3rd Buddhist Women's Conference Sponsored by the Buddhist Council of the Midwest

"BEING THE DHARMA" was held at the Lake Street Church, 607 Lake Street, Evanston, IL 60201 on MARCH 8, 2008.

The 3^rd Annual Buddhist Women's Conference presented an opportunity for women, ordinary and ordained, to share their practice, cultures, experience, and life as women in the context of the dharma. Women of all Buddhist traditions were represented as planners, presenters, and participants.

More information on the 2008 Conference is available on the Conference Website, www.dharmawomen.org.

The first annual Buddhist Womens Conference, sponsored by The Buddhist Council of the Midwest and the De Paul University Department of Philosophy, Religious Studies Department, University Ministry, Women's Center and Women's and Gender Studies Program, was held March 11, 2006 in Chicago at the

More than 300 women attended, primarily from the Midwest. However, there were also many attendees from other areas of the U.S. and several international guests.

The Conference was successful both in terms of content and financially. A large majority of the attendees rated the program "excellent" and expressed a strong interest in attenting again next year. As a result, the Buddhist Council of the Midwest decided to provide primary organizing efforts for a second Conference to be held in February, 2007.

The first Women and Engaged Buddhism award was presented to Venerables Molini and Dhamma Vijaya of Dhamma Moli in recognition and encouragement of their efforts to prevent the trafficking of girls in Nepal. Web Link

Nearly four hundred Buddhist women gathered February 24, 2007 in the DePaul University Student Center in Chicago to participate in the second annual Buddhist Women’s Conference sponsored by the Buddhist Council of the Midwest and DePaul University. The all-day conference, “Women Voicing the Dharma” offered an opportunity for Buddhists, both lay and ordained, to share their experiences as women who follow the “dharma” (or teachings of Buddha), to deepen their spiritual lives, and to discuss the role of women in the future of Buddhism in America.

Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo, an ordained Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition and well-known Buddhist scholar, delivered the keynote address. Ven. Tsomo, an assistant professor at the University of San

Diego, is currently the president of Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women and the founder and director of Jamyang Foundation, a non-profit organization created to provide education to women in developing countries.

Her books include Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha; Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes; Innovative Buddhist Women: Swimming Against the Stream; Sisters in Solitude: Two Traditions of Monastic Ethics for Women; Buddhist Women Across Cultures: Realizations; Living and Dying in Buddhist Cultures (with David W. Chappell).

The 2007 The Buddhist Women’s Conference dana was granted to the Maekhao Chanthasomphone and Maekhao Keo for the Wat Sila Salalam Pokam school for girls, in Laos, with general recognition given to Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and the Jamyang Foundation for their long term commitment to address the issues of poverty, literacy, and gender discrimination in some of the neediest and most remote parts of the world. Web Link