Life as Ritual

This is the story of an extraordinary woman, Kunsang Wangmo, a 102 year old Buddhist nun from Tibet. When she turned 6 years old she decided to become a nun. She later married a Tibetan monk and gave birth to 2 children. In 1959 when the Chinese invaded Tibet the family ran away to India. There one of her child and her husband died. She was left alone in exile with one daughter. Both underwent many hardships, had to work in road construction, were living in primitive tents, sometimes starving. Then in 1972 Sonam fell in love with a Swiss student who studied anthropology in India. They got married and he took them both to Switzerland. In all these years living in Switzerland Kunsang never gave up her clerical life. She follows her daily religious practices. She is still at age 102 independent and full of vitality and 'joie de vivre'. No complains and gossiping about other, no depression, no sullenness. Kunsang ist not a heroine but a role model for many in showing us how you can age in dignity and autonomy even though she has lost not only her family but her country and freedom.