In Tibet, the word for woman translates as "lower rebirth." In a remote eastern region of the country, the Tsoknyi Nangc | dG1fU0doVUR6MXBlams
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00:00In the mountains of Nanchen, a remote nomadic region of eastern Tibet, 3,000 women, living
00:17in hermitages and monasteries, practice an ancient yogic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
00:24These practices have been handed down in an unbroken lineage from the 19th century teacher
00:30Sotny Rinpoche I, whose unique vision was of a tradition of nuns and yoginis who would
00:35become, in time, some of the most accomplished spiritual practitioners in the world.
00:47They didn't write books and they didn't extensively teach, and so we don't know about them. But
00:52nonetheless, I think that there were really quite a large number of highly accomplished
00:57women in Tibet that we don't know about.
01:02Basically women are considered to have a lower birth than men, but the Buddha nature of all
01:09beings is the same.
01:11This is a living women's spiritual tradition, and it's still alive, and it's still really
01:16vital. They've put the teachings into practice and they've really achieved something.
01:26Then suddenly, in 1959, everything changed.
01:31After cultural revolution, everything gone. Whole monastery gone, whole nun gone. No one
01:38lives here. Then after 20 years, they start to gather together, very typical, and then
01:46slowly, slowly, build like that. I think you can learn from nuns, like, strong determination,
01:52and never give up.
01:58In 2005, the third incarnation of Sotny Rinpoche led a small group of Western students to Nanchen
02:06to meet the Sotny Nanchen nuns.
02:13There is no comparison between living in the monastery and living as a person in the world.
02:26I am happiest being a nun in this life.
02:29I really honor their practice, and it feels like it's something that's very deep and rich
02:36here, and so the connection feels natural to me.
02:44You have to think that all beings are your mother. I am your mother. You are my mother.
02:51Everyone is ma, ma, ma, ma, and we are all connected.
02:59And now you see that all the beings are suffering. You think, I am going to take the Buddha path
03:07for them. That is why you practice meditation.
03:12What we can learn from the women here is to put the priority of kindness and benefiting
03:16others first. Imagine what effect that would have. Our world would be completely transformed.
03:23This is the story of an extraordinary journey.