There has been outrage and emotional pain shared among Syracuse Buddhists regarding reports of a Buddhist nun who was gang raped. Rape is a very sensitive issue which is addressed here in Syracuse daily at the Rape Crisis Center of Syracuse 1065 James Street Syracuse, NY 13203-2787 Phone: (315) 422-7320.
Prayers for this nun and support for initiatives to help her by Buddhists here in Syracuse appear to have had an impact on how humanely she is being dealt wih now. The Buddhist Channel has reported "Gang raped Nepal nun likely to get re-admission in nunnery". A 21-year-old Buddhist nun from Nepal who was gang raped and who was said to have "lost" her religion and to have become unfit to remain a nun after being gangraped, now appears likely to be re-admitted to her nunnery.
An authoritative Buddhist body in Nepal has said the young woman, who is now fighting for her sanity in a hospital in Kathmandu, will be allowed to return to the Karma Samtenling Nunnery at Pharping after she recovers and is discharged from the hospital. The Nepal Buddhist Federation has been distancing itself from a statement signed by over a dozen organizations, including one of its own officials, that had said "the attack on the woman, while to be condemned, however had made her lose her "sheel" – religion as well as vows taken as a nun".
Instead of supporting such an archaic position on this brutally raped victim of a gang assault the Federation along with the concerned nunnery are working to accommodate her back into the nunnery after she recovers and is discharged from the hospital. Support to fight medieval mindsets of some people in dealing with this matter who insist the raped nun has lost her religious status has come from Syracuse and elsewhere in the United States.
Matthew Frazer, who is an American Buddhist and the founder of the YesheTsogyal Foundation which espouses the cause of Buddhists targeted by violence or abuse, has begun campaigning against the censure of this nun through Facebook and other social networking sites. Frazer has written "There is a great deal of shock and disbelief at the very idea of such an action by both Buddhists and non-Buddhists in the United States and abroad. Our goal is to block the expulsion of the nun from her nunnery. If such an action is taken, it will set a very perilous precedent that can be used to take similar actions against future victims."
