Abstract
The last time I saw Yeshe, the oldest member of Karsha’s Tibetan Buddhist nunnery, she cried as I left. It was not my departure she was bemoaning, but the long Himalayan winter ahead. She had explained earlier that she was worried about finding someone to gather enough dung to heat her small cell over the next six months. Although still sprightly and fit at 76, she could no longer run up and down the steep slopes collecting yak dung like she used to. Like other elderly nuns, she relied heavily on the help of young nuns to assist her in building up a store of dried dung patties every autumn. Unlike many of the other nuns, however, she received almost no help from her immediate family in this onerous task. Abbi Yeshe had weathered many hardships in her life, but her family had caused her the greatest distress.
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© 2006 Meena Khandelwal, Sondra L. Hausner, and Ann Grodzins Gold
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Gutschow, K. (2006). How Buddhist Renunciation Produces Difference. In: Khandelwal, M., Hausner, S.L., Gold, A.G. (eds) Women’s Renunciation in South Asia. Religion/Culture/Critique. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-10485-4_7
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