Nepalese monastery is enjoying a surge in popularity after spiritual leader introduces martial arts classes
Kathmandu, Nepal -- A Buddhist monastery near
Kathmandu is enjoying a surge in popularity after its spiritual leader
directed its 300 nuns to use martial arts techniques.
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Nuns practising kung fu at the Druk Gawa Khilwa Buddhist nunnery in
Ramkot, Nepal. Photograph: Simon De Trey-White/Eyevine
Enrolment is rising and Buddhist nuns as far afield as the Himachal Pradesh in India want to become kung fu instructors.
The Druk Gawa Khilwa (DGK) nunnery near the Nepalese capital teaches
its nuns a mixture of martial arts and meditation as a means of
empowering the young women. In Buddhism, like many religions, the voices
of women have traditionally been muted. But the leader of the
800-year-old Drukpa – or Dragon – order, to which DGK belongs, is
determined to change all that.
"As a young boy growing up in India and Tibet I observed the pitiful
condition in which nuns lived," says His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa,
the spiritual head of the Drukpas.
"They were considered second-class while all the privileges went to monks. I wanted to change this."
Although nuns have usually carried out only household chores in
Buddhist monasteries, the nuns of DGK, who come from places as far apart
as Assam, Tibet and Kashmir, are taught to lead prayers and given basic
business skills. Nuns run the guest house and coffee shop at the abbey
and drive DGK's 4X4s to Kathmandu to get supplies.
But for many, the breakthrough was the introduction of kung fu three
years ago, shortly after the Gyalwang Drukpa visited Vietnam and
observed female martial arts practitioners there.
"Spiritual and physical wellbeing are equally important for our nuns," says the leader.
Sister Karuna, a soft-spoken young nun from Ladakh in the north of
India, says kung fu has given the nuns self confidence and also helps in
meditation. "We love kung fu," said Karuna, as she prepared to swap her
maroon prayer robe for a martial arts suit with a bright yellow sash.
"Now we know we can defend ourselves.
We also have the fitness for long spells of meditation."
Jigme Thubtem Palmo, 32, who left her family and a career as a police
officer in Kashmir six years ago to join the monastery, says young
women in the region are now more interested in becoming nuns than
before. "We will soon build facilities for 500 nuns," she said.
The shaven-headed DGK nuns recently stunned an audience with a
colourful martial arts display at the third annual Drukpa council summit
held in Ladakh.
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, a former librarian at the School of Oriental
and African Studies in London, says she will introduce kung fu at the
nunnery she has set up in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
"It's excellent exercise, good for discipline, concentration and
self-confidence," says Palmo. "Also, when any young men in the area know
nuns are kung fu experts, they stay away."