannot enjoy them, and when people come, we cannot love them, but to enjoy and to love with open hands.

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

The supreme sign of accomplishment is the continuous decrease of our wishes and wants. So when we're endlessly dissatisf...
09/03/2026

The supreme sign of accomplishment is the continuous decrease of our wishes and wants. So when we're endlessly dissatisfied, always wanting something more, if only I had this, if only things would go this way, then everything would be good. When this begins to quieten down and we recognize, actually, right in this moment I have everything I need. I have everything. What more? Then that is a sign that something inside us is beginning to open up. Really, the Buddhist mantra is not Om Mani Padme Hum. The Buddhist mantra is let go. Let go. Let go. Outer, inner, secret. Let go. It's our grasping mind which is the problem. The Buddha said the source of our dissatisfaction, our dis-ease, our dukkha, is the grasping mind. That cannot be emphasized enough.

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

When you're in retreat, you're taking all sentient beings with you, so you're never really in isolation. First of all, y...
08/27/2026

When you're in retreat, you're taking all sentient beings with you, so you're never really in isolation. First of all, you have all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the universe. Then you have all sentient beings likewise, practising along with you.

So it actually got quite crowded in the cave! And it wasn't really that much different when I came out and met the actual people that I'd been practising with for so many years.

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Photo: Jetsunma shares Diwali sweets, a bonus, and heartfelt thanks with our staff for all they do to care for Dongyu Gatsal Ling. October 2024.

Just recently, one hundred monks came from our monastic college down the road to debate with the nuns. And… the nuns won...
08/20/2026

Just recently, one hundred monks came from our monastic college down the road to debate with the nuns. And… the nuns won.

Their teachers, including their male teachers, were so pleased. The monks were very good about it. Everybody was laughing. It wasn't aggressive at all. The nuns are bright, you know, and debate sharpens your mind. You can't have wishy-washy thinking. You have to be very clear about the point you're trying to make, and the point you're trying to defend—or attack. Debate makes your philosophical view very clear.

— Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Image: Nuns practicing debate, April 2022, Photo by

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