<DIV>This life story of one of the few women in her generation to devote herself entirely to the pursuit of meditation also includes Dipa Ma's spiritual teachings, which have made her a major figure in contemporary Buddhism. Dipa Ma was the first truly accomplished female meditation master in the Thereavada tradition to teach in the United States and, while she had a deep devotion to the tradition, she also had a fierce understanding that the spiritual accomplishments of women could be in every way equal to those of the predominantly male religious hierarchy. Her influence on the teaching of insight meditation practice in the West is presented here through stories and encounters told by sources such as family members, her students in Calcutta, and several of America's leading Buddhist and meditation teachers. <br></div>