Looking Within A Burmese Nunnery

Like so many other spiritual seekers from the West, Kim Shelton and her husband were attracted to Myanmar by the opportunities that the country presents for developing a deeper Buddhist practice. Kim’s experience there inspired her to create a feature-length documentary, One Thousand Mothers, which examines life in a Buddhist nunnery in the Sagaing Hills.

Kim learned that many girls became nuns due to poverty, conflict, or difficult family circumstances, and so the decision to ordain is not necessarily because of spiritual yearning. The young nuns in the film honestly and insightfully discuss both the value of the renunciate’s life, and the alluring attractions of the mundane world. One scene depicts a girl who has left the nunnery, and returns for a dialog with her nun friends, wearing make-up, earrings, etc. The camera captures the fascinating conversation that ensues about the relative merits of lay versus worldly life.

The film does not shy away from the more challenging life that Myanmar’s nuns have in contrast to monks. One scene about alms round depicts monks receiving hot spoonsful of cooked rice and nuns getting only small pinches of dry rice.

Kim was delighted when the Abbess herself accepted the invitation to be interviewed. She had never been on camera before, and the experience was memorable for everyone involved. In one of the movie’s more memorable scenes, the Abbess admitted that the presence of the film crew was a disruption to the discipline and education they try to instill in the nuns, yet affirmed that it would all be worthwhile in the end if the film enabled foreigners to learn more about the Buddha’s teachings.

One Thousand Mothers provides viewers with a unique opportunity to see the inner workings of a living Buddhist nunnery. The end result is that the nun’s life in Myanmar is authentically portrayed, without falling into the trap of Western exotification, and the nuns interviewed on screen are extremely forthcoming, providing a glimpse into the very minds of these renunciates.