Kung Fu Nuns Show The Way

Members of a remote nunnery in Nepal have been learning and teaching self-defence moves

- Payel Majumdar Upreti

The martial art of kung fu is not something one would associate with nuns. But members of the Kathmandu-based Druk Amitabha Mountain Nunnery of the Drukpa lineage have been practising and teaching kung fu for a while now as the order believes in the philosophy of self-defence.

In 2008, the leader of the sect, the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, encouraged the nuns to learn kung fu. The Drukpa lineage, also called the Red Hat Sect, is an ancient Himalayan sect of Tibetan Buddhism that traces its origin to the 11th century Indian Mahasiddha Naropa, an accomplished yogi.

It was hard to begin with, admits 26-yearold Jigme Migyur Palmo, a nun from Ladakh. “We didn’t exercise in our childhood. Our bodies were weak and we had to deal with pain in the beginning. I often thought of quitting, but I slowly understood why His Holiness wanted us to learn it and that motivation helped me through.” Gyalwang Drukpa is an advocate of women’s rights and introduced kung fu to the monastery — breaking a tradition that barred women from exercising -- after observing visiting Vietnamese nuns excel in the art.

The nuns were travelling to the US via Delhi when BLink caught up with them. They were honoured with the Game-changer Award by the Asia Society in New York, a non-profit organisation, on October 24.