Daiyuzenji Rinzai Zen Temple

I train here regularly and am consistently inspired by the directness and sincerity of basically every activity taking place whether it’s the Tuesday and Thursday evening sits, the Sunday morning chanting service, or various retreats and seminars throughout the year.
Check out the website for more details and the schedule:

I’ll start with the caveat that I’ve been here exactly once, for a Tuesday evening zazen session.
That said, this seemed to me like an exceptional place for Rinzai Zen in Chicago. This is a community that practices the disciplines of martial arts and traditional calligraphy in addition to sitting meditation and koan instruction. So if you have been watching a lot of martial arts movies, and you think you are secretly a ninja warrior, this is the place for you. They will quickly disabuse you of your silly kung fu fantasies and get right down to business instructing you in the ancient traditions of the Rinzai School of Zen Buddhism. These people are welcoming and friendly, but they are not messing around with some touchy-​feely new agey kind of stuff here.
Even if you’re just into meditation in general, you owe it to yourself to sit with these guys at least once, if only to familiarize yourself with this form of meditation without having to buy a plane ticket to Asia. We’re lucky to have them in our city.

Simply peaceful!
Don’t let yourself be deceived by the simple red brick building. Inside it is a very tasteful, puristic Japanese style room.
The abbot, Roshi Miller, and everybody else are very friendly, calm, open and take time for everyone to answer their questions. Don’t be hesitant. Give it a try, you won’t regret it if you like meditation.