World-acclaimed Nepalese singing nun, Ani Choying Drolma, believes that everyone is in search of happiness.
“No one wishes to suffer in life. All share a common desire to enjoy happiness,” says Ani Choying, 44. She was in Kuala Lumpur last month to announce the staging of a charity concert next year called An Evening of Inner Peace in Malaysia in January.
Her fans will be pleased to note that Ani Choying is looking forward to bringing her philosophy of peace and happiness to these shores.
The nun, who is Unicef’s Goodwill Ambassador to Nepal, is well-known for bringing many Tibetan Buddhist chants and feast songs to mainstream audiences.
One of her key wishes is that women and children will someday be able to enjoy their rights and hopes that their condition will change for the better.
She feels that women everywhere should be allowed opportunities to grow academically and enjoy equal rights in life and in decision-making.
She says: “Even today, many girls are facing child marriage problems and young girls are sold to brothels. Due to poverty and illiteracy, society has not be able to change and is still very male-dominated.”
While her aspirations are for change and transformation, Ani Choying’s happiness is in giving joy to others. One of the ways she effectively spreads joy, love and peace to those around her is through music.
Renown for being "Nepal's singing nun”, Ani Choying (Ani or “nun” is an honorific title) feels her melodious voice is akin to a magic wand. This “wand” has helped fulfill the wishes of numerous people all over the world.
Ani Choying says: “To sing and reduce difficulties in others is so fulfilling. It’s also the most beautiful blessing – that I can make a difference in the lives of others.”
The blurb on the cover of her autobiography, Singing For Freedom, published in 2008 and in 15 languages, sums up her mission aptly. It tells of how an extrordinary nun has used her voice to liberate the young girls in the Himalayas.
The bulk of Ani Choying’s work revolves around raising funds for charities.
In her book, she says that concerts helped to raise money that she uses for her school, Arya Tara School, a free boarding school for young girls from Nepal and India.
“There is nothing that matters more to me. My voice is my tool. I’m engaged in a struggle against the poverty and ignorance that force some Buddhist girls in Nepal and Tibet to become nuns in order to escape a life of hell. They become nuns so that they won’t be turned into domestic slaves,” she says.
Difficult beginnings
Born on June 4, 1971, in Kathmandu to parents who were Tibetan exiles, Ani Choying’s childhood was spent in the Bodnath neighbourhood.
She is the eldest and only daughter. She has two brothers, Karma Puntsok Sonam and Karma Choesang. Her father was a sculptor and her mother, a homemaker. She also has an older half-brother, Lodu Kunchap (from her father’s first marriage), who is 10 years older than her. Her mother had a daughter with a Tibetan soldier before she Ani Choying's father.
Ani Choying’s real name is Drolma Tsekyid but she had always been called Pomo (daughter in Tibetan) while growing up. She explained that she did not start out her life as a singing nun.
Life was miserable for Ani Choying as a child. From the age of five, she was always bogged down with domestic chores and also had to care for her two brothers. Twice she sought refuge in monasteries to escape her father’s beatings and constant rage.
Ani Choying dreaded the institution of marriage as she did not want to slave away like her mother, who was a victim of domestic violence.
At 10, she went to see a famous master, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, in order to become a nun. She later returned to inform her parents when she was accepted. Surprisingly, her parents were happy with the news.
“They promised to let me go to the convent, but not immediately. They kept me at home for three more years,” she says. At 13, she got what she wished for – freedom.
Her uncle and father accompanied her to Nagi Gompa nunnery up on a hill, an hour’s drive away from her home. It was here that she could be a child again.
“I ran, jumped and could go anywhere to play. I never had to do the laundry, dishes or cook. Everyone treated me like a child. It was really nice,” she says.
Ani Choying is grateful to her late teacher, the highly-respected master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, in whom she sought refuge a second time. He showed her kindness and gave her time to heal.
“He showed much care, love and understanding. He accepted me as one of his five or six attendants. I had nothing much to do. He pampered me,” she says.Her master and his wife also taught her how to chant.
Ani Choying speaks English with an American accent, which she says she learnt while in the nunnery. “It’s from self-study and thanks to Hollywood movies! (which she watched whenever there was a chance outside the nunnery).”
In her childhood, she was lucky to go to school, even if only for four years.
Circle of life
In retrospect, Ani Choying only has “deep gratitude” for her father. She says: “He was suffering from a disease when he went into a rage. He had no control over his aggression.
“I’m glad he treated me like that those days, which made me decide to become a nun. And because of that, I met a great teacher who made me who I am today,” she says.
The transformation has made her a very positive and happier person, able and ready to shoulder responsibilities for the betterment of society. She says: “Whatever happened, happened for good, but that does not mean that I wish for others to suffer.”
Ani Choying’s father passed away at age 87 of old age. Her mother, 62, outlived her father by about two years. In December 2006, she died of kidney failure.
“This is life. Someone who is born must die. Death is certain. What’s most important while you’re alive is how you live your life,” says Ani Choying.
She cherishes good memories with her parents. Says Ani Choying: “After my teacher passed away, I had free time and total freedom to take care of my parents. I was there for them emotionally, physically and financially. My teacher always told me that the most important people to repay our kindness to are our parents.”
Ani Choying says that she and her parents were able “to develop a very beautiful relationship”. She relates: “When we’re very small, helpless and vulnerable, our parents take care of us, protect and nurture us.
“When they grow old, they become like children. They become helpless and vulnerable. I became their parent, and they became my children.” She says she enjoyed the fact that she was able to reciprocate her parents’ kindness by caring for them in their final years.
An Evening of Inner Peace Charity Concert by world-acclaimed singing nun, Ani Choying, is on Jan 3, 2016 at Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur. Tickets: RM100, RM150, RM200 and RM300. Purchase via Ticket Charge at www.ticketcharge.com.my.
TOMORROW: Ani Choying: 'Don't worry about money, I'll bring in the money'
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