Hsuan Hua (; April 16, 1918 – June 7, 1995), also known as An Tzu, Tu Lun and Master Hua by his Western disciples, was a Chinese
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...
of
Chan Buddhism
Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit ''dhyāna in Buddhism, dhyāna'' (meaning "meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century Common Era, CE onwards, becoming e ...
and a contributing figure in bringing
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...
to the United States in the late 20th century.
Hsuan Hua founded several institutions in the US. The
Dharma Realm Buddhist Association
The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (shortened to DRBA, Chinese: 法界佛教總會, PY: ''Fajie Fojiao Zonghui'', formerly known as the Sino-American Buddhist Association) is an international, non-profit Buddhist organization founded by the ...
(DRBA) is a Buddhist organization with chapters in North America, Australia and Asia. The
City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB) in
Ukiah, California
Ukiah ( ; Pomo: ''Yokaya'', meaning "deep valley") is the county seat and largest city of Mendocino County, California, Mendocino County, California, with a population of 16,607 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. With its accessible ...
, is one of the first Chan Buddhist monasteries in America. Hsuan Hua founded
Dharma Realm Buddhist University
Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU) is an American private nonprofit university located in Ukiah, California, just over 100 miles north of San Francisco, in Mendocino County. It was established in 1976 by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. It is sit ...
at CTTB. The Buddhist Text Translation Society works on the phonetics and translation of Buddhist scriptures from Chinese into English, Vietnamese, Spanish, and many other languages.
Early life
Hsuan Hua, a native of Shuangcheng County of
Jilin
Jilin (; Postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three Provinces of China, provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, R ...
(now
Wuchang
Wuchang forms part of the urban core of and is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the ri ...
,
Harbin
Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest c ...
,
Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang () Postal romanization, formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a Provinces of China, province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is th ...
), was born Bai Yushu () on April 16, 1918. His parents were devout Buddhists. At an early age, Hua became a vegetarian like his mother, and decided to become a Buddhist monk.
At the age of 15, he took
refuge in the
Three Jewels under Chang Zhi. That same year he began to attend school and studied texts of various
Chinese schools of thought, and the fields of medicine, astrology, and physiology. At 19 years of age, Hua became a monastic, under the Dharma name An Tzu. ()
Bringing Chinese Buddhism to the United States
In 1959, Hsuan Hua sought to bring Chinese Buddhism to the West. He instructed his disciples in America to establish a Buddhist association, initially known as The Buddhist Lecture Hall, which was renamed the Sino-American Buddhist Association before taking its present name: the
Dharma Realm Buddhist Association
The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (shortened to DRBA, Chinese: 法界佛教總會, PY: ''Fajie Fojiao Zonghui'', formerly known as the Sino-American Buddhist Association) is an international, non-profit Buddhist organization founded by the ...
.
Hsuan Hua traveled to Australia in 1961 and taught there for one year, returning to Hong Kong in 1962. That same year, at the invitation of American Buddhists, he traveled to the United States; his intent was to "come to America to create Patriarchs, to create Buddhas, to create Bodhisattvas".
San Francisco
Hsuan Hua resided in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
, where he built a lecture hall. Hsuan Hua began to attract young Americans who were interested in
meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...
. He conducted daily meditation sessions and frequent Sutra lectures.
At that time, the
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
occurred between the United States and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, and Hsuan Hua embarked on a fasting period for thirty-five days to pray for an end to the hostilities and for world peace. In 1967, Hsuan Hua moved the Buddhist Lecture Hall back to Chinatown, locating it in the
Tianhou
Mazu or Matsu is a Chinese sea goddess also known by several other names and titles. She is the deified form of the legendary figure Lin Mo or Lin Moniang, a Fujianese shamaness whose life span is traditionally dated from 960 to 987. Re ...
Temple.
First American Sangha
In 1968, Hsuan Hua held a
Shurangama Study and Practice Summer Session. Over thirty students from the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...
in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
came to study the Buddha's teachings. After the session was concluded, five young Americans (Bhikṣu Heng Chyan, Heng Jing, and Heng Shou, and Bhikṣuṇīs Heng Yin and Heng Ch'ih) requested permission to take full ordination.
Hsuan Hua lectured on the entire ' in 1968 while he was in the United States. These lectures were recorded in an eight-part series of books containing the sutra and a traditionally rigorous form of commentary that addresses each passage. It was again lectured by the original translator monks and nuns of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas at
Dharma Realm Buddhist University
Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU) is an American private nonprofit university located in Ukiah, California, just over 100 miles north of San Francisco, in Mendocino County. It was established in 1976 by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. It is sit ...
in the summer of 2003.
Vision of American Buddhism
With the founding of his American Sangha, Hsuan Hua embarked on his personal vision for
Buddhism in the United States
The term American Buddhism can be used to describe all Buddhist groups within the United States, including Asian Americans, Asian-American Buddhists born into the faith, who comprise the largest percentage of Buddhists in the country.
American Budd ...
:
* Bringing the true and proper teachings of the Buddha to the West and establishing a proper monastic community of the fully ordained Sangha there
* Organizing and supporting the translation of the entire Buddhist canon into English and other Western languages
* Promoting wholesome education through the establishment of schools and universities
Hosting ordination ceremonies
Because of the increasing numbers of people who wished to become monks and nuns under Hsuan Hua's guidance, in 1972 he decided to hold ordination ceremonies at Gold Mountain
Dhyana Monastery. Two monks and one nun received ordination. Subsequent ordination platforms have been held at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in 1976, 1979, 1982, 1989, 1991, and 1992, and progressively larger numbers of people have received full ordination. Over two hundred people from countries all over the world were ordained under him.
Theravada and Mahayana traditions
Having traveled to Thailand and Burma in his youth to investigate the Southern Tradition of Buddhism, Hsuan Hua wanted to bridge what he perceived as a rift between the Northern (
Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...
) and Southern (
Theravada
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school ...
) traditions. In an address to
Ajahn Sumedho
Luang Por Sumedho or Ajahn Sumedho ( th, อาจารย์สุเมโธ) (born Robert Karr Jackman, July 27, 1934) is one of the senior Western representatives of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was abbot of Amaravat ...
and the monastic community at
Amaravati Buddhist Monastery on October 6, 1990, Hsuan Hua stated:
[Hsuan Hua. ''The Shurangama Sutra with Commentary, Volume 7.'' 2003. p. 261]
On the occasion of the opening ceremony for the Dharma Realm Buddhist University, Hsuan Hua presented
K. Sri Dhammananda
K. Sri Dhammananda (born Martin Gamage, 18 March 1919 – 31 August 2006) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and scholar.
Early life
Born in the village of Kirinde in Matara, Sri Lanka, Dhammananda spent most of his life and career in Malaysia. He ...
of the Theravada tradition with an honorary
Ph.D. He also donated a major piece of the land that would become
Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, a Theravada Buddhist monastery in the Thai Forest tradition of
Ajahn Chah, located in
Redwood Valley, California.
Hsuan Hua would also invite
Bhikkhu
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics (" nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...
s from both traditions to jointly conduct the High Ordination.
Chinese and American Buddhism
From July 18 to the 24th of 1987, Hsuan Hua hosted the ''Water, Land, and Air Repentance Dharma Assembly'', a centuries-old ritual often seen as the "king of dharma services" in Chinese Buddhism, at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and invited over seventy Buddhists from
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...
to attend. This was the first time the service was known to have been held in North America.
On November 6, 1990, Hsuan Hua sent his disciples to
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
to bring the Dragon Treasury () edition of the
Chinese Buddhist canon back to CTTB, furthering his goal of bringing Buddhism to the US.
Death
On June 7, 1995, while visiting Long Beach Sagely Monastery, Hsuan Hua died in his sleep. He had been ill for some time prior to his death at the age of 77.
Funeral
Hsuan Hua's funeral lasted from June 8 to July 29. On June 17, Hsuan Hua's body was placed in a refrigerated casket and taken from southern to northern California, returning to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to lie in repose. All major services during the funeral were presided over by Ming Yang, abbot of Longhua Temple in Shanghai and a longtime friend of Hsuan Hua's.
On July 28, monks from both Theravada and Mahayana traditions hosted a memorial ceremony and cremation. More than two thousand followers from the United States, Canada, and various Asian and European countries, came to CTTB to take part in the funeral service. Letters of condolences from dignitaries including former President
George H. W. Bush were read during the service.
A day after the cremation, July 29, Hsuan Hua's ashes were scattered, at his request, in the open air above the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas from a hot air balloon by his first two disciples,
Heng Sure
Heng Sure (恆實法師, Pinyin: ''Héng Shí'', birth name Christopher R. Clowery; born October 31, 1949) is an American Chan Buddhist monk. He is a senior disciple of Hsuan Hua, and is currently the director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monaste ...
and Heng Chau. After the funeral, memorial services commemorating Hsuan Hua's life were held in various parts of the world, including
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
, China, and Canada. His
śarīra
Śarīra is a generic term referring to Buddhist relics, although in common usage it usually refers to pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are purportedly found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters. Relics of the B ...
(relics) were then distributed to many of his temples, disciples, and followers.
See also
*
Buddhism in the United States
The term American Buddhism can be used to describe all Buddhist groups within the United States, including Asian Americans, Asian-American Buddhists born into the faith, who comprise the largest percentage of Buddhists in the country.
American Budd ...
*
Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
*
Buddhism in the West
References
External links
Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hsuan, Hua
1918 births
1995 deaths
American Buddhists
American Zen Buddhists
Chan Buddhist monks
Dharma Realm Buddhist Association
Chinese Zen Buddhists
Hong Kong Zen Buddhists
Republic of China Buddhist monks
Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers
Zen Buddhism writers
20th-century Chinese people
Writers from Harbin
Chinese spiritual writers
Hong Kong Buddhist monks
20th-century Buddhist monks