Just about 2 weeks after my arrival to Nepal, when I started to work for the Kathmandu Post my very first task arrived – "The Kung Fu Nuns of Amitabha Mountain" my assignment sheet read. I couldn’t wait till the next morning to go visit this Buddhist temple up in the mountains and for the entire day observe how they combine religion with martial arts.
After my first ride on a motorcycle on the overcrowded streets of Kathmandu, the reporter and I were picked up by a couple of nuns who drove us up the hills in their jeep on steep, rocky road. With motion sickness in progress we passed the gates with 5 statues of seated Buddhas who overlook the Valley… We were up high in many different ways..
Founded and designed by His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa 18 years ago, this nunnery is famous for its Kung Fu lessons, which the nuns attend twice a day. In contrast to monastic communities living under traditional patriarchal standards where nuns are treated as servants and denied the same opportunities that monks enjoy, in Druk Amitabha, the environment is quite different. Gender equality is promoted by His Holiness himself.
Quite fascinating is the health clinic they run, which opens daily for the nuns as well as locals from surrounding villages. The clinic practices Western medicine alongside Tibetan and homeopathic methods and there is an eye clinic as well.
After this inaugural visit that I found rather overwhelming, it was not even a week later when I decided to come back with a colleague reporter to spend a night at Amitabha to document a whole 24 hours of their routines, and to have the privilege of meeting His Holiness.
I have to say, I never felt safer on an assignment before…
