Women’s instruction has often been neglected in Asia. The educational opportunities available to nuns are drastically different from those provided to men. Their religious practice is often limited to the daily performance of rituals. Far from the Tibetan society’s priorities, nuns often endure extreme material deprivation. Between 1991 and 1996, nuns organized 55 of the 126 protest demonstrations that have been registred in Tibet. A few years ago, there were approximately 1,000 political prisoners in Tibet. Amongst them were 300 women, almost exclusively nuns. This resistance of theTibetan nuns is especially remarkable for a social group that has always been discredited and neglected, even inside the religious community. An old Tibetan adage said: “If you want a Teacher, request your son to become a monk. If you want a servant, request your daughter to become a nun.” RHS1011660
38 colours photographs
Tibetan nuns, a fight for freedom @ Pierre-Yves Ginet 13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr
Women’s instruction has often been neglected in Asia. The educational opportunities available to nuns are drastically different from those provided to men. Their religious practice is often limited to the daily performance of rituals. Far from the Tibetan society’s priorities, nuns often endure extreme material deprivation. Even though they are fewer than the monks in occupied Tibet, the Tibetan nuns really disturb the Chinese soldiers. Today, nunneries attract a very special kind of attention including spies, reeducation campaigns, destruction of convents and continuous deportations. In spite of this, there is no nunnery in Tibet without a forbidden picture of the Dalai Lama or an intact faith in the original Buddhist precepts, and there is no nunnery that is not the heart of a potential demonstration for freedom.
Between 1991 and 1996, nuns organized 55 of the 126 protest demonstrations that have been registred in Tibet. A few years ago, there were approximately 1,000 political prisoners in Tibet. Amongst them were 300 women, almost exclusively nuns. This resistance of theTibetan nuns is especially remarkable for a social group that has always been discredited and neglected, even inside the religious community. An old Tibetan adage said: “If you want a Teacher, request your son to become a monk. If you want a servant, request your daughter to become a nun.”
© Pierre-Yves Ginet 1998 to 2001 in Tibet, India and Nepal.
One of these communities, Garu nunnery, was the home of Ngawang Sangdrol : arrested for the first time when she was 13, this nun is sadly famous as the Tibetan woman with the heaviest punishment, a sentence that exceeds 20 years. Due to international pressure, this symbol of Tibetan resistance to Chinese occupation, has been released in 2002, after 10 years in jail.
13 rue d’Enghien 75 010 Paris (33) 1 44 79 31 30
www.eyedea.fr