KATHMANDU — A Buddhist nun raped by five men on a bus is facing ostracism from her religious life.
"The religious dictum requires a nun to be virgin. So, it will be difficult to take her back," the president of Nepal, Tamang Ghedung Kumar Yonjan, said in an article in the Nepal Republic Media. "But we will lobby for her reinstatement as it is a unique incident."
An article in GreaterKashmir.com explained that some "orthodox Buddhist organizations" condemned the attack, but said "she had lost her religion as she had lost her celibacy." This led to an outcry, the article continued, that included other Buddhists "citing incidents from the Buddhist scriptures to show how the Buddha absolved a nun of blame after she was drugged and raped by a monk."
When pressed by the Times of India, Sherpa expressed regret about the attack, but said, "A vessel that is damaged once can no longer be used to keep water. … Buddhism all over the world says this. Even the Dalai Lama says you can't be a monk or nun after marriage."
One of Nepal's most popular singers, a 40-year-old Buddist nun named Choying Drolma has come to the stigmatized nun's defense. The Times of India reported that Drolma "offered her a new home at Arya Tara, the school run by the Nuns' Welfare Foundation. Choying founded the non-profit organization with the money earned through her singing to provide education to Buddhist nuns — anis — who mostly remain neglected while monks have greater access to education."
"She is still a nun at heart and she didn't lose her virginity willingly," Drolma told the Nepal Republic Media. "I will consult our gurus and maybe she would be taken back after some sort of cleansing rituals."
"This could have happened to anybody," Drolma told The Independent. "Right now, the most important thing is to treat her like a human being and then later we can look into the matter of whether she is still a nun."
The involvement of Drolma will "help wash off the stigma attached to the poor nun," Nepal24Hours.com said.
The Times of India reported that Choying helped pay for medical expenses for the nun and is working to keep the five alleged attackers in jail until the trial.
Buddhist Nunsense: East vs. West over gang rape
Article by: SUSAN HOGAN , Star Tribune, August 9, 2011
We expect religious professionals – monks, nuns and clergy – to be more merciful than the rest of us. It’s what they devote their lives to embodying.
But there appears to be no mercy for a 29-year-old Buddhist nun from Nepal,who was allegedly raped by five men on a bus last month. After the attack, more than a dozen Buddhist organizations signed a statement that said she could no longer be a nun because she wasn’t a virgin.
That hardline stance has pitted Buddhists from the East against American Buddhists, who are rightly shocked by the archaic, sexist beliefs and the utter lack of mercy.
At its heart, Buddhism is supposed to be about compassion. On that note, the hardliners are failing miserably.
Imagine the horror of being raped – especially for a nun who has lived a celibate life. Then imagine the very people you need for support to get through this horrific event discarding you like trash.
In the long run, the nun is better off getting away from these heartless hypocrites, who don’t practice the mercy that they preach.
But in the short term, she’s being traumatized on far too many levels. And the trial is yet to come, when her attackers will no doubt say she that provoked the crime.
As if to excuse the rotten behavior, an official of the Nepal Buddhist Federation, told the Times of India, “Such a thing never happened in the Buddha’s lifetime . . . So he did not leave instructions about how to deal with the situation.”
Isn’t that where common sense and compassion should kick in? How about seeking justice for a rape victim instead of re-victimizing her?
My guess is the Buddha wouldn’t embrace the message they're sending to rape victims or women.
The federation was forced to reconsider its stance after its hard-heartedness stirred an international outcry.
"[The federation] will do everything in its power to help restore the dignity of the nun and continue to fight for justice," said a statement on its website.
The victim was associated with the Karma Samtenling Nunnery at Pharping in Nepal. She was living in India to pursue studies.
Ani Choying Drolma, a popular Buddhist singer in Nepal, who’s also a nun, spoke out in the victim’s defense. She also offered her a place to live and help with medical expenses.
Now that’s compassion.
“The most important thing is to treat her like a human being and then later we can look into the matter of whether she is still a nun," Drolma told news outlets.
Not still a nun? Seriously?
“She is still a nun at heart and she didn’t lose her virginity willingly,” Drolma said. Even so, Drolma believes a cleansing ritual may be in order.
Oh good grief. The nun is a gang rape victim, and she’s being treated as though she has a contagious disease and is somehow to blame. It’s atrocious.
To me, the victim’s heart is pure. It’s her fellow monks and nuns that need the cleansing.
Gangraped Nepal nun now faces expulsion from nunnery
Times of India, July 11
From one of the most disadvantaged Adivasi communities of Nepal, a 21-year-old Buddhist nun who was gang-raped by five men last month in a public bus, now faces the additional ordeal of being stripped of her religious habit and turned out of the nunnery where she had been apprenticed for almost 10 years.
The young woman's family told TNN that she was still in a state of shock after having wavered between life and death in a hospital in India's border town of Siliguri. But she could no longer be considered a bhikshuni (Buddhist nun) after the rape, Nepal's Buddhist organisations said.
While condemning the attack and deploring the communist government's ignorance of a "rarest of rare" crime in Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha, 15 Buddhist organisations said that as a result, she had lost "her religion" and could be no longer regarded as fit to be a nun.
"Such a thing never happened in the Buddha's lifetime," said Norbu Sherpa, an official of Nepal Buddhist Federation. "So he did not leave instructions about how to deal with the situation. Buddhists all over the world adhere to what he had laid down: that a person can no longer be considered ordained in case of having a physical relationship. It's applicable to both men and women."
Now the victim, whose family is already reeling under the burden of paying the Indian hospital nearly Rs 3 lakh for her treatment, can no longer go back to the nunnery in Pharping, the little town in central Nepal with a concentration of Buddhist monasteries, where she had been admitted when she was about 12 years old.
Asked if it was not a gross injustice to the woman who was a victim, Sherpa was regretful but firm. "A vessel that is damaged once can no longer be used to keep water," he said. "Buddhism all over the world says this. Even the Dalai Lama says you can't be a monk or nun after marriage."
Regarded as one of the most progressive religions in the world, this is a little-known face of Buddhism that is more a matter of interpretation by the followers of the Buddha than probably the teachings of the compassionate one himself. Compared to the interpretation, the church, still vilified in Nepal despite the former Hindu kingdom becoming secular five years ago, supports its wronged nuns and monks with compassion.
Pastor Robin Rai of the Catholic church in Nepal said the church would not throw out a raped nun. "She is the victim," he told TNN. "To us, she is still a virgin. She remains a nun as long as she belongs to Christ."
The Nepal Tamang Lama Gedung added a sympathetic note, saying it would provide care for the victim.
The 21-year-old was raped on June 24 in a bus while travelling in eastern Nepal. Due to the rains, the bus arrived at the destination very late and she was forced to spend the night inside it. Her attackers are the driver of the bus, his two helpers, and the driver and helper of another bus. They also looted the money she was carrying with her.
The woman belongs to the Tamang community, one of the worst victims of human traffickers and suffering from a high degree of illiteracy and abject poverty.
Nepal's 'singing nun' comes to gangraped nun's rescue
KATHMANDU: A 40-year-old Buddhist nun who began as a rebel and then transformed into one of Nepal's most popular singing stars, has now created another milestone in Nepal's religious as well as social history by offering sanctuary to a nun half her age, who became stigmatised after being gangraped last month.
Choying Drolma, the red-robed, tonsured Buddhist nun whose prayer chants have won her thousands of followers in Nepal, China and the West, has now also become the saviour of a 21-year-old nun who was thought to have lost her right to remain a nun after being raped by five men in a bus.
On Tuesday, after the dazed victim was discharged from hospital, Choying offered her a new home at Arya Tara, the school run by Nuns' Welfare Foundation.
Choying founded the non-profit organisation with the money earned through her singing to provide education to Buddhist nuns – anis – who mostly remain neglected while monks have greater access to education.
Choying Drolma, the red-robed, tonsured Buddhist nun whose prayer chants have won her thousands of followers in Nepal, China and the West, has now also become the saviour of a 21-year-old nun who was thought to have lost her right to remain a nun after being raped by five men in a bus.
On Tuesday, after the dazed victim was discharged from hospital, Choying offered her a new home at Arya Tara, the school run by Nuns' Welfare Foundation.
Choying founded the non-profit organisation with the money earned through her singing to provide education to Buddhist nuns – anis – who mostly remain neglected while monks have greater access to education.
Once criticised by the Buddhist community for her global tours, big cars and unashamed fondness for Hindi films and songs, Choying has continued on her own way, heedless of critics. She has featured in magazines like Marie Claire and co-authored a biography, " Singing for Freedom", using the royalty from the book to start a diagnostic centre for treating kidney diseases.
When the raped nun's uncle came to her seeking help, Choying immediately put up NRS 30,000 for medical treatment, following it up with appeals to friends. Now they have opened an account in Kathmandu's Mega Bank in the name of the nun, raising over NRS 200,000 within a short while.
"This is for her financial security," Choying told TNN. "The law says the rapists will have to pay her compensation. But the way things work here, that will take a very long time. We have to find a way to protect her."
Choying has also been in touch with Kran Bajracharya, a police officer who, she said, helped immensely by taking up the rape with police in eastern Nepal to ensure that the five men arrested for the attack were not freed. However, she is now concerned that the worst is yet to come.
"When the trial starts, the attackers will get lawyers who will try to pin the blame on the victim," she said. "It will be an ugly thing and my primary concern is how she will deal with it emotionally."
When the raped nun's uncle came to her seeking help, Choying immediately put up NRS 30,000 for medical treatment, following it up with appeals to friends. Now they have opened an account in Kathmandu's Mega Bank in the name of the nun, raising over NRS 200,000 within a short while.
"This is for her financial security," Choying told TNN. "The law says the rapists will have to pay her compensation. But the way things work here, that will take a very long time. We have to find a way to protect her."
Choying has also been in touch with Kran Bajracharya, a police officer who, she said, helped immensely by taking up the rape with police in eastern Nepal to ensure that the five men arrested for the attack were not freed. However, she is now concerned that the worst is yet to come.
"When the trial starts, the attackers will get lawyers who will try to pin the blame on the victim," she said. "It will be an ugly thing and my primary concern is how she will deal with it emotionally."
