Second to nun

In the Tibetan community, where religion is the basis of a cultural and social identity, encouraging nuns to become effective agents determining the courses of their own lives as well as being leaders, has meant immense recognition and respect for them, says LAXMI MURTHY.

THE hypnotic chanting and the steady clash of cymbals is all pervading as one approaches a temple in Geden Choeling. This nunnery in upper-Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), seat of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, is the oldest Tibetan nunnery, and also one of the largest here. Roughly translated, Geden Choeling means "Home to the virtuous ones who devote their lives to the Buddha Dharma". Like this one, other nunneries of Dolma Ling, Shugsep, Jamyang Choeling and Tilokpur are also centres of learning and spiritual development. Hundreds of nuns once followed the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959. Since then, the trickle of nuns along with monks and lay people from Tibet into India has turned into a steady stream.

For over 2,000 years, Buddhist nuns have embodied moral and spiritual values on the path to enlightenment. Numbering as many as one million at certain periods in history, they have exerted a powerful, and often unacknowledged, influence in Asian societies. Today, as prominent members of the Tibetan community in exile, they have a significant role to play. Monks and nuns comprise almost 10 per cent of the one and a half lakh-strong Tibetan community in India. Says the co-director of the Tibetan Nuns Project, Rev. Lobsang Dechen, "Tibetan nuns have the potential to play decisive leadership roles and shape the future of women in our community."

In traditional male dominated societies, nunneries afforded women one of the few viable alternatives to marriage. Moreover, lacking a system of universal education, such institutions provided ordinary women with an opportunity for learning. Says Thupten Choezin, Superintendent of Geden Choeling, "I had a desire to study, and go deeper into philosophical matters. Since I was sure that marriage and domestic life were not meant for me, I managed to convince my family that I wanted to become a nun." While Choezin took this major decision at the age of 25, several nuns enter the nunnery as young as even nine or 10 years old. "These young girls intuitively recognise that they have the calling," explains Choezin. Leaving the nunnery, although difficult and posing several dilemmas, is possible at any stage, since voluntary dedication is stressed.

Life in the nunnery is tough by any standard - strict, self- imposed discipline and a rigorous study of Buddhist philosophy and religion, Tibetan history, language and literature, English, Hindi, the social sciences and mathematics. After the completion of a 13-year study programme, an U-ma Ramjapa degree (equivalent to an M.A.) is awarded. Several nunneries in India now aim for Geshes, a degree equivalent to a doctorate. Tibetan nuns have historically not enjoyed the same opportunities for study as monks. "The lower social standing of nuns as compared to monks can be attributed to a lack of educational opportunities," points out Lobsang Dechen, who is working towards extending the full range of the Tibetan monastic curriculum to nunneries as well.

In Tibet, nuns were not permitted to join the Great Prayer Festival of "Monlam", and were spectators to this event like the lay people. Nuns were expected to sit behind monks during prayers even if they were more learned. However, changes are taking place.

For the first time in the Tibetan community after coming into exile, nuns were permitted to join the "Monlam" and take confessions during the days of the "Soljong" (fast). In a community where religion is the basis of a cultural and social identity, encouraging nuns to become effective agents determining the courses of their own lives as well as being leaders, has meant immense recognition and respect for this section of women.

In addition to religious instruction, nunneries recognise the need to focus on information and experience. Besides including secular subjects like mathematics, social and general science, student nuns are also trained in paper making, thanka painting (exquisite silk scrolls), gardening, environmental awareness and calligraphy. Health education and training in therapeutic massage and other forms of healing has resulted in the emergence of effective health workers among the community of nuns.

Nuns have also taken the lead in protesting against the repressive political regime following the occupation of Tibet by China in the 1950s. Chong-ksoe Jetsun-ma Rinpoche, from a nunnery south of Lhasa, was not only a learned philosopher, but was renowned for her courage. In 1959, she was identified as one of those women who opposed Chinese rule, imprisoned, and later tortured and killed. Since then, women have played an increasingly important role in non-violent resistance against Chinese occupation. The peaceful protest by 15 nuns from the Garu Nunnery on December 15, 1987 marks the first demonstration led solely by women. After the lifting of martial law in Lhasa, a series of demonstrations by nuns in Tibet led to severe reprisals.

"Monks and nuns form a large percentage of the one million Tibetans killed since the Chinese invasion of 1949," reveals the president of the Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet, Yeshe Togden, a monk who was jailed for his political beliefs. This association of ex-political prisoners documents human rights violations, and also provides monetary and other support for ex-political prisoners. "Once monks and nuns are jailed in Tibet, they cannot go back to their gompas (monastries and nunneries), because the gompas are closely watched by the Chinese authorities," adds Togden.

The 1990's witnessed an increasing influx of monks and nuns into India, seeking religious and political freedom. Many have been imprisoned and tortured in Tibet, and are in need of healing and support - provided to a large extent by the Tibetan Nuns Project. Heart rending testimonies speak of indomitable courage against all odds. In halting English, 24-year-old Dolma (not her real name) reveals her story: "I was in a nunnery in Kham province, and participated in a peaceful demonstration. While we were shouting slogans. I was arrested in the Trisam detention centre, I was given electric shocks on my genitals, and tongue. After that, I was thrown into solitary confinement, with my hands tied behind my back. I had to endure unspeakable torture for over two years, but I did not say the pro-China slogans they wanted me to say," she declares proudly. Adversity and extreme privations seem to have strengthened these women, rather than broken their spirit. With the support of her sister nuns, Dolma has been gradually rebuilding her life, hoping to serve her community with commitment.

"The challenge now for the new generation of Buddhist nuns is to capture the spirit behind the precepts and interpret them in an authentic, yet viable, way conducive to personal growth," avers nun Karma Lekshe Tsomo. In war-torn Tibet, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, for instance, where Buddhist cultures are under threat, political adversity and personal tragedy become transformed, serving as stimuli to spiritual practice and community service. Similarly, the threats to human civilisation posed by ecological devastation, consumerism, violence and ideological intolerence, may serve as occasions for recapturing the spiritual import embedded in these ancient monastic codes.

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