Hsuan Hua

Hsuan Hua was a Chinese Buddhist monk widely regarded as a leading figure in bringing orthodox Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism to the United States in the twentieth century. He is traditionally counted as a lineage holder of the Guiyang (Weiyang) school of Chan and received dharma transmission from the renowned master Hsu Yun, while also upholding the Pure Land practice of reciting the name of Amitābha Buddha. After settling in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s, he founded the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association and, in 1976, established the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas near Ukiah, California, one of the earliest Chan monasteries in North America. He emphasized strict monastic discipline, scriptural study and translation, and the ordination of Western disciples, helping to train some of the first native-born American Buddhist monks and nuns. His many recorded lectures and the large scriptural-translation effort he initiated remain influential within his communities.