Blessings: The Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns of Tibet

In the summer of 2005, a renowned Buddhist teacher, Tsoknyi Rinpoche III, led a small group of western women students to Nangchen, a nomadic region of Eastern Tibet. They were going to meet the Nangchen nuns - 3000 remarkable women who live and practice an ancient yogic tradition in nunneries and hermitages scattered across this remote, mountainous region.

Using the more than 70 hours of footage shot on this extraordinary journey, Chariot Videos has produced BLESSINGS: The Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns of Tibet. Narrated by Richard Gere, the film provides a fascinating glimpse into a world most of us will never see first hand.

During the Cultural Revolution, all 40 nunneries of this thriving tradition of female spiritual practitioners were destroyed and the nuns scattered. Some returned to their nomadic homes, some were sent to work camps. Many didn't survive. But a few retreated into caves to practice.. and wait.

Twenty years later, a handful of nuns emerged and began to rebuild.. by hand...stone by stone. Rare archival footage documents the destruction and rebuilding of the nunneries. Now, growing numbers of women are coming together once again in nunneries large and small across Nangchen and practicing the same teachings of wisdom and compassion begun centuries ago.

The film explores the world of the nuns through the eyes of the western women who are attempting to make their own link with the often strange, but compelling world of Buddhist practice. Blessings is a moving, sometimes funny and very personal account of a unique meeting of East and West. The film is an inspiration to anyone seeking to simplify their lives and find a spiritual path through the increasingly chaotic challenges of 21st century life.