Ex-Buddhist monk becomes Tibet's first transgender model

Mariko belongs to conservative family, was sent to monastery when she was nine years old

A former Buddhist monk has now become Tibet's first transgender model.

Tenzin Mariko has spent her years as a monk and seems to have mastered the art of setting aside her past.

Mariko might have reached mountains higher than those in her native homeland of Tibet and in her time has also been honoured to be crowned as the "first transgender among the Tibetan community in exile", reports Times of India.

According to Mariko, she doesn’t dwell on her struggles and insists on staying in the present. “Now, my only problem is a small pimple on my chin,” she shrugs.

Born biologically male, Tenzin Ugen, Mariko says she has six brothers besides her and being one among six brothers in a traditional Tibetan family was not easy for her.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmicUdWnQzm/

She recalls how her parents arrived in India in the 1990s and decided to stay in Bir, Himachal Pradesh and when she was attracted to all things female but was constantly told to behave as a male.

Mariko was eventually sent to a monastery to become a monk when she was 9 years old but she continued embracing what was naturally part of her and her feminine ways made her stand out at the monastery.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfXwgvygnks/

“So, it is not like I woke up one fine morning and decided to become a trans person,” concedes Mariko. “There were many challenges, both financial and social,” she says.

For Mariko, 2014 was the year that shook her life and compelled her to make decisions that changed her life. This was the year that she gave up being a monk after a scandalous video of her dancing in woman's clothing went viral.



She was said so afraid of the video that she initially denied it was herself dancing. but the moment she decided to change her life, her world turned upside down.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgax-k-AZi7/

Mariko underwent surgery and found her world to be far bigger than she had ever imagined. In 2015, she made her first public appearance as a dancer at the Miss Tibet pageant in Dharamshala.

Mariko was so successful after her beauty pageant that she decided to never look back. Today, thousands of young Tibetans follow her on social media and follow her work which besides being a professional dancer includes modelling and a makeup styling.

“Our Tibetan community is small, but they treat me as a celebrity now,” Mariko says. “It feels good to be known as the first Tibetan transgender. Not because it has turned me into a celebrity, but because I have, in a small way, made it easier for other trans people to come forward,” she adds.

This article appeared in the Times of India.