Shugseb Nunnery, (ཤུག་གསེབ་དགོན།) also known as “Shugseb Ani Gompa,” “Xiongse Temple,” stands as the largest nunnery in Qushui County. Perched on the slopes of Shugseb Mountain, southeast of Qushui County in Caina Township and on the southern bank of the Lhasa River, the nunnery is enveloped in lush shrubbery, offering a tranquil and picturesque setting. Originally founded in 1181 by Jetsün Chöjé Gyergom Tsultrim Sangey, (ཕག་གྲུའི་ཞལ་སློབ་ཆོས་རྗེ་གྱེར་སྒོམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་སེང་གེ་) Shugseb was the ancestral monastery of the Shugseb Kagyu lineage.
Historical Significance
By the 14th century, the nunnery became a significant site for the Nyingma school when the revered Longchen Rabjam ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཀློང་ཆེན་ (1308–1364), a prominent Nyingma scholar, undertook spiritual retreat here. During his stay, he authored the “Seven Treasuries” (also known as “Longchen’s Seven Treasures”), ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་ཐིག་གོང་མ་སྟེ་ཡ་བཞི་མཛོད་བདུན a collection of works that have become essential reading for practitioners of the Nyingma tradition. Following this period, Shugseb Nunnery transitioned to the Nyingma lineage. Despite being devastated by conflict in later years, the nunnery’s spiritual legacy endured.
In the early 20th century, under the patronage of the noble Ngapo family and the renowned female Tulku Shungseb Jetsun Rinpoche ཤུག་གསེབ་རྗེ་བཙུན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། undertook significant restoration efforts. She rebuilt the main assembly hall and stupa, attracting hundreds of nuns to the community, sometimes numbering up to four or five hundred, thereby reestablishing Shugseb as a prominent nunnery in Tibet.
The Living Buddha: Jetsun Lochen
Jetsun Lochen, also revered as Jetsun Rinpoche, exemplifies the unique aspect of Tibetan Buddhism where a tulku is not necessarily recognized through reincarnation but can also be acknowledged based on spiritual attainment and dedication to practice. Known in Tibetan as “Rangjung Lama,” meaning “self-made buddha,” Jetsun Lochen’s path to enlightenment was marked by rigorous spiritual discipline rather than the traditional tulku reincarnation lineage.
Passing away in the autumn of 1953 at the age of 120, her sacred body was enshrined in the main hall’s stupa, where devotees continue to pay homage. The current living Buddha, Shungseb Dorje Rinpoche, of the Sikkimese royal lineage, continues the legacy of emphasizing the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism.
Preservation and Restoration
Like many religious sites, Shugseb Nunnery faced destruction during the Cultural Revolution but saw restoration in 1985, allowing it to resume its role as a center for spiritual practice and community for Buddhist nuns. Today, it remains a testament to the resilience of Tibetan Buddhism and its practices, particularly in the cultivation and support of female practitioners within the tradition.
Shugseb Nunnery’s unique musical tradition, “Choelu,” has been recognized as part of the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage in China. Chat, a distinctive form of musical art found within certain Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, consists of “Choe” chanting and accompanying musical instruments. The Chant of Shugseb Nunnery, performed by its nuns during “Chod” ritual practices, stands out as a representative form of Chant music among Tibetan nunneries, highlighting the cultural and spiritual richness of this religious community.
The Founder: Chöjé Gyergom Tsultrim Sangey
Chöjé Gyergom Tsultrim Sangey (1140–1204), born in the Yarlong region of southern Tibet and a descendant of Gyer (dgyer) clan, came from a family with a strong spiritual lineage—his father was a military official named Konchok Kyab, and his mother was Gyeltsama Dode Gyen. Taking the monastic vows at the age of 11, he was given the religious name “Tsultrim Sengge” (Discipline Lion). After studying “Diksha” (initiation rites) and secret teachings with Geshe Hol, he became a disciple of Phagmo Drupa (1110–1170), seeking the “Six Methods of Accommodation.”
Following his teacher’s death, Tsultrim Sengge sought instruction from Zhije teacher called Mel Kawachenpa in the “Essential Teachings of the Righteous Tradition” and practiced advanced tantric methods, including the “Mahamudra” and “Supreme Chakrasamvara Blessing Method” in the Eka region. By this time, he had transcended the worldly “eight winds” of Buddhism, which include gain, loss, pleasure, pain, praise, blame, fame, and disgrace.
In his 30s, Tsultrim Sengge traveled widely, receiving teachings from Neljor Choyung and writing extensively on causation in the Zeka Drak region with Nibeng as his patron. He subdued a number of local spirits and had many visions, including visions of siddhas who granted him their precepts. In 1181, he founded Shugseb Nunnery, leading it for 24 years and developing a thriving monastic community, thereby establishing the Shugseb Kagyu lineage, which places significant emphasis on the practice of Hevajra tantra.
Visiting Tips:
- Admission is free, with donations welcome.
- The nunnery is open from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
- Accommodation is available within the monastery’s guesthouse, though facilities are basic.
- The nunnery is 69 kilometers from downtown Lhasa, accessible by self-drive or chartered vehicle.
- Another noteworthy nunnery in the county, “Sama Drak Temple,” located in Xierong Village and established in the 9th century by Jire Rinpoche, offers additional insight into the spiritual life of Tibetan Buddhist nuns.
- དགོན་དེ་ནས་མུ་མཐུད་རི་ལྡེབས་སུ་རྐང་ཐང་མར་ཆུ་ཚོད་ཕྱེད་ལྷག་ཙམ་སོང་ན་གངས་རི་ཐོད་དཀར་ཞེས་པར་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཀློང་ཆེན་པའི་གཟིམས་སྦུག་དང་། སྐུ་བརྙན། སྒྲུབ་ཁང་གསར་བཞེངས་གནང་བ་སོགས་དང་། འོ་མ་ཆུ་མིག་སོགས་མཇལ་རྒྱུ་ཡོད།
