These are the Kung-Fu nuns: Nepal’s only female order to practice the deadly martial art made famous by Bruce Lee. In the inherently patriarchal Buddhist monastic system, women are considered inferior to men. Monks usually occupy all positions of leadership, leaving nuns to the household duties and other tedious chores. But in 2008, the leader of the 1,000-year-old Drukpa lineage, His Holiness The Gyalwang Drukpa, changed all that.
After a visit to Vietnam where he saw nuns receiving combat training, he decided to bring the idea back to Nepal by encouraging his nuns to learn self-defence. His simple motive: to promote gender equality and empower the young women, who mostly come from poor backgrounds in India and Tibet.
Those with exceptional physical and mental strength are taught the brick-breaking technique, made famous in countless martial arts movies, which is only performed on special occasions like His Holiness’ birthday.
The nuns, most of them with black belts, agree that Kung Fu helps them feel safe, develops self-confidence, gets them strong and keeps them fit. But an added bonus is the benefit of concentration, which allows them to sit and meditate for longer periods of time.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160916-the-kung-fu-nuns-of-nepal
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ReplyDeleteI think this is the same article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8618325.stm
I had a (huge, ex-heavyweight boxer) friend who taught wing chun - the style these nuns are using - he always said he thought it was more effective when practised by those of smaller stature.
I like wing chun. It's a relatively soft ("softness" in wushu doesn't mean weakness), meditative style which is perfectly suited to nun use. Although if it comes down to it, it's also perfectly suited to kicking some ass as well. Like it's parent style, Shaolin White Crane it doesn't rely on outright physical strength so much as awareness, leverage and balance. Both styles were created by women originally.
Also, minor point of pedantry - Bruce Lee made jeet kune do famous, which is heavily based on wing chun but also contains elements from other styles, including fencing!