Buddhist Temple of Chicago

Buddhist Temple of Chicago
Information
Denomination Independent with informal ties to Higashi Honganji branch of Jōdo Shinshū
Founded 1944
Founder(s) Gyomay Kubose
Address 1151 West Leland Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60640
Country United States
Website www.budtempchi.org 
Portal:Buddhism

The Buddhist Temple of Chicago (BTC) was founded in October 1944 by Gyomay Kubose,[1] a minister of the Higashi Honganji branch of the Jōdo Shinshū (“Pure Land True Essence”) sect, along with several laypeople who had been released from the Japanese American internment camps.[2] Although the temple is administratively independent, the teaching lineage reflects the progressive Jōdo Shinshū thought of Manshi Kiyozawa and his student, Haya Akegarasu, who was Kubose’s teacher.

The temple was originally called the Chicago Buddhist Church and was located in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago’s south side. In the mid-1950s, the temple relocated to the Uptown neighborhood on the north side.

In 2006, the temple dedicated its new building.[3]

The membership base continues to be Japanese American, but from early in the temple’s history the number of non-Japanese members has steadily increased. Today the active membership includes a diversity of Asian, European, Latino and African ethnicities.

See also

References

  1. ^ Rev Gyomay M. Kubose (brief bio, and a remembrance) Retrieved 1 January 2012
  2. ^ Michihiro Ama (2011). Immigrants to the Pure Land: The Modernization, Acculturation, and Globalization of Shin Buddhism, 1898-1941. Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3438-8. 
  3. ^ "Buddhists’ new spiritual home". Chicagotribune.com. 2006-05-19. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-05-19/news/0605190257. Retrieved 2011-12-30. 

External links