Tibetan nuns blending law and faith
Tibetan nuns visit a shopping mall in Beijing on May 18. Photo: Lin Meilian/GT
Spot the one odd out. Gap, H&M, Zara and Tibetan nuns. Many were shocked at the sight of nuns wearing habits running around and exploring one of the most fashionable shopping malls in Beijing on a Friday afternoon.
Apart from standing out sartorially, they seemed wholly out of place, with no idea on where to go and no interest in summer fashions. While passers-by pulled out cameras to snap pictures of them being scared at taking the elevator, they bravely asked people in Putonghua where they could buy a cell phone. For those having never left Tibet and having spent years in the Himalayas, a cell phone is a bridge to the outside world.
This sightseeing was part of a week-long political training program for Tibetan nuns from 184 nunneries launched by the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF). It aims to strengthen their sense of national identity and patriotism through study, lectures and sightseeing.
In mid-May, some 28 officials among the nuns, ranging from 23 to 49 years old, from 28 nunneries in Tibet were invited to attend training in Beijing. None of them had ever been to the capital, and many of them spoke only a little bit of Putonghua.
"Tibetan nuns not only make contributions to promote Tibetan Buddhism, but also contribute to social stability and ethnic unity," said Chen Xiurong, vice president of the ACWF. "It is our responsibility to guide them on how to love the country and the religion."
Lang Weiwei, a professor at Southwest University for Nationalities, praised the program. "It helps them to realize their first identity is a citizen of the country, and then understand what their rights and responsibilities are as citizens," he told the Global Times.
"Only when they understand the country's policy can they behave accordingly," he continued.
Nuns from Tibet receive a week-long training program organized by the All-China Women's Federation in Beijing. Photo: Lin Meilian Hello Beijing
Padma Tsodrin, 44, from Shigatse prefecture, was busy checking out cell phones at the Nokia counter. Speaking little Putonghua, she used a combination of body language and a calculator to communicate.
Her life back in Tibet is hard, from an outsider's perspective. Ever since becoming a nun when she was a teenager, she has spent her entire adult life in the nunnery located halfway up a mountain with around 100 other nuns.
They have very few visitors to burn incense. Roads connecting their nunnery to the outside world are still under construction so they have to walk at least an hour down the mountain to find human contact. They completely rely on themselves for everything, such as repairing houses, carrying water and other forms of manual labor.
Last year, the local government began offering pensions and medical insurance while providing electricity, water and telecommunications to all monasteries. Now that Padma Tsodrin's nunnery has electricity, she wants a cell phone.
Younger Tibetan monks and nuns are also covered by the medical insurance program as the local government pays for 85 percent of their medical costs.
Around 1,900 monks and nuns across Tibet will receive the basic pension this year, according to Lhasa's human resources and social security bureau.
Seeing the bright lights
Like Padma Tsodrin, other nuns were also stunned by this eye-opening trip to Beijing. They were excited at discoveries like the elevator, the range of flavors of ice cream, visiting major temples, but most importantly, at the courses of religious policy and regulations.
Migyur, a researcher from the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China, told the Global Times that the biggest success of the program was helping Tibetan nuns to go out and see changes in the country.
Tibetan nuns eat ice cream while visiting a shopping mall in Beijing on May 18. Photo: Lin Meilian/GT "They don't have the opportunity to travel. It is necessary to bring them out and let them see the world," he said.
The strict codes and rules of monastic life often dictate that nuns will spend most of their lives never venturing far from their spiritual homes. As such, this training program is a rare opportunity for them to experience a side of China far removed from their daily lives.
Tibetan nuns are a group unlikely to get attention from the public, said Lang. He and his team did a study a decade ago and found out that Tibetan women became nuns because the vocation either reflected their values or their disappointment with the outside world, such as being overwhelmed with labor work or suffering domestic violence.
His study also found out that the increasing number of unregistered nuns had become "a source of instability." The increasing number of nuns and limited numbers of nunneries in Sichuan's Ganzi prefecture left some people no choice but to become nuns at home.
Professor Zhang Juan from Northwest University for Nationalities once studied Tibetan nuns in Xiahe county, Gansu Province, and found many had limited education. Some had dropped out of high school and some were illiterate. Therefore, Tibetan nuns enjoy a lower social status than monks who often get the chance to study in big monasteries.
The situation has been changing over the years. Among the 55 nuns from Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces that participated in the first political training in late April, only two of them have a college degree and 26 went to high school.
Similar training programs are also carried within Tibet by the local women's federation. After completing the training, nuns are sent to inland cities for field research.
Loving their country
About 1,000 monks and nuns on Monday signed their names across Tibet's Shannan prefecture, resolving to comply with the law and dharma, choose right from wrong, advocate harmony and pursue peace, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
"A Buddhist should never forget himself or herself as a votary for the Buddha, and should see it as their responsibility to work for the well-being of the religion, people and the country," said Dawa Tsering, who led the signing at Samye Monastery.
Tibetan nuns visit a shopping mall in Beijing on May 18. Photo: Lin Meilian/GT Gyaltsen Norbu, the 11th Panchen Lama, expressed the same wish to Tibetan nuns in Beijing on the first day of the training session.
"You should cherish your training opportunity, enhance your monastic administrative capacity and love your country," he said.
The group of Tibetan nuns are considered to be an important part to bridge between the Communist Party of China and Tibetan women, said Butri, director of training for Tibet Women's Federation under the ACWF and one of the team leaders of training in Beijing. She told the Global Times that there is a growing need for nuns to administer their own nunneries and contribute to the community.
"They make contributions to promote the maintenance of normal religious order and improve stability in the nunnery by offering services and doing good things for people," she said.
Migyur the Buddhism researcher said that people in his village would like to follow the instructions of Tibetan nuns. "For example, some villagers would ask their opinion about whether to cut down trees to clear land for construction or not. Therefore, they are the perfect people to promote the State's policy."
The campaign has seen its share of awards. In 2011, the Tibet regional government unveiled a scheme to appraise its monasteries and award clergymen who demonstrate patriotic and law-abiding behavior every year, aiming to encourage clergymen to promote the maintenance of normal religious order and improve stability in monasteries, according to Xinhua.
About 59 model monasteries and 6,773 law-abiding monks and nuns were recognized for their model behavior by the local government. Each law-abiding clergy received a 4,000 yuan ($ 635) prize in April.
Padma Choling, chairman of the Tibet regional government, reminded the nuns of their responsibility in carrying out their duties by saying that "enhancing the clergy's awareness of the law and their ability to perform their official duties according to the law is the most effective way to resist the Dalai clique."
Gyaltsen Jampa, 33, who has been a nun for nine years, said she could not wait to share her experiences with the nuns back home. "I will teach them the things I've learned here and tell them what is really happening outside of Tibet."
Source: Global Times
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