Supporting Advanced Female Practitioners

About this Program

Dzokden is committed to cultivating the next generation of highly realized female practitioners—women who can fully embody, hold, and transmit the Dharma for the benefit of all beings. This program provides targeted training, financial support, and long-term mentorship for exceptional female practitioners—both monastic and lay—who have dedicated their lives to the Guru, lineage, and realization. While Tibetan Buddhist traditions have preserved profound systems of training, historically these opportunities have been more accessible to men. Dzokden seeks to address this imbalance by actively identifying and supporting women with the capacity for deep realization and lineage holding. Through this initiative, we aim to nurture authentic female vajra masters—not as symbolic figures, but as fully trained practitioners, teachers, and lineage holders who can guide future generations.

Key Areas Khentrul Rinpoche Aspires to Support

• Scholarships & Financial Support – Enabling advanced practitioners to dedicate themselves fully to study, practice, and retreat
• Specialized Training & Curriculum – Structured education and mentoring tailored to the needs of advanced female practitioners. This is yet unclear as to what this will be but is one of Rinpoche’s aspirations.
• Retreat & Practice Support – Funding and enabling long-term retreats and intensive training
• Dharma Service Support – Stipends for those serving the Guru, lineage, and community full-time
• Lineage Preservation Activities – Supporting transmission, teaching, and continuity of authentic Dharma celebrating past lineage holders
• Sacred Art & Representation – Creating visual and cultural representations of realized female practitioners

Restoring the Visible Lineage of Female Masters

A key aspect of this initiative is the restoration of female presence within the lineage itself. Very few women appear in traditional lineage depictions—not because they were absent, but because their contributions were often not recorded or publicly acknowledged. Many practiced as consorts, disciples, and realized practitioners whose accomplishments remained largely unseen. Under the direct guidance of Shar Khentrul Jamphel Lodrö Rinpoche, Dzokden is working to change this.

This includes:

• Depicting the female consorts and lineage holders of Tāranātha
• Creating new artistic representations of realized women
• Commissioning images of future female Kalkis and lineage holders

These efforts are not symbolic—they are corrective.

They affirm that:

• Women have always been part of the lineage
• Women are essential to its future
• Women belong fully in the seat of realization and transmission

Rinpoche has further emphasized this through the rare transmission of Vishvāmātā, the female form of Kalachakra, highlighting the indispensable role of the feminine in the complete path to awakening.

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Our Aspiration

We envision a future in which both women and men fully realize the path and stand as teachers, guides, and lineage holders.

A future where:

• Female practitioners are supported to reach the highest levels of realization
• The Dharma is held and transmitted by both masculine and feminine wisdom
• The next generation can see themselves reflected in the path

Because the yoginis and female vajra masters were never missing—only too often unseen. Now is the time to support them fully.