Buddhist Monk Plans to Build Temple in McHenry County, IL

January 10, 2003

Source: The Northwest Herald

http://www.nwherald.com/spider/NWH/news/280453551713291.shtml

On January 10, 2003 The Northwest Herald reported that "at 35, Sujan Sunim has been a Buddhist monk for 21 years. He never planned to leave his family and home in Sri Lanka, a small island next to India... His studies took him to Vietnam, Australia, Asia, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Canada. Now he is in McHenry County [IL], where a growing Buddhist community needs his help, he said... Meanwhile, he said he is focused on his temple. It will allow him to help others interested in becoming Buddhist monks, he said. He knows of numerous Buddhist temples in Chicago, but many are specific to ethnic communities... 'It's not going to be a Korean Buddhist temple. It's not a Japanese Buddhist temple,' he said. 'It's just a Buddhist temple...' Typical of his lifestyle, he has no specific plans in place for how to finance or create the temple. But he senses success based on the turnout at his meditation class. He predicts that he will have a temple in place by the end of the year, even if he has to start in a one-bedroom apartment. "