Author

Sumi Loundon Kim is the Buddhist chaplain at Yale University (Connecticut) and founder of the Mindful Families of Durham (North Carolina).

After receiving a bachelor’s in fine art from Williams College and master’s in Buddhist studies and Sanskrit from the Harvard Divinity School, she was the associate director for the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Massachusetts. She then served as the Buddhist chaplain at Duke University for eight years.

Originally brought up in a Soto Zen community in the 70s, Sumi has been a student of the Theravada (insight) tradition since her teens. She is the author of books, Blue Jean Buddha (2001) and The Buddha’s Apprentices (2005), Sitting Together: A Family-Centered Curriculum on Mindfulness, Meditation & Buddhist Teachings (2017), and Goodnight Love: A Bedtime Meditation Story (2023), among many other chapters and articles.

Sumi lives with her husband and two teenagers in southern Connecticut.