# Event Details

- **Event Name**: From the First Nuns to Now: An Afternoon of Buddhist Poetry
- **Event Start and End Date**: Sat, 30 May, 2026 at 04:00 pm – Sat, 30 May, 2026 at 06:00 pm (-04:00)
- **Event Description**: The Therigatha — the "Verses of the Elder Nuns" — was composed in the 5th century BCE by the very first women to enter the Buddhist monastic order. It is the oldest surviving collection of women's poetry in the world. In it, women who had left families, marriages, and the expectations of the world behind wrote with startling directness about freedom, grief, impermanence, and the quality of a mind finally at rest.

This spring, we invite you to the koi ponds at Kunzang Palyul Choling for an afternoon that begins there — and travels forward through 2,500 years of the living Buddhist poetic tradition.
The afternoon opens with a short talk by Khenpo Tenzin Yeshi of Namdroling Monastery — a traditionally trained Tibetan scholar in residence at KPC — on why poetry is not incidental to Buddhism but central to it. For centuries before anything was committed to writing, verse was the primary technology by which the dharma was memorized, transmitted, and kept alive.

Designated readers will then offer a curated selection of poetry drawn from the Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions, each piece introduced briefly in its historical and doctrinal context. The afternoon closes with the contemporary poetry of Her Eminence Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo Rinpoche — the first Western woman to be officially recognized and enthroned as a reincarnate lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and the founder of KPC.

All are welcome.

Practical details
Free admission; RSVP appreciated: www.bit.ly/FirstNunsToNow
Light refreshments served
Wheelchair-accessible pathways at the koi ponds

Kunzang Palyul Choling 
18400 River Road · Poolesville, Maryland 20837 
tara.org
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/poolesville/from-the-first-nuns-to-now-an-afternoon-of-buddhist-poetry/200029991086423
- **Event Categories**: Art, literary-art
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 0

## Ticket Details


## Event venue details

- **city**: Poolesville
- **state**: MD
- **country**: United States
- **location**: 18400 River Rd, Poolesville, MD, United States, Maryland 20837
- **lat**: 39.08111
- **long**: -77.3831
- **full address**: 18400 River Rd, Poolesville, MD, United States, Maryland 20837

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: From the First Nuns to Now: An Afternoon of Buddhist Poetry
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events8/banners/28db059d96024ee587d5ebea243ad1ec4eec6b31ae7c9fef723d6eb2e2bf647a-rimg-w1200-h1552-dcadaa61-gmir?v=1777274363

## FAQs

- **Q**: When and where is From the First Nuns to Now: An Afternoon of Buddhist Poetry being held?
  - **A:** From the First Nuns to Now: An Afternoon of Buddhist Poetry takes place on Sat, 30 May, 2026 at 04:00 pm to Sat, 30 May, 2026 at 06:00 pm at 18400 River Rd, Poolesville, MD, United States, Maryland 20837.
- **Q**: Who is organizing From the First Nuns to Now: An Afternoon of Buddhist Poetry?
  - **A:** From the First Nuns to Now: An Afternoon of Buddhist Poetry is organized by Kunzang Palyul Choling - KPC Buddhist Temple.

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