Monjas practican Kung Fu

I had come to the nunnery to photograph the nuns practicing Kung

Fu. The leader of the 800-year-old Drukpa or Dragon order, to which DGK
belongs, his Holiness Jigme Pema Wangchen, the present Gyalwang Drukpa
instigated Shaolin Kung Fu training for his nuns in 2008 after a visit to
Vietnam in the same year. Here he witnessed Vietnamese nuns practicing
the martial art. He was told that it helped the nuns concentrate better and
made them more self-reliant. Recalling how some of his nuns at the Khilwa
nunnery had been harassed while travelling up and down from the mountain
alone he decided to incorporate defensive Kung Fu training at his own
nunnery. This was in keeping with his desire to empower his nuns As a
young boy growing up in India and Tibet I observed the pitiful condition in
which nuns lived. They were considered second-class while all the privileges
went to monks. I wanted to change this. So unlike most Buddhist
monasteries where the nuns only carry out household chores 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. They run the guest
house and coffee shop at the abbey and drive DGKs 4X4s to Kathmandu to
get supplies. But its the Kung Fu training which has proved most popular
and since word spread enrolment at the nunnery is up. 200 nuns are taught
Kung Fu at the abbey ranging in age from 12 to 25 (its considered too
demanding for older nuns) and there are currently 3 sessions a day starting
in the early morning. Their teachers who have come from Vietnam are
several nuns and their 29 year old Kung Fu Master Dang Dinh Hai,
on whom His Holiness bestowed the title of Jigme Gudrun which
means fearless practitioner in Tibetan.
Vietnamese Kung Fu master Jigme Gedrun (with red sash) leads nun Jigme
Zeki Lhamo (16) in Kung Fu training at the Druk Gawa Khilwa Buddhist
Nunnery

Vietnamese Kung Fu master Jigme Gedrun (with red sash) leads nun Jigme Zeki Lhamo
(16) in Kung Fu training at the Druk Gawa Khilwa Buddhist Nunnery

17 year
old nun Jigme Kunchok Lhama (centre) says " Learning Kung Fu has made me more
self-confident and a lot fitter "
As with many location shoots not everything went perfectly to plan! The first problem I
encountered was easily solved the nuns were used to training inside their sports hall
for their morning session but I asked if theyd mind training outside (for the much better
background) and this was readily and graciously agreed to. What they understandably
refused to alter was the timing of their practice as this would have a disruptive affect on
the rest of the days routines. The problem was that they began the morning session in
the dark and finished it 20 minutes before the sun came up, thus I was forced to shoot
in near total dark to begin with which improved only to the dull flat light of pre-dawn!
That the light became gorgeous tantalisingly soon after can be seen from the image
below of nuns on gardening duty .

Nuns at the DGK Nunnery pose for a picture during early morning Retreat Practice of
gardening
To make some of the pre-dawn shots more interesting I used slow shutter speeds
combined with flash to give a sense of movement, see below.

The nuns also had an afternoon Kung Fu training session but it was mostly in shade and
not very attractive light again. After one session ended I persuaded a couple of nuns to
do postures and kicks on their own (see below) and this was going well but had to be
cut short when they had to go off to their next scheduled activities.
Jigme Zeki Lhamo (16) practicing Kung Fu at the Druk Gawa Khilwa Nunnery
Jigme RigdenLhamo (16) practicing Kung Fu at the Druk Gawa Khilwa Nunnery
I wanted to show the more usual side of the nuns activities at the abbey too and so took
the following images before and during the morning puja.

View of the main temple at

the Druk Gawa Khilwa NunneryBuddhist nuns perform morning puja at the Druk Gawa
Khilwa Nunnery
I was made very welcome during my visit at the abbey but the nuns were mostly quite
reserved and serious although many were very young and little more than children. I
often wondered how these youngsters coped with the lack of visible fun though of
course the Kung Fu would give them a great outlet for any pent up energy. But the nuns
did let their guard down occasionally in my presence and I was pleased to capture the
shot below of a group of young nuns relaxing with lollypops!

Durante siglos, las monjas budistas tuvieron prohibido practicar el mortfero

arte marcial del kung fu, pero hace unos aos, el convento Druk Amitabha
Mountain, en Nepal, se convirti en el hogar de la primera orden a nivel
mundial de monjas de kung fu.

Tradicionalmente, el sistema patriarcal monstico budista permita a las

monjas realizar slo las tareas domsticas ms insignificantes, mientras que
los monjes pueden dirigir la oracin y ocupar posiciones de poder. Las
monjas se perciben como inferiores a los monjes, y por lo general pasan su
tiempo de trabajo en las cocinas y jardines de los monasterios budistas.
Aprender las antiguas artes marciales est definitivamente fuera de los
lmites para ellas, as que cmo hicieron las monjas del convento Druk
Amitabha Mountain para acceder a la prctica del kung fu?
Hace aproximadamente 26 aos, miembros de la orden Drukpa, de 800
aos de antigedad, se rebelaron y formaron el convento Druk Amitabha
Mountain, un lugar donde las mujeres son tratadas con el mismo respeto
que los hombres. Cuando era pequeo, ya pensaba que no era justo
suprimir los derechos de las mujeres en nuestra sociedad, cont Su
Santidad, el Gyalwang Drukpa, lder de la secta budista. Pero luego,
cuando crec, empec a pensar qu puedo hacer por ellas? Entonces pens
en construir un convento, y luego darles la oportunidad de estudiar y
practicar espiritualidad.

Las tareas en el convento de la colina, a las afueras de Katmand, se

dividen por igual, y las mujeres llegan a dirigir la oracin, la prctica de la
meditacin, tomar clases de ingls y clases de capacidad de gestin. Pero el
Gyalwang Drukpa llev las cosas an ms lejos en 2008, cuando se
introdujo el kung fu en el convento, despus de ver a las monjas de Vietnam
recibir el entrenamiento de combate utiliz anteriormente por los
guerrilleros del Viet Cong.

Cada da, las monjas (que estn vestidas en el mismo estilo de vestimenta
famosa por las pelculas clsicas de artes marciales en la dcada de los
aos 70 y 80), participan en una sesin de entrenamiento completo de dos
horas intensas con puetazos, golpes, y patadas. Los beneficios del
entrenamiento en kung fu son mltiples, de acuerdo con las monjas. Es
bueno para nuestra salud. La meditacin es muy difcil y si hacemos kung
fu, a continuacin, despus de la meditacin se vuelve mucho ms fcil,
cont Rupa Lama de 16 aos.
Es un excelente ejercicio, y adems, es muy bueno para la disciplina y la
concentracin, y despierta un sentimiento de confianza en vos misma que
es muy importante para las monjas. Adems, cuando los hombres jvenes
de la zona saben que las monjas son expertas en kung fu, se mantienen
lejos, aadi la monja budista Tenzin Palmo Jetsunma.

Las ideas progresistas del Gyalwang Drukpa han aumentado de forma

espectacular el nmero de mujeres jvenes que quieren convertirse en
monjas. Muchas de ellos dicen, guau, si me convierto en monja puedo
estudiar, puedo practicar, puedo hacer estos rituales, puedo convivir junto a
estas monjas adorables, y que los lamas nos visiten y nos enseen, dice
Jetsunma.
Las monjas del convento de kung fu Druk Amitabha llegan a experimentar
cosas que otras mujeres de Nepal ni siquiera suean. Su Santidad quiere
que las monjas sean como los hombres, con los mismos derechos en el
mundo, cuenta Jigme Konchok Lhamo, de 18 aos. Es por eso que
tenemos la oportunidad de hacerlo todo, no slo el kung fu. Tambin
tenemos la oportunidad aqu de aprender muchas cosas, como tenis y
patinaje. Y tambin tenemos la oportunidad de aprender Ingls y Tibetano,
instrumentos musicales y baile.