At 15, Lama Tsultrim is introduced to Buddhism. Her grandmother, Frances Roumanière Dewing, gives her a book of Buddhist poetry and paintings called Zen Telegrams by Paul Reps that triggers her first meditation experience. Frances was the fifth woman to receive a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Harvard-Radcliffe in 1906. She was deeply interested in philosophy and advanced mathematics. Her main professor Josiah Royce was interested in Buddhism and learned Sanskrit. She also studied with William James at Harvard and in Heidelberg, Germany. As a woman, she was not allowed to get books from the Harvard library and had to request male students to get the books she needed for her PhD.

Drawing by Kahil Gibran of Frances Dewing in 1908.