Dr. Elisabeth Benard

The Sakya Jetsunmas
Female Meditation Masters of Tibet

Sunday, April 6 2025
2 - 4 pm

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen illness, Elisabeth Benard’s presentation on the Sakya Jetsunmas is cancelled.

The morning Tara Practice, and Reception Lunch for Geshe Ngawang Choejor will proceed as scheduled.

Elisabeth Benard is a professor emerita of religion and was the Director of the Pacific Rim/Asia Study Travel Program at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. The University of Puget Sound awarded her the Faculty Global Engagement Award. She is the author of Chinnamasta: The Aweful Buddhist and Hindu Tantric Goddess (Motilal Baransidass, 1994), co-editor of Goddesses Who Rule (Oxford University Press, 2000), and The Sakya Jetsunmas: The Hidden Lives of Tibetan Female Lamas (Snow Lion Publications, 2022). She is a longtime student of H.H. Sakya Trichen, Jetsun Kushok and Dezhung Rinpoche III.

In Tibetan Buddhism, we talk about dakinis and yoginis, but jetsunmas are less known.  Perhaps you are familiar with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, but do you know Jetsun Kushok, the elder sister of Sakya Trichen.  This talk will discuss the title of Jetsunma and will highlight the lives of some of the great Sakya Jetsunmas, who are daughters born into the Sakya Khon family, including Her Eminence Jetsun Kushok.

Donations are requested to cover the expenses of his event, and for the continued maintenance and operation of the temple. We appreciate your generosity and support.

Dr. Elisabeth Benard