[Buddha-l] Is there any basis for the allegations concerning the "expulsion" of Ani Karma Lhamu?

Sat Aug 13 16:50:57 MDT 2011

Have you sent an email to the main editor of the TOI? I recommend doing so.
Another online medium to have a look at for anything about this episode is
Outlook India, usually quite progressive politically or at least rather
balanced. Their editor does reply to queries, or did.

Also, I find it hard to think that this Indian paper would play along with
Chinese designs on territory, as you imply.

Joanna

Curt Steinmetz
Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2011 7:21 AM

Yes, I saw that, Joanna. It is essentially a restatement of the public
position that the NBF has posted on their website.

What I have not seen is any response from the journalist, or from the TOI,
acknowledging that the original article was in error. Meanwhile, the TOI and
other media outlets and websites and online discussion groups have continued
to treat the original TOI article as true.

Included among those who are continuing to perpetuate the false allegations
against the NBF (and Nepali Buddhism generally) are several Buddhists
voices, sadly.

The back-story to all this, in my opinion, is that Nepal might be (well) on
its way to becoming the next Tibet.

Curt

On 8/12/11 11:11 PM, Jo wrote:
> Did you see the reader comment at the TOI link you supplied? It affirms:
>
> Nepal Buddhist Federation has never said that she is expelled from the 
> nunnery and that she lost her religion, as has been wrongly quoted. 
> Ani Karma Lhamu alias Sangita Lama, the nun in question has been 
> brought to Nepal from Siliguri, India, and is currently admitted in TUTH
in Kathmandu.
> The members of the NBF personally met her and her relatives in the 
> hospital where her condition is still very unstable. NBF also met the 
> authorities of the Karma Samtenling Nunnery at Pharbing, which she 
> left a year ago when she went to India to pursue further studies. She 
> is not expelled from the nunnery. Acharya Norbu Sherpa during the 
> press conference only reacted to the question whether the nun still 
> maintains celibacy. He spoke in reference to breaking of vows in the 
> vinaya rules about monks and nuns in general and not specifically 
> referred to the present case which, he said, even was not expected in 
> Buddha's time. Such philosophical debates are his personal views and 
> are not the official stand of NBF. NBF in collaboration with our 
> allied Association Tamang Lama Gedung Sangh and the concerned nunnery 
> is taking steps to accommodate her back into the nunnery when she 
> recovers and discharged from the hospital. NBF will do everything in 
> its power to help restore the dignity of the nun and continue to fight 
> for justice. As you know that Buddhists in general has been suppressed 
> in Nepal during the 240 years and only last few years, we are finding 
> some space of expression in the emerging democracy. Yet it is a fact 
> that most of the activities of the NBF for the preservation and 
> promotion of our religion never get the required coverage in the media 
> and this is a continuous struggle for us. You may now realize 
> Government's apathy to our community in Nepal, as you have rightly said in
the following article that the nun finally got admitted into the Government
hospital only after lots of political and social pressure.
> Unfortunately, such harsh treatment to monks and nuns do not generally 
> make news in our country which has approximately 5000 monasteries, 
> living in difficult conditions from Drachula to Taplejung. On the 
> contrary the monasteries and nunneries in general in Nepal has been a 
> subject of systematic negative media campaign for the last few years 
> including such baseless allegation of possessing weapons and our monks 
> and nuns live in perpetual fear. Under such circumstance, your regular 
> write ups on the plight of our nun are a welcome step. I hope you will 
> continue to take up the plights of monks and nuns in Nepal and help us 
> retain the dignity of the place of birth of Lord Buddha. We will assure
you of our cooperation.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com 
> [mailto:buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Curt Steinmetz
> Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 10:10 AM
> To: Buddhist discussion forum
> Subject: [Buddha-l] Is there any basis for the allegations concerning 
> the "expulsion" of Ani Karma Lhamu?
>
> What appears, at least to me, to be an especially ugly smear campaign 
> has been making the rounds on teh interwebs for a month now. The gist 
> of the story is that a Nepali nun (named Ani Karma Lhamu, and also 
> referred to as Sangita Lama) was (or was going to be) expelled from 
> the Sangha of nuns because she had been raped. That (in my view 
> intentionally false) version of events appears to originate from a 
> July 11 article in the Times of India
> (TOI) written by Sudeshna Sarkar and titled "Gangraped Nepal nun now 
> faces expulsion from nunnery" (fair warning: the details of the brutal 
> attack on this young woman are truly horrifying and
> heart-breaking):
> http://tinyurl.com/3s94jnn
>
> The Nepal Buddhist Federation (NBF), for its part, has publicly taken 
> the position that no such expulsion ever took place, and indeed there 
> is (so far as I can tell) no evidence whatsoever that any such 
> expulsion was ever considered at all. In fact the NBF have committed 
> themselves to ensuring that she is returned to the nunnery where she 
> lived and trained for years prior to her trip to India (where she was 
> raped by five men on a bus). Here is the NBF statement:
> http://www.sherpaworld.com/show.php?at=1&sn=4115
>
> A great deal of self-righteous chest-beating has occurred on blogs and 
> online discussion forums, all of it, in my opinion, based on false 
> allegations and misleading insinuations contained in the TOI article.
>
> Does anyone know of any independent sources of information regarding 
> this case, or in any other way have any light to shed on this very dark
story?
>
> Curt Steinmetz
>
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