Buddhist Temple of Chicago

{{Infobox religious building

| name = Buddhist Temple of Chicago

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| image_size = 250

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| location = 1151 West Leland Avenue,
Chicago, Illinois 60640

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| religious_affiliation = Independent with informal ties to Higashi Honganji branch of Jōdo Shinshū

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| country = United States

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| website = {{URL|http://www.budtempchi.org}}

| founded_by = Gyomay Kubose

| year_completed = 2006

}}

The Buddhist Temple of Chicago (BTC) was founded in October 1944 by Gyomay Kubose,[http://www.brightdawn.org/gyomay%20kubose.htm Rev Gyomay M. Kubose] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616133910/http://www.brightdawn.org/gyomay%20kubose.htm |date=2012-06-16 }} (brief bio, and a remembrance) Retrieved 1 January 2012{{cite web |title=The Buddhist Traveler in Chicago|date=2022 |last=Brown |first=Gita |access-date=2023-04-04 |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhism-in-chicago/ |work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review}} a minister of the Higashi Honganji branch of the Jōdo Shinshū ("True Pure Land School") sect, along with several laypeople who had been released from the Japanese American internment camps.{{cite book |author=Michihiro Ama |year=2011| title=Immigrants to the Pure Land: The Modernization, Acculturation, and Globalization of Shin Buddhism, 1898-1941 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |isbn=978-0-8248-3438-8 }}{{cite news |title=AT 92, FOUNDER OF AMERICAN BUDDHISM STILL ADDING TO HIS LEGACY OF FAITH, WORK |date=1997-02-28 |last=Melcer |first=Rachel |access-date=2023-04-04 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-02-28-9702280072-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune}}{{cite news |title=REV. GYOMAY M. KUBOSE; OPENED 1ST BUDDHIST TEMPLE IN CHICAGO |date=2000-04-05 |last=Hussain |first=Rummana |access-date=2023-04-04 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-04-05-0004050298-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune}} 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.{{cite news |title=Buddhists' new spiritual home |date=2006-05-19 |last=Noel |first=Josh |access-date=2023-04-04 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-05-19-0605190257-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune}}.

The membership base continues to be Japanese American, but from early on in the temple's history the number of non-Japanese members has steadily increased. Today the active membership includes a diverse congregation of Asian, European, Latino and African members. The temple also accepts those who identify as LGBTQA+.{{Cite web |date=2015-01-13 |title=About Us |url=https://buddhisttemplechicago.org/about-us/ |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=The Buddhist Temple of Chicago |language=en}}