The Kung Fu Nuns perform kung fu techniques. Photo courtesy of Kung Fu Nuns
In the historically gendered hierarchy of the religious establishment, achieving what the Drukpa nuns have is especially radical. They are now even entrusted with the secrets to the most esoteric form of meditation, something that was only previously available to male members of the order.
This is even more apparent as we live through #MeToo and Time’s Up, movements in the Western world where women are beginning to be listened to when speaking out about experiences of systemic harassment, male privilege and sexual abuse that seem to have infected all walks of life.
By speaking out and teaching kung fu, Wangchuk, Konchok and their community of fellow nuns are encouraging women and girls in marginalized sections of their region to start making change in their own way.
“This world says ‘ladies first,’ but this phrase is useless if it isn’t applied in real life. There is nothing first in this world for ladies,” Wangchuk said. “It’s often said that our kung fu workshops empower women. And you say this about street papers too – they empower homeless people. But actually, what we are doing is not giving people power but allowing them to discover their own power. We all have our own power. We just need the support and the love to find it.”
Behind the kung fu classes that made them famous, the Drukpa nuns do less publicized, but far more extraordinary, work in the communities surrounding their monastery home. This includes an eco pad yatra (walking pilgrimage) to remote villages, collecting plastics and other non-biodegradable waste to educate communities about protecting the environment. In the wake of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, they rode bicycles in high altitude through the Himalayas to help with the relief effort, clearing rubble and helping deliver aid to people in places that even the world’s largest organizations couldn’t reach. At the same time, they advocated against the spike in slavery, human trafficking and sexual assault that sprung up in the aftermath.
The Kung Fu Nuns deliver aid as part of their humanitarian work. Photo courtesy of Kung Fu Nuns
Not only did this make a real, visible difference, but it also showed their detractors what 700 Buddhist women could achieve together.
“After the earthquake, we heard that girls were being sold because their families believed that they weren’t capable of doing anything to help rebuild,” Konchok said.
“But we have been doing so much work, and doing it ourselves. We told these people: ‘Look, we are girls, and we can do it, so why can’t yours? We are from the same place, the same culture; why are you pushing your girls back? You should have faith in your daughters and encourage them. Why don’t you give them a chance?’ This especially shocked us because we are nuns, but we are also sisters and daughters too.”
Now that they and their fellow nuns are achieving international recognition for their work, they hope that they can inspire a similar change in the wider world. But, of course, being confined to their humble surroundings, they are taking their movement one step at a time.
“If we leave an impact on one person and that person impacts on another, eventually we will begin to see people change their way of thinking, until it spreads throughout whole communities, Konchok said. “Here (at Trust Conference), we have met all these people who support us and what we do. That makes it seem like a bigger change is coming. We may only effect that change in a small part of the world, but it is still a change.”
Kung Fu Nuns perform kung fu techniques. Photo courtesy of Kung Fu Nuns
At Trust Conference, Wangchuk and Konchok wowed the crowd with their high kicks and somersaults on stage. But more impressively, the young women roused the audience with wisdom beyond their years and an idealism that perhaps the older, more experienced attendees had since replaced with cynicism.
They talked about the importance of not only supporting women from an early age, but also better educating boys so that they grow up to respect women. They summarized a vision of equality about which they spoke so enthusiastically to me earlier that day.
“Most boys are told that they have all the power in the house, and girls are told to sit silently,” Konchok said. “But the problem is that’s what has been passed down to them by parents. I want parents to teach their daughters to be strong, to defend themselves. It’s not compulsory that you need to know kung fu or to fight. It’s more the mentality they have to change.”
Wangchuk agreed: “We’re not saying that men can’t change. We can – we have to – change their thinking. But it’s up to parents, too. Don’t warn your daughter not to go out; warn your sons to behave well and treat women with respect.
“Until we are all equal, as long as we push one part of society down, no matter whether that be women or some other demographic, we will never achieve peace.”
Courtesy of INSP.ngo
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