'I'm touring for about six months of the year, but when I'm at home in Kathmandu, I usually wake before 7am. I get up and do my prayers and practise meditation. It depends on how tight a schedule I have for the day, but it lasts about half an hour. I'm a very lazy person so I just say a short prayer. I think of my teacher [Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche] and I thank him.
I live with my mother because she is very sick and I'm trying to be a good daughter. She is the most precious thing I have at the moment. I have my breakfast with her, take care of her, see how she's doing and make sure she has eaten. Then I go and talk to the people working at my school, which is called the Arya Tara School. If I have time I go to the school; if not, I set up a meeting in the town.
I'll talk to them about what needs to be done and what is the educational status of the nuns studying there. I used to spend a lot more time at the school but since I have become a public figure - in Hong Kong, I think the word is 'celebrity' - I can't. I'm invited to special functions by the government, charitable organisations and diplomats. Then there is a lot of print media and television interviews. I'll give priority to functions that are meaningful or charitable. A lot of the time it's my work I'm engaged in, but if other projects need help, I try and see what I can do.
I realised my singing was a talent I could use to benefit others when I first went on tour in America. In 1996, a well-known guitar player from Minnesota, called Steve Tibbetts, came to Nepal and he heard me singing in the monastery. We were doing a ceremony. I had never thought of becoming a singer and I never thought I could become a public figure, which was not my wish or aim. Singing spiritual, devotional or meditational songs is part of a Buddhist nun's daily spiritual practice. Steve thought this was a beautiful thing and came up with the idea of sharing it with a wider audience. So he proposed we make an album together and I said OK, without having much of an idea about what it was. I said OK, just to fulfil his wish.
Cho was published in January 1997 and sold all over the world. We received such good reviews from radio stations, newspapers and magazines, and soon I began receiving invitations to perform at music festivals. Steve asked if I'd be interested in going on a tour in the United States. At that time, my interest was more to see the country rather than thinking I was becoming a star, or making money. And since I didn't have to pay for the flight or the accommodation, it sounded fine. So I started to do the concerts in 1998 and after each concert, I realised I made a good amount of money.
I didn't set out to become a singer and I sing to fulfil the needs of my projects. Back then I used to think, what am I going to do with the money since I don't need to buy a Mercedes or a BMW? My dream was to see a school for nuns, because in our society, what is lacking is encouragement or the promotion of education for women. So I started saving my money. I registered a charity [Nuns Welfare Foundation of Nepal], bought a computer, an internet connection and a telephone and set up an office to plan things properly. In 2000, I rented a building, recruited some students and started a school for poor young women from the villages - the first of its kind in Nepal. Next year I want to build a kidney hospital, a maternity hospital - all for women because it's the women that suffer the most.