useful links

Buddha Dharma Meditation Center »
The Buddha-Dharma Meditation Center (BMC) is a Theravada Buddhist Temple and edcuation center founded in 1986 by Thai and American Buddhists in the western suburbs of Chicago.

Buddhist Council of the Midwest »
The Buddhist Council of the Midwest (BCM) is an organization for all Buddhist groups in Chicago and the Midwest area.

Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) »
Founded in 1978, the BPF serves as a catalyst for socially engaged Buddhism. BPF's programs, publications, and practice groups link Buddhist teachings of wisdom and compassion with progressive social change.

Buddhist Temple of Chicago »
Established in 1944, the Buddhist Temple of Chicago is a non-sectarian temple in the Japanese Mahayana tradition.

Chicago Zen Center »
Established in 1944, the Chicago Zen Center is a non-sectarian temple in the Japanese Mahayana tradition.

Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association - Chicago Chapter »
Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association - Chicago Chapter (DDMBA Chicago) in Mount Prospect, IL, is part of the International Cultural and Educational Foundation of Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM), founded in Taiwan by Venerable Sheng Yen. DDM is dedicated to the spiritual and educational needs of people at all stages of their lives.

Insight Chicago »
Insight Chicago, part of the Prairie Sangha Network is a community of practitioners of Vipassana meditation, based on methods in the Thai Forest manner as taught by Ven. Ajahn Chaa, in the Theravada tradition.. The sangha was founded in 2000 by Nancy Randleman and Ellen McCammon with the guidance and teaching of Sandra Hammond. The sangha provides a variety of offerings, such as weekly sits, periodic days of mindfulness, as well as longer retreats. Visiting teachers include Sandra Hammond, Andrew Getz, Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia, and Santikaro (Liberation Park).

Liberation Park »
Offers meditation classes, regular sittings, & other activities in Oak Park. Tehrevadan Tradition.

Shambala Center »
The Shambhala Meditation Center of Chicago was founded by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist Master, artist and poet. Mindfulness-awareness meditation practice and instruction are available several times each week, free of charge, and classes are offered in Buddhist studies, Shambhala Training, and Contemplative Arts. The Shambhala community welcomes people of any spiritual background or way of life.

Soka Gakkai International »
Soka Gakkai International (SGI-USA) is an American Buddhist association that promotes world peace and individual happiness based on the teachings of the Nichiren school of Mahayana Buddhism.

The Rime Foundation »
Rime ("ree-may") is Tibetan for "unbiased" and the Rime Movement began in Tibet in the 19the century to bridge the Foundation promotes the Dharma by sponsoring teachings in Chicago by Vajrayana masters from different traditions.

Wat Dhammaram »
Wat Dhammaram, is the Thai Buddhist Temple of Chicago. Its mission is to maintain and promote Buddhist teaching and Thai culture, and to organize Buddhist followers for religious and charitable activities. “Vipassana Meditation Center” (VMC), serves as a meditation center as well. There is a Sunday School for young students and adults, and a cultural center that is open to the public.

Access in Insight: Gateways to Theravada Buddhism »
Fantastic set of translations of suttas from the Pali Canon

Buddha Dharma Online »
Buddha Dharma - The Practitioner's Quarterly is the first in-depth, practice-oriented journal for everyone with a serious interest in Buddhism.

BuddhaNet: Buddhist Information Network »
Rich site, with a great glossary by Ven. S. Dhammika, and many downloadable texts of all traditions.

How American Women Are Changing Buddhism »
American Women are taking Buddhism away from its patriarchal past, participating confidently as practitioners, teachers, and leaders. The job is not finished, says Rita M. Gross, one of Buddhism's leading feminist thinkers, but the role of American Buddhist women is unprecedented and may change Buddhism forever. -- July 2005 Shambala Sun

Osel Shen Phen Ling: The Tibetan Buddhist Center »
A particularly beautiful web site, with lovely teachings from modern lamas.

Shambhala Sun Online »
Shambhala Sun is the magazine about waking up. It celebrates the spirit of wakefulness wherever it appears - in the arts, relationships, politics, livelihood, popular culture, and all the challenges of modern life.

The Buddhist Library »
A very large collection of Buddhist texts and commentary.

The E-Sangha »
A large and active Buddhist discussion forum.

The Journal of Buddhist Ethics »
Very technical, philosophical free internet publication.

The White Path Temple: Shin Buddhism »
Many articles and resources regarding the popular Shin tradition.

The Wise Woman Who Talked Back to God »
The Ancient Buddhist tale of the Seven Wise Sisters has Zen Teacher Bonnie Myotai Treace thinking about the koan of gender. -- July 2005 Shambala Sun

Tricycle: The Buddhist Review »
A site associated with the magazine Tricycle.

Women's Liberation »
Whether they call it soul, spirit, atman or buddhanature, all the major religions say that men and women have the same essential nature. Yet in practice these religions are dominated by men, and women are often not held as equals. Our panel discusses the realities, hopes, and struggles of women in three of the world's major religions. -- July 2005 Shambala Sun

Windhorse, the most recent big-screen release on the subject of Tibet.  While not explicitly a Buddhist film, Windhorse is a passionate and moving treatment of the lack of religious and human freedom endured by modern-day Tibetans living under Chinese occupation.  It focuses largely on the ethical dilemma of two women:   Dolkar (played by Dadon), a young Tibetan woman who has forged a career for herself as a singer of Chinese pop, and her cousin Pema, who has followed a different path as a Buddhist nun.

Passionate writer, poet, and feminist Diane di Prima was born in 1934.  In the 1950's she moved to Greenwich Village and joined Bohemian intellectual culture.  She wrote and was associated with such "Beat Poets" as Le Roi Jones (Imanu Amari Baraka), Allen Ginsberg, Audre Lord and Jack Kerouac.  In the late sixties she began to study Zen Buddhism.  Di Prima is widely published, her work translated into more than eight languages, and her opus includes such works as The Calculus of Variation (1972), Memoirs of a Beatnik (1969, 1988), Revolutionary Letters (1968, 1969, 1971), Selected Poems, 1956-76 (1975), and Seminary Poems (1991).  She has taught poetry at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado.  For more, see Joseph Matheny's online interview with di Prima.

From Revolutionary Poem #16:

we are eating up the planet, the New York Times
takes a forest, every Sunday, Los Angeles
draws its water from the Sacramento Valley
the rivers of British Columbia are ours
on lease for 99 years...

Dr. Susan Blackmore is a Zen Buddhist, a parapsychologist, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of the West of England, and a professional skeptic.  Her book Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences attempts to give a non-mystical (neurological) explanation of NDEs, or Near-Death Experiences (see a fellow "non-believer" review it here).   She also wrote In Search of the Light : The Adventures of a Parapsychologist and, most recently, The Meme Machine (on Richard Dawkins's idea of the meme as a unit of culture that spreads information).  For a taste of Blackmore's writing, read her online articles Lucid Dreams and OBEs, Science tackles the self, and Demolishing the Self.

Blues and jazz singer Ernestine Anderson was born on November 11, 1928 and started her career at the age of three years, when her father discovered her singing along with a recording by Bessie Smith.  Her singing career has spanned half a century, except for a break from the business in the late 1960's, when Anderson devoted herself to family life and her study of Buddhism.  Jazz Profiles calls her "one of the most versatile jazz vocalists to emerge from the big band era".  See National Public Radio's profile of Ernestine Anderson for more biographical details, along with RealAudio links to interviews with Anderson.

English actress Joanna Lumley, OBE was born in Srinagar, Kashmir in 1946.  She is especially well known for playing the roles of the glamorous Purdey (successor to Mrs. Peel) on The New Avengers (1976-77), and the hard-drinking, chain-smoking Patsy Stone in the BBC-TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous.(1992-96).   Lumley has narrated two BBC documentaries with Buddhist content:  Kingdom of the Lost Boy (April 1996), the excellent film about the young Panchen Lama, and Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon

(November 1997), a documentary about her visit to the mountain kingdom of Bhutan.  Lumley also supports Choose Cruelty Free, a non-profit organisation dedicated to stopping produt testing on animals.   More recently Lumley appeared as the piemaker Mrs. Lovett, engaging in some very unwholesome karma in the film The Tale of Sweeney Todd, and was active in fundraising for the victims of the 1999 floods in Orissa (India).

Performance artist Laurie Anderson has such a following that there is even a newsgroup dedicated to her!  The group's FAQ says: "Laurie Anderson is perhaps one of the most significant artists of this century; a poet, writer, visual artist, sculor and social commentator, she is perhaps best known as a recording artist, one whose technical wizardry and live shows have earned her a reputation as one of the most eccentric performers in the business."  To learn more, consult HomePAGE of the Brave: Laurie Anderson or check out her 1994 interview with Wired Magazine.  See also Adrienne Redd's interview with her in "The Speed of Darkness".

Screenwriter Melissa Mathison developed the screenplay for Kundun (Martin Scorsese's film about the life of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama) in conjunction with H.H. the Dalai Lama.  She speaks about her experience in The Making of Kundun, an interview with Angela Pressburger of the Shambhala Sun.  Mathison's earlier screenwriting credits include The Indian in the Cupboard, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Black Stallion, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, for which she received an Academy Award nomination.  (For more on Kundun, visit this site or see the new video In Search of Kundun with Martin Scorsese.)

Me'shell Ndegéocello is a revolutionary musician, singer-songwriter and activist whose work - which consistently addresses issues of racism, sexism and homophobia in a fluid range of musical genres - has won critical acclaim and numerous awards.  See her sites:
> Her homepage - Me'shell Ndegéocello (In Her Own Words)
> Meshell Ngedeocello - Alternative Negro Travelogue, a hot new Flash site
> DivaStation's me'shell ndegéocello page
> An older Me'shell website

"Belligerent bohemian punk poet.   Street-hot rock and roll messiah.  Ultimate female rock rebel.  The Queen of Piss. That was the Patti Smith of the 1970's ...  Mother of two.  Widow.   Poet and performer.  Student of religious imagery.  Author.  That is the Patti Smith of 1996."  Thus begins The Death and Rebirth of Patti Smith, the Shambhala Sun interview with the rock-and-roll legend Patti Smith.  The article includes her account of meeting H.H. the Dalai Lama and a short poem/prayer that Smith later wrote in his honour.  Patti Smith talks about death in The power and the glory, the resurrection and the life.

Renee Tajima- Peña , Japanese-American filmmaker, directed and produced the documentary My America, or Honk If You Love The Buddha, a tour of the Asian-American experience.   Visit the PBS site of the same name to explore her "virtual tour of Asian America".  Born in Chicago and raised in Altadena, CA, Tajima-Peña's other filmmaking credits include the Academy Award-nominated Who Killed Vincent Chin? (PBS), an investigation of the beating death of a Chinese-American in Detroit; Jennifer's In Jail (Lifetime Television), a profile of teenage girls in trouble with the law; and many others. Read Renee's question-and-answer page for some incisive comments on anti-Asian racism in America.

Ruby Wax is an American-born actress (ex-Royal Shakespeare Company) and comedienne who frequently appears as an interviewer on BBC-TV (such as "Ruby Wax Meets").  She also starred in the 1996 BBC series "Ruby's Health Quest" ... and visited the Buddhist monastery Kagyu Samyé Ling in Scotland for the episode on dealing with stress!

The extraordinary American pop singer Tina Turner (Anna Mae Bullock) is possibly the most famous Buddhist woman in the west.  She is a long-time student of Soka Gakkai International

(SGI).  The story of her life, and how she derived enough strength from her meditation practice to be able to leave an abusive relationship, is told in the film What's Love Got To Do With It -- Celebsite also has a short biography of the performer.

The work of American Buddhist artist Zoe Kaufman and others was in an exhibition during the Buddhist Women's Conference. Kaufman's work also appears on the cover of the 2007 Conference brochure and her "Quiet Mind on Fire" was used on this web site for the 2007 conference.