Kung Fu Nuns

Not all Buddhists sit on meditation cushions. A new movement is stirring in the Himalayas, as young nuns from the Drukpa lineage of Buddhism adopt Kung Fu as a way to build strength while championing gender equality. Breaking a centuries-long social order that favors men in leadership, these nuns are taking on kindness in its fiercest form—empowering themselves and others to truly serve the world.

As champions of equality and environmentalism, these young women are known for their epic acts of service. Their recent 5,200-mile “Bicycle Yatra for Peace” from Nepal to Ladakh, India took over three months, as they stopped in hundreds of villages for environmental education and to speak out against human trafficking. After the catastrophic Himalayan earthquakes of 2015, they refused evacuation in order to deliver critical aid to neglected regions. They also run free health clinics, respond to calls for emergency animal rescue, and have removed thousands of pounds of plastic litter from Himalayan and Indian land.

These nuns teach Kung Fu as a way to promote self-defense to young girls in their communities, where violence against women is rarely reported. They are now adept in weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, and their exhibitions are so well-loved, they draw hundreds of thousands of spectators to their performances. “Kung Fu Nuns” is now a household name in many Himalayan regions, and even with over 800 Drukpa nuns in the ranks, there is a long waiting list of women and girls who want to join them.

In the Himalayas, the nuns mobilized a distribution network for essential COVID-19 relief aid to more than 24,000 underserved families facing starvation and extreme poverty in Nepal and India. They also conducted in-person (and social media) education for communities on COVID prevention focusing on women, who are often neglected from public health education and training them to educate and influence their family units and greater village communities.

In 2019, the Asia Society honoured the Kung Fu Nuns with the Asia Game Changes Award for their work empowering women and young girls. In 2020, Atlantic Council celebrated the Kung Fu Nuns as Unsung Heroes for their work protecting at-risk communities from COVID. In 2021, UNESCO ICM awarded the nuns with the Martial Arts Education Prize. The nuns utilize their massive social media presence of 100,000 followers and 2 million views to spread awareness and mobilize people towards gender equality and environmentalism.

Visit the Kung Fu Nuns website for more details.