This daylong conference will include a keynote speaker, a plenary panel discussion, lunch, various workshops and discussion groups, and a closing celebration.

The Conference will take place at the DePaul University Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago IL 60614. (Building #29 on the Depaul Lincoln Park Campus Map), Click Here. NOTE:  The Campus Map is not traditionally compass-oriented. Close the map windows to return to this page. For a Street Map Click Here. For directions, Click Here,

Program

Keynote Speaker - Rita Gross, PhD. Plenary PanelDiscussion: "Women Living the Dharma in the 21st Century" Two Breakout Periods Lunch and Snacks Closing Celebration Art Exhibit

Rev. Kyoki Roberts is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest and is a founding member of the Order of the Prairie Wind (OPW). She is the senior ordained student of Rev. Nonin Chowaney, Head Priest of Heartland Temple and OPW. She has trained at Hokyoji Monastery in Minnesota, San Francisco Zen Center and Green Gulch Farm in California, and Zuioji and Shogoji monasteries in Japan. Kyoki received Dharma Transmission from Rev. Nonin Chowaney, OPW in June 2001. She was appointed to serve as Deep Spring Temple's first Head Priest. She serves on the Board of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, and the Program Committee of the American Zen Teachers Association. Khenmo Khenpo Nyima Drolma, Abbess of Vajra Dakini Nunnery is the first western abbot and fully ordained nun of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage and a former Professor of Art. She has trained with the foremost spiritual teachers of our time including the Dalai Lama, HH Chetsang Rinpoche (the head of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage), Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo and Ven. Pema Chodron. As a nun she has lived and studied in India, Taiwan and at Gampo Abbey in Canada, where she developed contemporary traing systems for both nuns and monks. Her presentations range from Buddhist philosophy to Tibetan Art. She supervised the artistic choices for an international library in India, contributing her own life-size bronze equestrian statue. While actively teaching Dharma she is building the Vajra Dakini Nunnery from the ground up. As a sculptor and practitioner, her experience offers a unique perspective on the relationship of art to spirituality and healing, multiculturalism and the role of the artist. There are only about 350 Theravada Bhikkhunis (women who have received higher ordination as nuns) in the world today. Most stay in Sri Lanka exclusively. Only five Theravada Bhikkhunis have come to the USA. Two of them now reside at the Carolina Buddhist Vihara, as co-abbesses. Ven. Sudhamma Bhikkhuni, one of only two American-born women to gain Theravada Bhikkhuni ordination, joined the Vihara in July 2003. Originally from Charlotte, NC, she became a novice nun in 1999 at the Bhavana Society under Bhante Gunaratana and was ordained in early 2003 in Sri Lanka.