Dhammabati Gurumaa receives Hon. Doctorate from Lumbini Buddhist University

The first time in the educational history of Nepal, Venerable Bhikkhuni Dhammabati Gurumaa has received the Honorary Doctorate. She received the honorary title on the occasion of the 3rd special convocation ceremony and 20th anniversary of Lumbini Buddhist University in Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha. On the occasion, a total of 289 students have officially graduated in the third convocation ceremony.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli graduated those students from various faculties including doctoral candidates. On the occasion, PM Oli honoured venerable Bhikkhuni Dhammawati Gurumaa with an Honorary Doctorate.

Addressing the 3rd special convocation and 20th anniversary of the Lumbini Buddhist University, Prime Minister Oli, also chancellor of the university, said that it is another form of Buddha’s message that everyone should be happy, as the national aspiration of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’ is being promoted in the country.   

PM Oli mentioned that Lumbini is the birthplace of Buddha and also the place of Buddhist philosophy noting the government is taking initiatives to develop and promote it as a holy place.

The 91 year old Gurumaa who was feted in recognition of her incomparable contributions towards development of Buddhist religion, philosophies and Vipassana meditation as well as towards women education empowerment and social awakening. She is thus renowned as a teacher of Buddhism.

She was born in Lalitpur in a Shakya family. At the age of fourteen in 1950, she ran away from home, determined to go study Theravada Buddhism in Burma (Myanmar). After studying for over a decade, she became both the first non-Burmese and the first Nepali to attain one of the highest degrees in the Burmese Buddhist education system.

In 1963, Dhammawati Gurumaa returned to Nepal to found DharmakirtiVihara in the old city of Kathmandu where she dedicated herself to teaching Theravada Buddhism to lay Buddhists, helping the needy, and raising the status of women in Nepali society with a great contribution to raising women’s education and public awareness during the restricted period, i.e., during the Rana regime.

Venerable Bhikkhuni Dhammawati Gurumaa is known to all as an indomitable, brave, fearless, and selfless embodiment of equality, morality, and religious dedication. She is renowned for her various titles, such as Sasandhaja Dhammacarya Aggamamahaganthavacha Pandit and Bhashathuva. She epitomizes mercy, love, and compassion, working tirelessly to perpetuate Buddhist teachings in Nepal. After achieving the title of Sasandhaja Dhammachariya in Myanmar, she returned to Nepal with a Burmese nun, Ma Gunawati, who later became popular as Maguna Gurumaa. Together, they initiated transformative changes in the socio-cultural and religious spheres. In 1965, Venerable Dhammabati established Dharmakirti Vihara in the core city of Kathmandu, marking the first active and versatile nunnery in Nepal. She shifted the concept of a nunnery from a place of spiritual and religious prayers to a “Dynamic Learning Center.” 

Dhammabati Gurumaa had authored, “Beloved Daughter” an autobiography. She described how a fourteen-year-old girl became the Buddhist teacher. As a young girl, with extraordinary determination, risked everything to flee the constraints of an ordinary life and dedicate herself to the freedom of Nibbana. Her journey through the jungles of Assam and Nagaland to Burma was both exotic and harrowing, with elephants, pythons, tigers, and arrests. Weaving history and legend, both ancient and modern, (the story) reveals the precarious path this fortunate daughter embarked upon in order to realize her dreams.