Kung fu Nuns practise karma with a kick

Nepal's kung fu nuns practise karma with a kick



It is a hot, cloudless morning on a hillside on the outskirts of Kathmandu and dozens of nuns arrange themselves into lines around a golden Buddhist shrine.
In unison, each slams a clenched fist into their opposite palm, breathes deeply and waits, motionless in the rising heat.
But these devotees are not here to pray or to meditate, for they have gathered to undergo a rigorous and aggressive martial arts routine as the world's first order of kung fu nuns.
The sisters of the Amitabha Drukpa Nunnery -- aged from nine to 52 -- come from across Nepal, India, Tibet and Bhutan to learn the ancient Chinese discipline of kung fu, which they believe will help them be better Buddhists.
Every day, they exchange their maroon robes and philosophical studies for a intense 90-minute session of hand chops, punches, shrieks and soaring high kicks.
"The main reason for practising kung fu is for fitness and for health, but it also helps with meditation and self-defence," 14-year-old Jigme Wangchuk Lhamo, who was sent to the nunnery from Bhutan four years ago, told AFP.