Tenzin Palmo

Samding Dorje Phagmo Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (born 1943) is a bhikṣuṇī in the Drukpa lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Vicki Mackenzie, who wrote Cave in the Snow about her, relates that what inspired the writing of the book was reading Tenzin Palmo's statement to a Buddhist magazine that "I have made a vow to attain Enlightenment in the female form - no matter how many lifetimes it takes".

In 1964 she became the second Western woman to be ordained in the Vajrayana tradition, receiving the name Drubgyu Tenzin Palmo, or "Glorious Lady who Upholds the Doctrine of the Practice Succession".

Living at Khamtrul Rinpoche's monastery as the sole nun among 100 monks provided Tenzin Palmo with first-hand experience of the discrimination that restricted women's access to information that was imparted freely to men.

Then Tenzin Palmo left the monastery at her teacher's suggestion to go to Lahaul in the higher reaches of the Indian Himalayas, where she would eventually enter the cave and launch herself into uninterrupted, intense spiritual practice.

The cave was high in the remote Lahaul area of the Indian Himalayas (nearby Tayul Gompa), on the border of Himachal Pradesh and Tibet.

In 2000, the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery was opened with the purpose of giving education and training to women from Tibet and the Himalayan border regions.