Carola Roloff

Carola Roloff (born 1959 in Holzminden, Germany) is a Tibetologist, scholar of Buddhism, and Buddhist nun. Since 2025, she is a Senior Research Fellow in Pluralistic Dialogical Religious Education at the University of Hamburg. Under her monastic name Bhiksuni Jampa Tsedroen, she continues to campaign for gender equity and equal rights for Buddhist nuns.

Early and religious life Born in Holzminden, Germany to a Protestant family, Roloff was active in her local Christian youth group. Doubting the source of suffering, Roloff recalls that she "couldn't get any satisfactory answers from Christian ministers." As a result, she turned to Buddhist philosophy and began her Buddhist studies and life in 1980, aged 21. She travelled to Dharamshala, India in order to study Vajrayana Buddhism and the Tibetan language, before becoming a novice at the age of 22 —one of the first Tibetan Buddhist nuns in Germany. Geshe Thubten was also her spiritual teacher until his death in 2003. On 6 December 1985, Roloff received her full ordination into the Dharmaguptaka lineage at the Miao-tung monastery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She kept her novice name Jampa Tsedroen. With the help of her teacher Geshe Thubten, Roloff translated the vows for bhiksunis into English, thereby greatly aiding Western Tibetan nuns in the ritual. Further aiding the research and study of students around the world, Roloff helped digitise scripture and other Buddhist texts. Roloff studied Tibetology and Indology with a focus on Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg, completing her Magister degree in 2003 and earning her PhD with distinction in 2009. Her dissertation was awarded the Karl H. Ditze Prize. From 1981 to 2006, Roloff was responsible for coordinating refugee assistance at the Tibetan Centre Hamburg. She continues to support and teach Buddhist students as part of her ongoing commitment to Buddhist education.

Throughout her academic and spiritual journey, Roloff emphasizes the integration of scholarly work and socially engaged Buddhism, aligning her practice with her commitment to the bodhisattva ideal. In an interview with Vasana Chinvarakorn of the Bangkok Post, she stated, "I feel I haven't practised enough. I've accumulated merits and increased a little bit of wisdom, but still my time for meditation and retreat is not enough." Serving the community, however, is faithful to her bodhisattva vow and is Roloff's priority over her own personal development. Relevance of Vinaya in Modern Circumstances was published in 1991 and A Brief Survey of the Vinaya: Its Origin, Transmission, and Arrangement from the Tibetan Point of View with Comparisons to the Theravāda and Dharmagupta Traditions in 1992.

Recognition In conjunction with the United Nations' International Women's Day, the International Congress for Buddhist Women presented Roloff with the Outstanding Women in Buddhism award, on 7 March 2007, at the United Nations centre in Bangkok.