KATHMANDU: At the eagerly anticipated reopening of their nunnery in Nepal, a dozen nuns displayed their martial arts prowess to hundreds of applauding well-wishers by doing hand chops and high kicks, some of them with swords.
Five years after the Covid-19 outbreak drove the hilltop Druk Amitabha Monastery to close its doors to the public, the sisters there embarked on a display of fortitude to commemorate the institution’s reopening.
These 17–30-year-old kung fu nuns belong to the 1,000-year-old Drukpa lineage, the sole female order in the patriarchal Buddhist monastic institution, which grants nuns the same status as monks.
Nuns are typically not permitted to practice any kind of martial arts and are expected to cook and clean.
However, His Holiness A monk who is just somewhat lower in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy than the Dalai Lama, Gyalwang Drukpa, made the decision to teach women kung fu in order to enhance their physical and mental health.
The nunnery, which he founded in 2009, currently has 300 members ranging in age from six to fifty-four.
Jigme Jangchub Chosdon, a 23-year-old nun originally from Ladakh, India, stated, “We practice kung fu to keep ourselves mentally and physically fit, and our aim is to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality.”
They are all trained in kung fu, a Chinese martial art, for strength and self-defense. The nuns are from Bhutan, India, and Nepal.
