Tenzin Palmo

Tenzin Palmo started off as Diane Perry, the daughter of a fishmonger from London's East End. In 1964, aged 20, she set off to India to pursue a spiritual path. There she became one of the first westerners to ordain as a Buddhist nun. 

In 1976 she secluded herself in a remote cave, 13,200ft high up in the Himalayas, cut off from the world by mountains and snow. There she engaged in 12 years of intense Buddhist meditation. She faced cold, wild animals, near-starvation and avalanches; she grew her own food and slept in a traditional wooden meditation box, three feet square - she never lay down. Her goal was to attain enlightenment as a woman.

After she came out of retreat she set about building from scratch a nunnery, to provide equal opportunity for women to pursue their enlightenment. In 2001 the construction of Dongyu Gatsal Ling (DGL) Nunnery began and is now, with the ongoing construction of a traditional Buddhist Temple, nearing completion.

Tenzin Palmo spends most of the year at Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery living, working and teaching there and occasionally tours to give teachings and raise funds for the ongoing needs of the DGL nuns and Nunnery.

Vicki Mackenzie's biography of Tenzin Palmo Cave in the Snow published by Bloomsbury was an international hit and beautifully captures the essence of Tenzin Palmo’s life. A portion of the sales of this book are donated to DGL Nunnery.

Visit Tenzin's website here.