Lama Tsultrim and Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo were one of the first American and European nuns, respectively, to be ordained in any Tibetan Buddhist lineage. Friends of 50 years, these fierce feminists discuss how they have revolutionized the role of women in dharma – and their work is far from over.

This conversation is a fascinating account of two women’s struggle to create a stronger position for women in the dharma and bring women’s voices more strongly into Tibetan Buddhism.  We recommend this dialogue for anyone interested in hearing the intimate stories, struggles and advice from two leading female spiritual teachers.

Filmed in the Tara Mandala Temple in the summer of 2014, this intimate dialogue between two of Buddhism’s most renowned female visionaries received a tremendous response from those in attendance. It surpassed all expectations with incredible honesty, humor, and depth.

In 1964, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo became the second western woman to be ordained as a Buddhist nun, and went on to spend 12 years living in a remote cave in the Himalayas. Later, she established the Döngyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in India with the intent of creating a place for quality spiritual education for Himalayan nuns, an historically under-serviced community in a highly patriarchal society.

Just six years after Jetsunma, Lama Tsultrim Allione took ordination with HH The 16th Karmapa in Bodhgaya, and lived for four years as a nun. Inspired to become a mother, she returned her vows and started raising a family in Italy, where she met and studied with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. She began teaching, and eventually found her way back to the United States, where she became one of Trungpa Rinpoche’s first authorized teachers. She is the founder of Tara Mandala, an international Buddhist community with practice groups in more than 10 countries worldwide and a 700-acre retreat center in Southwest Colorado.