Ruminations: Disciplined, Tough, Motivated, Drukpa Nuns, Nepalese Himalaya

Nepali Buddhist nuns practise kung fu at the Amitabha Drukpa Nunnery on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Dressed alike with matching shaved heads, the women and girls finish their daily exercise and move on to their other duties as part of the Kung Fu Nuns of Nepal, a name they have proudly adopted. Prakash Mathema/AFP via Getty

"The biggest challenge has been explaining to people how dangerous this virus is."
Jigme Konchok Lhamo, 28, Buddhist Drupka nun

"We are scared ... But fear can't stop us."
"We can't change the whole world by ourselves but even if we manage to help one life, that's a big success. We feel happy about it. We feel encouraged."
Jigme Yeshe Lhamo, 30, Buddhist Drupka nun

"They are a new generation of women who are not afraid to break century-old taboos and stereotypes."
"They took their practice off the meditation cushion and into the world -- often times against criticism and threats to their safety."
Carrie Lee, former president, Live to Love International

A Kung Fu nun hands a woman face masks. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Handout by Live to Love International

These nuns are different than how nuns are traditionally conceived. For one thing, His Holiness, The Gyalwang Drupka, leader of the thousand-year-old sect, a decade ago gave encouragement to the nuns to learn Kung Fu martial arts reasoning it would give them exercise for better health, and confidence in themselves and their mission. Ever since, they have been dubbed the "Kung Fu nuns".

Women of the Drukpa lineage representing the sole female order in the Buddhist monastic system are also unique in that they share equal status with monks.

They broke ranks with tradition when they eschewed expectations of focusing primarily on cooking and cleaning, and set aside the injunction not permitting them to exercise. And now, during the global pandemic they set out to break old taboos and search for new horizons in their zeal to do good in their world through influencing the actions of others prone to superstition and surrender to what they deem to be preordained fate.

The Drukpa nuns have undertaken the dangerous and arduous work involved in trekking through the oxygen-thin altitudes of the Himalaya to reach small, isolated tribal villages where COVID-19 has struck, just as it has elsewhere in the world. Bearing weighted backpacks, hundreds of the Buddhist nuns garbed in maroon robes dispense health advice to villagers sickened by COVID, and destitute.

The vital aid they offer consisting of sacks of staples; rice and lentils, toiletries and face masks hauled on their backs is meant to save the lives of the helpless villagers, to convince them first of the dire threat that COVID-19 poses to their well-being. The dedicated nuns' activities in delivering aid has benefited villagers on both sides of the India-Nepal border. About two thousand indigent families have so far been supported by the nuns.

Villagers line up to receive aid from the Kung Fu nuns. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Handout by Live to Love International

They do their best to convince the villagers that the virus is not "just a cold". Without access to news sources taken for granted elsewhere in the world, villagers tend to shrug off the nuns' efforts through training sessions on social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing. Nonetheless, the nuns have taken to working industriously with little attention to the hours they sacrifice to ensure food and hygiene items are delivered to COVID-struck villagers in the mountains.

The Indian district of Lahani is home to half the global network of roughly 700 Drukpa nuns. The inhabitants of the village in its entirety have all been infected by the virus, including relatives of some of the nuns. The nuns have also realized that for women, the pandemic has highlighted added challenges.

"When I spoke to my cousin, she said maintaining menstrual hygiene was very difficult because sanitary pads are not available and even if they are, they don't have enough money to purchase them."
"It's a very big issue for women."
Nima Sherpa, 28, northern Nepal

This situation has informed the nuns what their next mission would do well to focus on; women's health, including hygiene specifically addressing menstruation. Teaching villagers as well, how to perform breast self-examinations for cancerous lumps.