Chicago — The Fifth Annual Buddhist Women’s Conference, “Dharma in Motion,” will take place Saturday, May 1, 2010, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Student Center, 2250 Sheffield, Chicago IL.
The all-day conference will offer an opportunity for Buddhists — both lay and ordained — to energize their practice with new skills, knowledge and fresh perspectives, to make nourishing connections with other practitioners, and to deepen their spiritual lives. It will also offer those interested in Buddhism a chance to meet women practitioners and learn about the Dharma (teachings of Buddha).
This year’s theme, “Dharma in Motion,” will present a wide array of workshops that range from scholarly to practical to just plain fun. From Yoga to Hula, Zen Archery to the Zen of Knitting, Embodying Social Change to Living Green, Dynamic Chant to Living Chan, Tai Chi to the Dance of the 21 Praises of Tara, the interactive workshops promise to keep everyone moving, inside and out.
Two panel-structured workshops may be of particular interest to those new to Buddhism or from other faith traditions. Introduction to Buddhism will endeavor to elucidate what our esteemed presenters from three Buddhist traditions consider to be important and basic to the practice. An Interfaith Panel on Spirituality in Action will explore various spiritual perspectives with representatives from the Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, Navajo (Dine’) and Buddhist traditions. Panelists will speak to issues that challenge their beliefs in the global village and how their practices guide them in all aspects of their lives.
Featuring Keynote Speaker Cyndi Lee, founder of OM Yoga. A practitioner of both hatha yoga and Tibetan Buddhism, Cyndi is known as a nurturing and compassionate teacher with an offbeat and playful style. Cyndi is the author of Yoga Body, Buddha Mind; OM Yoga in a Box; OM Yoga: A Guide to Daily Practice; and the recently released OM Yoga & Meditation Workshop DVD (with her husband, David Nichtern). Cyndi’s frequent appearances in the media include The Early Show, Good Morning America, the New York Times, Newsweek, and Vogue. She has been a columnist for Yoga Journal and Shambhala Sun for many years. In her keynote address, Cyndi will draw on her experience as a yogini, Buddhist practitioner, and yoga teacher to offer fresh ways of experiencing the connection between body and mind, movement and stillness, stability and impermanence.
Presenting the 2010 Women and Engaged Buddhism Award to the Tibet Girls School, a program of the Tsogyaling Meditation Center of Evanston. At the conference, the Buddhist Council of the Midwest will award the Tibet Girls School the 2010 Women and Engaged Buddhism Award. In an ongoing effort to bring peace through education in Tibet where tensions continue to attract the world’s attention, Tsogyaling Meditation Center opened a girls school in Yushu, China, in August 2008. The vocational boarding school for Tibetan girls was founded by Asang, who left Tibet after his sister and her baby died during childbirth, and his wife, Nancy Floy, Executive Director of the Heartwood Center for Mind, Body, Spirit in Evanston. Asang had resolved to find ways to prevent other girls from suffering the same fate. For these young women from northeastern Tibetan nomad families, whose traditional way of life is being systematically eliminated by the Chinese government, the Tibet Girls School provides a new opportunity for their families, and a model for peaceful progress.
The Women and Engaged Buddhism Award is given to recognize and encourage initiatives in Engaged Buddhism by women. It is intended to nurture young or little known projects that are underway at the time of the application. This year’s award carries with it a guaranteed monetary grant of $1,000. To see previous award winners and to get more information about the Women and Engaged Buddhism Award click here.
The goal of the Buddhist Women’s Conference is to educate and improve the lives and practice of Buddhist women in the Midwest. The Buddhist Council of the Midwest (BCM) promotes the spread of the Dharma by fostering the learning and practice of Buddhism in America, inclusive of all three Buddhist traditions.
