Nuns providing some evidence of how Tibet is prospering
Print Edition
For evidence of how Tibet is modernizing and prospering, look no further than its religious institutions. Without compromising its Buddhist principles, regional capital Lhasa’s Tsanggo Nunnery has incorporated secular practices to survive and prosper.
The teahouse and state-subsidized clinic it runs serve the local community and, along with government funding, create an income stream that has turned the nunnery from a neglected relic into a comfortable religious center and home to 86 nuns.
Tsultrim Lhamo is one of them. The 62-year-old is in charge of secular affairs at Tsanggo. “I am a religious person,” she says, “but along with other nuns, I am also doing something for secular society, which, as I believe, is a key part of Buddhist doctrine.”
When she first arrived at the nunnery, in 1984, she found it in a state of disrepair and crowded with locals who had built shanty dwellings on the premises.
Tsanggo has a proud history. Songtsen Gampo, the king who unified Tibet in the seventh century, once took shelter there and prayed for his people during a flood.
It later fell into disorder, however.
The more than 100 nuns staying in Tsanggo were dismissed during the “cultural revolution (1966-1976),” when religion was seen as superstition.
Reopening in a sorry condition in 1983, it wasn’t long before Tsultrim Lhamo was raising funds for renovation. In the following years, residents were moved out and rehoused, and the local government earmarked several million yuan to Tsanggo, which went through eight overhauls in three decades.
The nuns’ dormitories are now equipped with TVs, microwaves and air conditioners. Many of the sisters sport trendy trainers and buzz around talking on iPhones.
Life is routine and peaceful. “We have morning tea and breakfast at 8am, before going to chant sutras,” Tsultrim Lhamo said.
The nuns hold religious ceremonies on special occasions and are invited to local weddings and funerals.
“People face all kinds of trouble in the secular world,” Tsultrim Lhamo says. “Our role is to help ease their worries.”
That sense of public assistance is also seen in the nunnery’s businesses.
Its clinic has four doctors, and its medicine is cheaper than elsewhere, thanks to government subsidies. A bottle of fluid for intravenous infusion costs a third of the price in hospitals.
The teahouse, known for its steamed buns, can take in more than 100,000 yuan (US$16,130) a year.
Tsanggo’s new-found affluence means it is heavily over-subscribed. Women wishing to become nuns there have to pass an entrance exam. Only those who can fluently recite 500 pages of Tibetan Buddhist classics have a chance of being accepted.
While Tsanggo used to generally attract devout women from poor families or those who had suffered setbacks in life, it now welcomes more middle-class and better-educated women.
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