The kung fu nuns were recently in town to showcase their skills. Rupa lamu and Jigme Konchok spoke to I Kaur about their training process and the significance of this art
Their main goal in life is to attain enlightenment and their ultimate focus is meditation but the Drukpa nuns from ladakh want to achieve more than that. It is said that nuns are not given as much leeway as monks and are usually suppressed. But these nuns, who are not older than 25, could challenge monks with equality. They are the kung fu nuns. At a special gathering by IGNCA recently, these nuns showcased their martial art skills in various forms like dragon dance, self-defence moves and self-tolerance acts. Rupa lamu, a 20-year-old nun feels that kung fu is the best way for them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men. “We are girls and we are always taunted about how we can never do anything. But we wanted to show people what we can do and we have been successful. With kung fu we have learnt how to channelise our energies and it helps us being tolerant,” she said.
These kung fu nuns started their training when Vietnamese nuns came to visit their monastery. “These nuns used to do kung fu and they were empowered. For some reason, the way they walked and talked has a level of confidence and self-esteem that was missing in us. That is the time our holiness decided to introduce kung fu for us as well,” shared another nun Jigme Konchok. According to her, the process of learning was extremely hard but she never gave up. “It was tough. We were not used to it at all. But we worked hard and the harder we worked the simpler it became. We began feeling more confident and when we were alone, we were no longer bothered about our security,” she added.
Kung fu was introduced to create gender equality and women empowerment. These nuns say that their purpose of learning kung fu is not just self defence. Kung fu requires high levels of concentration and meditation which helps these nuns in their higher ambition — of attaining enlightenment. “There is never a situation where we use these skills for our self defence. But we know it helps us with our inner strength. So we work on it so much that it strengthens us. This helps us while meditating,” explained Konchok.
During the event, these nuns showcased a lot of things and the first one was a dragon dance. Dragon dance is a part of kung fu, said Konchok. “We run and jump in it and do a special dance which requires movement. Traditionally, dragon is the Drukpa symbol. Our dance is integrated with martial arts,” she elaborated.
They also presented an hour-long self-defence and tolerance session where they did kung fu — hands and feet, used swords — big and small, sticks, flags and fans. lamu said, “We are first tested by the Vietnamese instructor that we have. He sees if we are strong or weak and then assigns us the kind of kung fu we need to do. Then we do meditation and train in that particular field.”
Some of the acts of tolerance these people performed were highly risky if not done with full concentration. One act had a heap of bricks kept on a nun’s head and then hammered by someone. lamu explained that this was done after years of meditation. “Even the slightest of fear and lack of concentration can lead to a lot of damage. That is why the nuns are prepared for that tolerance. If they can tolerate that, then they can tolerate anything,” she added.