By Shyamal Sinha

A day after the 62nd anniversary of the death of the renowned social reformer Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre (DAIC) in the national capital .

The Dr. Ambedkar International Centre is a research center for socioeconomic studies that is intended as a government think-tank on socio-economic issues, with a focus on Dr. Ambedkar and Buddhist studies. “The center will assist researchers from across the world who want to take up social justice issues concerning Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, women, and minority [sic],” a government official said earlier this week. (The Indian Express)

During his inauguration speech, Modi expressed hope that the DAIC “will prove to be an inspiration for the promotion of the thoughts and teachings of Dr. Ambedkar,” and that it would be an important place both for research on social and economic issues, and for the young “where they can see and understand the vision of ‘Babasaheb’ Ambedkar.” (The Hindu)

Modi also announced that the government was developing five sites related to Dr. Ambedkar’s life into pilgrimage spots. These five sites—in Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Mhow (officially known as Dr. Ambedkar Nagar in Madhya Pradesh), and London—he observed, would be a homage from the present generation.

The center was originally proposed in 1992, and after many years of delays, Modi finally laid the first stone on 20 April 2015. Built on a 3.25-acre plot in Janpath, the four-storied building houses a research center, an exhibit on the life of Dr. Ambedkar, a 700-seat auditorium, two lecture halls, and a public library with 10,000 books and access to 200,000 e-books and 70,000 journals.

Dr. Ambedkar’s life and teachings informed the design of the building, which utilizes transparency, inclusiveness, and symbolism to express a spirit of democracy and equality, and combines modern architecture with Buddhist elements: “The stone clad façade on this modern edifice reflects the strength, firm determination, and exemplary resoluteness; the inspiring traits of Dr. Ambedkar’s personality,” sayd the Dr. Ambedkar Foundation. “It is also embedded with the subtle elements of Buddhist Architecture reminding us of the eternal values of compassion, universal brotherhood and equality among all, the corner stone of the philosophy of Dr. Ambedkar.” (Dr. Ambedkar Foundation)

The two entrance gates are modeled after the Sanchi Stupa’s gateway and have pillars engraved with the Buddha’s teachings. The complex also houses a stone Dhyani Buddha statue, and an Ashok stupa, which at almost 70 feet is thought to be India’s tallest.

PM Modi also unveiled two giant bronze statues of Dr. Ambedkar at the complex today. “The two statues—one seated below the dome of the building and the other one standing outside—are each meant to represent two aspects of Ambedkar’s personality: as the father of the Indian constitution, and as the liberator,” said Anil Sutar, one of the two sculptors who crafted the statues. (The Indian Express)

Dr. Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, and politician, and a prolific scholar and social reformer. He was one of the most educated Indians of his time, holding doctorates from the University of London and Columbia University. He became independent India’s first law minister and was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. Having studied Buddhism for much of his life, Ambedkar formally accepted the Three Refuges and Five Precepts and converted to Buddhism shortly before his death, along with 500,000 supporters.

As well as inspiring the modern Buddhist movement in India, Dr. Ambedkar campaigned against social discrimination towards women and India’s “untouchable” Dalit caste. He was the principal architect of India’s first constitution and in 1955 founded the Buddhist Society of India. Three days before his death on 6 December 1956, Dr. Ambedkar completed the transcript for his final book, The Buddha and His Dhamma, an English-language treatise on Buddhism and the Buddha’s life, which was published posthumously.

By Shyamal Sinha

Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, considered by many as the Father of the Indian Constitution, remains a much-revered figure of modern India.

One of the highlights of his life was the decision to embrace Buddhism, two months before his unfortunate demise, along with lakhs of his followers in a simple, traditional ceremony at Deekshabhoomi, Nagpur, on October 14, 1956. It is a seminal moment in Dalit history.

Buddhist monk Bhadanta Galgedar Pragyanand, the youngest of seven monastics who conducted the Buddhist refuge ceremony for renowned Indian social activist and reformer Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1956, has passed away at King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in the northern Indian city of Lucknow. The Sri Lanka-born renunciate died on Thursday last week, just days before his 89th birthday.

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956), a celebrated scholar, activist, and social reformer popularly known as “Babasaheb,” was a vociferous campaigner against social discrimination who inspired the modern Buddhist movement in India. Having studied Buddhism for much of his life, Dr. Ambedkar accepted the Three Jewels and Five Precepts by formally converting to Buddhism shortly before his own death. Of the group of seven Buddhist monks who presided over the historic ceremony that would become a landmark in Indian Buddhist history, Venerable Bhadanta, born on 18 December 1928, was the last surviving member.

“He was brought in on 26 November after complaints of fever and chest pain, but had multiple age-related medical conditions,” said Prof. S. N. Sankhwar, chief medical superintendent at KGMU. “In the course of treatment, he was diagnosed of infection in lungs which had complicated because of his existing diseases particularly diabetes and blood pressure. The ailment led to his death due to cardio-respiratory failure.” (The Times of India)

Ven. Bhadanta had relatives in Sri Lanka who were unable to travel to India, The Times of India reported, although they were in regular contact with monks in Lucknow. Followers and well-wishers who came to Buddh Vihar to pay their respects to the monk included Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya.

Originally from Sri Lanka, Ven. Bhadanta, who came to India at the age of 13, was the most senior monk at Buddh Vihar, a temple in Lucknow, where he was cared for by his disciples. Dr. Ambedkar is reported to have visited twice Buddh Vihar during his lifetime—in 1948 and 1951. Ven. Bhadanta was only 20 when the two first met him.

“I came under guruji’s wing in October 1999 and it was from him that I imbibed the unending energy and will to work,” said disciple Bhikshu Dharam Priya “He had published 62 books on Buddhist teachings and had authored some of them.” (The Times of India)

“Guruji spoke little, but talking about Ambedkar would always energize him,” his disciples recounted. “He would tell us about the ceremony in Nagpur on 14 October 1956, where Babasaheb’s wife Savita Ambedkar was also present.” (The Times of India)

The seven monks who participated in ceremony for Dr. Ambedkar’s formal conversion to Buddhism also included Bhadant Chandramani Mahathero, Bhante Pragya Tiss, M. Sangh Ratan Mahathera, Bhikshi Dhamm Rakshit, H. Saddha Tiss, and H. Thamma Nand Mahathera.

“The atmosphere was euphoric,” Ven. Bhadanta said earlier this year, recalling the historic occasion on 14 October 1956 that he attended as a young monk. “Nearly [500,000] people had gathered to witness the spiritual conversion of ‘Babasaheb’ Bhimrao Ambedkar at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur in October 1956. By this time, he had already retired from politics.” (The Tribune)

After completing his own conversion, along with his wife, Dr. Ambedkar then proceeded to convert some 500,000 of his Dalit supporters who had gathered there that day.

Dr. Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, and politician, and a prolific scholar and social reformer. He was one of the most educated Indians of his time, holding doctorates from the University of London and Columbia University. He became independent India’s first law minister and was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.

As well as inspiring the modern Buddhist movement in India, Dr. Ambedkar campaigned against social discrimination towards women and India’s “untouchable” Dalit caste. He was the principal architect of India’s first constitution and in 1955 founded the Buddhist Society of India. Three days before his death on 6 December 1956, Dr. Ambedkar completed the transcript for his final book, The Buddha and His Dhamma, an English-language treatise on Buddhism and the Buddha’s life, which was published posthumously.

Of India’s population of more than 1.3 billion people, Buddhists account for some 0.7 per cent, according to data from the 2011 Census of India, of whom more than 73 per cent live in the western state of Maharashtra

By – Shyamal Sinha

Many orange-clad monks joined Cambodian Premier Hun Sen for a prayer ceremony by the famed Angkor temple, lauding “political stability” after the main opposition party was dissolved, an act that has cemented the strongman’s grip on power.

Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia since 1985, making him one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, an accolade earned through a mix of cold political strategy, deft public relations and repression.
His rule appears virtually assured after a court early this month disbanded the main opposition party ahead of next year’s elections.
As dawn rose over the tiered stone domes of Angkor Wat, Hun Sen joined prayers with 5,000 Buddhist monks, in a ceremony touted as celebrating peace and stability at the symbolic heart of Khmer power.
Graceful apsara dancers, fingers curled in the traditional art, went through their moves as thousands gathered for the event at the vast Angkor complex – the centrepiece of the Khmer empire which draws back to the 9th century.
Hun Sen, who has cast himself as a figure of stability in a country ravaged by the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, was front and centre of a morning of careful choreography.

Kneeling, hands clasped in prayer, he received blessings from monks who sang Buddhist mantras and scattered flower petals.
“We live with peace under the prime minister’s rule,” Prum Seab, 49, who was among the crowd said. “I am happy.”
Tourism minister Thong Khon warmed to the theme.
“We hold this ceremony for continuous prosperity … we pray for continued peace and stability,” he said, swatting away the question of a political crisis in the country.
“We have no crisis, but there are politicians who are having a crisis themselves,” he said.
Analysts had predicted a strong challenge to Hun Sen at next year’s election, after the youth vote in 2013 took the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to its best electoral result.
But Hun Sen has rallied in the intervening years, boosting his public profile through Facebook, while systematically using the kingdom’s pliant courts to hack away at the CNRP as well as critics in civil society and the media.
Cambodia’s main opposition party was finally dissolved this month over accusations it conspired with the United States in a treason plot.
The case was blasted by Washington as baseless, while rights groups said it has hastened the country’s descent into a de facto one-party state.
Hun Sen has turned up the anti-American rhetoric to justify the unprecedented crackdown which has included shuttering critical media with trumped-up tax charges or arresting journalists on allegations of spying.
In step, he has deepened Cambodia’s embrace of regional heavyweight China, whose low-interest loans and infrastructure schemes are driving a boom in the one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries.

By Shyamal Sinha

Chinese Buddhism has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, medicine, and material culture.

A grant has sent a university researcher along with six graduate students from the University of Arizona to China to study the rise of a unique form of Buddhism with its heart in Hangzhou, situated to the southeast of Shanghai.

While Buddhism began in India and had several key points of spread and development before it arrived in Hangzhou, the forms of Chan that have developed here from the 10th century onward became highly influential for the Buddhism that spread to Korea and Japan. Albert Welter, who heads UA’s Department of East Asian Studies and is a long-time specialist in Chinese texts, will lead the study—called the Hangzhou Project.

“This project looks at the Hangzhou region as a second homeland for Buddhism subsequent to India,” he said. “Usually the history of Buddhism is told from an Indian perspective, with little emphasis on East Asia, but that was just the first phase. From an East Asian perspective, phase two begins when Buddhism recedes in India and is no longer active. At that point, Hangzhou comes into its own.” (UA News)

A key aspect of the study will be shifting the focus of Buddhist history away from India and toward China as a new center for regional developments. This is a break with the long-standing Euro-American traditions of religious studies, which focus on the founder as the holder of the truest message, which is then changed and perhaps corrupted in different cultures and times.

“The current project aims to systematically reorient the study of East Asian Buddhism as an indigenous form, and not as part of an Indian trajectory,” said Welter. “The Hangzhou region became a kind of a ‘homeland’ for many Buddhists throughout the East Asian region who traced their lineages, doctrines, and teachings directly to Hangzhou regional Buddhist institutions.” The East Asian Buddhism that followed, according to Welter, “was largely independent and only tangentially related to its Indian forebears.” (UA News)

The project began with a US$28,500 International Research and Program Development, or IRPD, seed grant, co-funded by the UA’s offices of Research, Discovery & Innovation and Global Initiatives, and has secured a second, larger grant of US$173,292 going to fund three years from the Khyentse Foundation.

Additionally, Welter has received a fellowship grant from the American Council of Learned Societies, supported by the Taiwan-based Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation. With in-kind contributions from partner institutions in Hangzhou, US$550,000 has been committed to the project. The Khyentse Foundation grant also will support the continuation of UA’s Buddhist Studies Lecture Series and initiate a Khyentse Foundation Outstanding Student Award. (UA News)

A major factor of the project is partnerships with universities in China, including Zhejiang and Jiliang universities in Hangzhou, and Hangzhou Buddhist Academy. Students from UA will spend several weeks each year doing fieldwork in Hangzhou, and will collaborate with scholars from China as their research progresses.

“The combined effort of many people can produce something I could never dream of,” Said Welter. “That’s the model that this project and future Center for Buddhist Studies projects can offer down the road.” (UA News)

By  Shyamal Sinha

The International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) hosted its 18th general conference in Taiwan from 22–29 November, under the theme “A Conference on Interbeing: Transforming Conflict as Compassion,” aiming to provide platform for broad-based dialogue and cooperation to address the challenges facing engaged Buddhism over the next decade.

INEB co-founder Ajahn Sulak Sivaraksa underscored the fundamental Buddhist elements of bringing about social change at a global level to create the necessary conditions for a more peaceful, equitable society. “The word ‘interbeing’ is very much a Buddhist word coined by Thich Nhat Hanh,” he explained. “In the West, ‘being’ is about being an individual, but if you understand interbeing, we are all connected, which goes right to the fundamental teachings of the Buddha. Not only personally, but social and environmental interbeing—if we understand that, we can solve issues globally.”

The eight-day conference, a part of INEB’s 10-year strategic plan to strengthen socially engaged Buddhism worldwide, was divided into three distinct components. The intensive event began with a two-day tour of Buddhist social engagement and outreach projects in Taiwan. Highlights included a symposium on “Buddhist Approaches to Dying and Hospice Care in Taiwan” at the headquarters of the Dharma Drum Mountain movement founded by late Chan Master Sheng-yen (1930–2009), and onsite visits to Buddhist initiatives of the Tzu Chi Foundation—Taipei Tzu Chi General Hospital, which aims to provide holistic, patient-based medical care with an emphasis on acute and critical treatment, and a large-scale recycling project initiated by the foundation and run by elderly community members.

Building on these inspiring examples, the main conference explored the aspirations and challenges for socially engaged Buddhism at a deeper level, with a series of presentations, discussions, and workshops led by members of the global INEB community on activities, projects, and initiatives in communities around the world. Participants and delegates broached such themes as conflict rsolution, compassion and social enagement, social welfare, and social justice. The concluding three-day meditation retreat, led by three female Dharma masters—Ven. Shing Kuang, Ven. Dhammananda, and Ven. Tenzin Dasel—representing the major Buddhist traditions of Mahayana, Theravada, and Vajrayana, provided participants with an opportunity for reflection and self examination on the experiences and learning points shared over the preceding five days.

“We must go back to the fundamental teachings of the Buddha,” Ajahn Sulak observed. “The Buddhia said in our lives, [we should seek] not fame, not fortune, not power, not money, but good friends—kalyanamitra.* Ananda asked the Buddha, ‘Is kalyanamitra the whole of the holy life?’ The Buddha replied, ‘No, kalyanamitra is the whole of the holy life.’

“Together, we can change conflict—dhukka—personally, and together we can work for change socially and environmentally. This is important,” he noted. “The Dalai Lama said the world will change only through ahimsa—nonviolence; the world will change only through loving-kindness. The Chinese way, the American way, the Trump way will not change the world, it will spoil the world.”

“The Buddha said metta [loving-kindness] can save the world; loving yourself, loving your neighbor is important, but karuna [compassion] is much more important. Karuna doesn’t just mean being compassionate, helping others. Karuna means you go and share the suffering of those who suffer. Sometimes we are the creators of that suffering—we, the middle class and upper class, our lifestyle helps create the suffering of the people, the suffering of the environment. So we have to go out and learn from the poor, the suffering ones—and they need not be Buddhists, they could be Rohingya, they could be minorities anywhere—you go and share the suffering with them. That is the root of changing the conflict.”

INEB was established in Thailand in 1989 by the prominent Thai academic, activist, and social critic Sulak Sivaraksa and a group of Buddhist and non-Buddhist thinkers and social activists with the aim of connecting engaged Buddhists around the world and promoting understanding, cooperation, and networking among inter-Buddhist and inter-religious groups to address global issues, such as human rights, conflict resolution, and environmental concerns.

Founded as an autonomous organization under the Bangkok-based Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation, INEB’s members include monks, nuns, activists, academics, and social workers from more than 25 countries in Australasia, Asia, Europe, and North America. While a Buddhist organization, INEB welcomes members from other spiritual traditions and recognizes the importance of interfaith activities, stating: “INEB’s philosophy and practice is based on compassion, social justice, non-violence, and co-existence as put forth by Gautama the Buddha. The network’s core mission is to confront and end suffering using analysis and action guided by the Four Noble Truths.” (INEB)

By Shyamal Sinha

The Qinghai–Tibet Railway is a high-elevation railway that connects Xining, Qinghai Province to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

China’s well-tested mantra that has powered its economic rise — build quality infrastructure and the rest will follow — is in full play in Tibet. The Qinghai-Tibet railway, the 1,956-km track passing over bridges and through tunnels, has already made history. An offshoot of that railway, also called Lari railway, is now being stretched from Lhasa to the extremities of Tibet. Trains have already reached Xigaze, the terminus of this line. That is not far from Tibet’s border with Nepal. Another track from Xigaze will head towards Yadong, a Chumbi valley town made famous by the 1904 Tibet expedition led by Francis Younghusband, a colonel in the British Indian Army. Yadong is on the doorstep of Sikkim. The Nathu La, the point of entry in Sikkim, is only 34 km away, approachable by a road from Yadong.

Apart from railways and roads, Chinese planners are also focussing on hydropower plants. Tibet is well-known as the water tower of the world. Several major rivers — the Yangtze, the Yellow river, the Lancang (better known as the Mekong), the Nu river and the Yarlung Zangpo, which becomes the Brahmaputra once it enters India — originate in Tibet. Chinese plans for massive hydro projects have triggered much concern among environmentalists, who are worried about the possible damage that this may cause to a fragile ecosystem in this natural wonderland.

Those inclined to view change purely within the spectrum of geopolitics are also nervous about Beijing’s plans. They fear that water can become a weapon for exercising China’s influence over countries that share these rivers. The Yarlung Zangpo flows into Bangladesh and India. The Lancang is the lifeline of much of Southeast Asia. The Nu flows into the Andaman Sea through Myanmar.

In tune with its plans, China has announced the construction of the Suwalong hydropower station on the Jinsha river, which forms the upper reaches of the Yangtze. The Suwalong project is located in Southwest China — on the border of Tibet’s Mangkam county and Batang county of the neighbouring Sichuan province.

Colourful history

Incidentally, Mangkam county, especially its Yanjing valley, has a colourful history. It is known for its traditional salt wells and over a 100 hot springs, of much therapeutic value. The area also hosted part of the famous trans-Himalayan Tea-Horse trade route that wound its way from China’s Yunnan province en route Tibet to India. With trade, came culture and religion. Earlier this year, Chinese archeologists unearthed eight Buddhist statues in Mangkam county.

Once completed, the Suwalong project would generate 2,000 MW of power, which would be channelled into the country’s well-off eastern region. The Suwalong project’s design capacity is double that of the Zangmu hydropower plant, established on the Yarlung Zangpo river. State media is signalling that right now, the Nu and Lancang could be the immediate focus of hydro projects in Tibet, rather than the Yarlung Zangpo (Brahmaputra) — the bone of contention between China and India.

Nu and Lancang rivers converge in the Mangkam county, which could well become one of Tibet’s energy production hubs. According to other official media reports, China’s ongoing 13th five-year plan is concentrating on hydropower development along the Jinsha, Nu and Lancang rivers, in view of lower electric transmission costs to high demand zones in neighbouring provinces.

In tune with its infrastructure plans for Tibet, China has announced the construction of the Suwalong hydropower station on the Jinsha river, which could generate 2,000 MW of power

By – Shyamal Sinha

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s talk at the Indian Chamber of Commerce planted a seed of hope for millions of people, who aspire for peace and stability.

Addressing a packed crowd of Indian leaders, entrepreneurs and scholars here at Kalkata, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that a future educational system nurturing both human intelligence and warmheartedness can serve to bring peace on earth.

He observed that the world is facing of an array of crisis, mainly due to a deficit of moral principles and failure of modern education. “The existing educational systems are oriented toward material values and materialistic achievements. So when we grow up with this learning, we go after power, money and fame.”

There is a need for concerted action and India with its rich spiritual heritage can play a special role, he hinted. “I really see great hope and future on this country. India can make significant contribution.”

As the world wrestles with instability and crises, India is the only country which has the ability to combine modern technology and science with ancient knowledge and train minds with more compassion and peace, the 82-year-old Buddhist scholar said.

For this reason, he said he was committed to promote the revival of these thoughts. “One of my lifelong commitment is to introduce and revive ancient Indian knowledge in modern India through education and with secular approach.”

“I am convinced that the Indian knowledge we Tibetans have kept alive remains highly relevant to the needs of today. The Indian masters of Nalanda were so accurate and explicit in the way they explained philosophical points of view belonging to the Mind Only and Middle Way schools of thought. The depth of their understanding of, for example, the workings of our minds and emotions,” he said.

However he stressed that the promotion of these thoughts must strictly be done through education and not as religion. “Of the 7 billion human beings, 1 billion are non-believers. So, promoting inner values through education can best serve entire human population.”

Noting China as a traditional Buddhist country with more than 400 million Buddhists, His Holiness said he was “really thinking to revive the ancient Buddhist value in the country given the opportunity.

Through this vision, His Holiness said a collaboration of the two great nations, India and China can be possible.

By Shyamal Sinha

Chinese Kung Fu (Martial Arts or as popularly referred to as Gongfu or Wushu) is a series of fighting styles which has developed over a long historical period in China.
Although being fighting styles, Kung Fu advocates virtue and peace, not aggression or violence. This has been the common value upheld by martial artists from generation to generation. With a number of movement sets, boxing styles, weapon skills and some fighting stunts, Kung Fu keeps its original function of self-defense. Now its value in body-building and fitness is also highly appreciated.
Two “kung fu nuns” from the Drupka Kagyu monastic community in the Himalayas visited London last week to showcase their skills at the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Trust Conference, which focuses on modern day slavery and women’s empowerment. In addition to a Kung Fu demonstration, the nuns discussed the importance of self-defense skills as a means of empowering women amid rising reports of sex crimes in the socially conservative Himalayan region.

The nuns received their famous moniker after His Holiness the Gyalwang Drupka decided to introduce Chinese martial art to the nuns in 2008. According to monastic codes of conduct, nuns are not allowed to engage in any kind of physical activity, let alone martial arts, however the Gyalwang Drupka believes that kung fu could teach the nuns to defend themselves, and at the same time help to improve their concentration, discipline, and self-confidence in a male-oriented society and an all-too-often patriarchal religious tradition. Inspired by his mother, the Gyalwang Drupka is an active advocate of gender equality and has given the nuns leadership roles while encouraging them to study more than just Buddhist teachings. The nuns practice kung fu every day, alongside their normal monastic routine, and some choose to study other professions as well—for instance, some nuns have become electricians and plumbers.

“Some people make comments; they say we should just sit and pray and meditate,” said Jigme Wangchuk Lhamo, 19, one of the nuns who visited London to showcase her skills on stage. “But a nun’s duty is more than that. We have to better society and do good for others.” (Thompson Reuters Foundation.

In August, the nuns organized their first public self-defense workshop for women in Ladakh, northern India. Around a 100 women aged 13–28 participated in the week-long workshop, which had a rigorous daily schedule. The participants learned how to defend themselves when attacked, how to react when facing sexual assault, and about other aspects of female empowerement, such as women’s health, career, and social empowerment.

“It’s been tough and my whole body is aching but the nuns were very inspiring. All girls should learn kung fu,” said Tsering Yangchen, a 23-year-old attendee of the August workshop. “I am often uncomfortable going to the market as there are boys standing around looking, whistling, and cat-calling. I was always hesitant to say anything but now I feel much more confident to speak out and even protect myself if I have to.” (Reuters)

Official data from the National Crime Record Bureau of India indicate that 34,651 rapes and 82,422 cases of harassment, assault, and other types of violence against women were reported in 2015. Due to social stigmatization and shame, however, many women do not report such attacks to the police, and activists say that these figures grossly underepresent the true numbers.

“Girls face problems when they go out and, especially in the evening, they don’t want to go out alone,” said Wangchuk. “Kung fu can help them . . . kung fu makes you confident.” (Thompson Reuters Foundation).

Hailing from Buddhist monastic communities in the Himalayas, the majority of the nuns live and train at Druk Amitabha Mountain Nunnery in Kathmandu, Nepal, with smaller communities based in Ladakh and New Delhi.

The nuns are known for championing both gender equality and sustainable living. In recent years, they have brought attention to human trafficking in the region and the threat of global warming by cycling thousands of miles on extended two-wheeled pilgrimages. Following the Nepal earthquakes in 2015, the nuns refused to be evacuated and instead set out to help affected villages in the region.

In the aftermath of the earthquake the nuns heard stories of girls and women were being trafficked across the border to India. “It was terrible. People were selling their sisters, daughters, and even mothers just to have money to rebuild their homes,” Wangchuk told delegates at the conference. “Some men just see girls as a bunch of money . . . but we need to change this and help promote equality. His Holiness likes to encourage girls. He says there can be no world peace unless we are all equal.” (Thompson Reuters Foundation)