The Seventh Anniversary of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
聖城有今日的成就，乃是佛教徒經千辛萬苦奮鬥得來之成果。
The present accomplishments of the
City of Ten Thousand Buddhas result from the toil and efforts of
Buddhist disciples in overcoming numerous hardships.
The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas has been
in existence for seven years now. Its present accomplishments
result from the toil and efforts of Buddhist disciples in
overcoming numerous hardships. Countless miracles have occurred.
Let us recount from the beginning how this flourishing City
started.
Over twenty years ago, the Venerable
Master Hsuan Hua saw that the conditions were ripe and traveled
alone to America to sow the seeds of Proper Dharma in the
fertile soil of the Western Hemisphere. Through the years he has
arduously blazed new trails, enduring hardship in order to raise
the banner of the Proper Dharma and turn the great wheel of
Dharma.
Upon arriving in the United States in
1962, he founded the Buddhist Lecture Hall in San Francisco's
Chinatown. He named himself "The Monk in the Grave" and lived in
quiet anonymity. In 1968, the Master explained the Shurangama
Sutra for students from the University of Washington in Seattle
and founded the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association. In the years
that followed, he founded various branches of the Dharma Realm
Buddhist Association, including Gold Mountain Monastery (1970),
the International Institute for the Translation of Buddhist
Texts (1972), Gold Wheel Monastery in Los Angeles (1975), the
City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmage, Mendocino County
(1976), Bodhidharma Center in Seattle (1976), and others. Like
bamboo shoots after a spring rain, these Way-places of Proper
Dharma thrived and prospered, laying a stable foundation for
Buddhism's future.
（二）義務教育，重整社會頹風
II. Promoting Free Education to Reform
Social Trends
In his
transformation of people, the Venerable Master carries out
worldly endeavors in a transcendental spirit. He sees the
failure of education as the root cause for the decline of
morals, the degradation of culture, and the poor quality of
teaching. Parents allow children to do as they please,
unconcerned for their futures. Schools are ineffective in
educating and disciplining children. Instead of learning ethical
values at school, children learn to ignore their consciences and
violate natural principles. It's no wonder there are so many
dropouts and juvenile delinquents who become involved in murder,
arson, drug peddling, theft, and every conceivable crime.
上人純以德行感化叛逆青年，改邪歸正，甚至息滅幫派間之鬥爭，使社會安寧，默默幫助華人社會，厥功至偉！
Purely by means of his virtue, the Venerable Master has
influenced rebellious young people to reform. He has even ended
gang wars, bringing peace to society. He has quietly helped the
overseas Chinese, creating tremendous merit.
The Master has long been committed to education. As a teenager
in Manchuria, he started a free school for poor children.
Wishing to rescue education from its present predicament, the
Master announced on the Fourth of July in 1980 that the schools
at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas would charge no tuition and
would actively promote a model curriculum of ethical virtue and
character so as to transform people's attitudes and reform
social customs. Instilling Goodness Elementary was founded in
1975, followed by Developing Virtue Secondary School. In both
schools, boys and girls study separately. Proper etiquette,
filial piety, and fraternal respect are emphasized. Under
skillful and patient instruction, young people behave virtuously
as a matter of course. Instilling Goodness Elementary School
focuses on the virtue of filial piety, while Developing Virtue
Secondary School emphasizes service to society as well as filial
piety. The aims of Dharma Realm Buddhist University are service,
filial piety, humaneness, and justice.
The destiny of the world lies in the hands of young people. If
we devote less than our full attention to their education, the
consequences will be dire indeed! It is of critical importance
to nurture young people who will be capable of leading and
shaping society. The various educational institutions of this
association aspire to foster outstanding future leaders of
uncompromising integrity who will benefit all beings and bring
blessings to humankind.
（三）人間福地，塵寰淨土
III. A Pure Land of Blessings within the Mundane World
Since purchasing the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in 1976, the
association has quietly persevered in its work, undaunted by
setbacks. The City has been discriminated against and attacked,
being slandered by those who rely on Buddhism for their
livelihood. Having calmly withstood all adversities, the City is
now recognized as an international "pure land on earth". It
stands strong, independent, and shining in its splendor.
The City is located 115 miles north of San Francisco and covers
more than 400 acres of land, including Wonderful Enlightenment
Mountain. Surrounded by mountains, the City has all kinds of
trees, flowers, and vegetation, such as the world-famous
redwood, pine, cedar, bamboo, and rows of fruit trees. White
cranes, peacocks, and other birds sing the wondrous sounds of
Dharma. Spotted deer, squirrels, and other wild creatures
populate the grounds. Over seventy large buildings, constructed
with materials of the best quality, house up to twenty thousand
residents. Breathing the fresh, clean air and taking in the
lovely setting, it is easy to fall into a reverie.
（四）國際道場，建設輝煌獨到
IV. An International Monastery of Imposing Architecture
The City has undertaken numerous construction and renovation
projects. The magnificent triple-arch front gate, which doubles
as a lecture platform, was completed in 1982. The walls of the
Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas are adorned with ten thousand small
Buddha statues, and an eighteen-foot-tall statue of the
Thousand-Handed, Thousand-Eyed Guanshiyin Bodhisattva stands in
the front of the hall. Countless miracles are associated with
this statue of the Bodhisattva. Those who pray sincerely before
it never fail to gain a response. Thus this statue is visited by
an endless stream of pilgrims from every nation.
The Vajra Jeweled Ordination Hall, also completed in 1982, is
unique in its magnificent design, which includes interreflecting
mirrors on four walls. The Five Contemplations Dining Hall, the
most recent project to be completed, has a seating capacity of
two thousand. Dormitories in the City include Tathagata
Monastery, Great Compassion House (for men), Joyous Giving House
(for women), Horse Whinney House, Dragon Tree House, and Lion
House. In addition, the City as an acupuncture clinic, a general
hospital with 180 rooms for patients, the Buddhist Council for
the Rescue and Resettlement of Refugees, and a Center for World
Religions.
Funds are currently being raised to build a Jeweled Hall of
Great Heroes that will be 110 feet high, 330 feet long, and 210
feet wide. It will hold up to ten thousand worshippers at once.
The first floor will be the Flower Adornment Proper Dharma
Lecture Hall, and the second floor will be the Jeweled Hall of
Great Heroes. The structure will have double eaves with the
corners curving upwards and be surrounded by flowing water. It
will be colossal and magnificent, the most splendid Buddha Hall
in the West.
Since the United States is a great nation of the world, we must
have a large, international monastery to lead world Buddhism
into its next stage of splendid achievements!
（五）六大宗旨 大公無私
V. The Six Guiding Principles and Selfless Public Spirit
Under the high standards of integrity of the City of Ten
Thousand Buddhas, the "dragons must coil up and the tigers must
crouch down," so to speak. The members of the fourfold assembly
avoid opportunism, flattery, and vulgar trends. As a monk, the
Master has always lived by the Six Guidelines: not to fight, not
to be greedy, not to seek, not to be selfish, not to pursue
personal gain, and not to tell lies. As a result, his followers
have developed uncompromising standards of integrity. The
practitioners of our association take the following as their
creed:
Freezing, we do not scheme. Starving, we do not beg. Dying
of poverty, we ask for nothing. According with conditions, we
do not change. Not changing, we accord with conditions. We
adhere firmly to our three great principles. We renounce our
lives to do the Buddha's work. We take the responsibility to
mold our own destinies. We rectify our lives to
fulfill the Sanghan's role. Encountering specific matters,
we understand the principles. Understanding the
principles, we apply them in specific matters. We
carry on the single pulse of the Patriarchs'
mind-transmission.
We try our best to avoid the utilitarian, opportunistic, and
selfish attitudes common in this day and age. We strive to
practice in an honest, down-to-earth fashion, devoting our lives
to Buddhism with almost foolish sincerity. The Venerable Master
uses nothing but patience to teach his disciples. Young
Westerners in particular, who are used to listening to no one
and having their own way, have been inspired to submit to him
wholeheartedly. When his disciples fail to listen, the Master
bows to them, using his superhuman sincerity and patience to
gather in sentient beings.
（六）世界佛教放大光明
VI. World Buddhism Shines Resplendently
上人自來美二十餘年，無非本著「一日不作，一日不食」的大無畏精神，處處以身作則，誨人不倦。
Since coming to the United States over twenty years ago, the
Venerable Master has consistently embodied the courageous spirit
of the maxim: "I shall not eat on any day that I have done no
work." He always teaches by example and does not know the
meaning of fatigue when it comes to instructing people.
His monastic disciples, who are of Chinese, American, British,
Vietnamese, and Malaysian origins, are characterized by their
outstanding ideals, profound erudition, and strict moral
discipline. They delight only in the Proper Dharma and do not
exploit the laity or curry favors from the rich and powerful.
Neither turning away those who come nor pursuing those who leave
the monastery, these disciples turn all donations over to the
temple and receive no personal offerings. In this way, they hope
to reform Buddhism, revive the Vinaya (moral discipline), and
practice the lofty and virtuous conduct of a public monastery.
The monastics at the City observe the Buddha's regulations of
eating only one meal a day and not lying down to sleep. They
practice vigorously so as to perpetuate the Proper Dharma. The
fourfold assembly is engaged in translating the Buddhist canon,
providing education through the schools, reciting the Buddha's
name, meditating, practicing repentance, and reciting mantras.
In all of these, they advance single-mindedly, forgetting
themselves for the sake of the Dharma. Yet there are detractors
in Buddhism who criticize such practices as not according with
the Proper Dharma and the Middle Way, and who accuse us of
showing off. It is hard to fathom their intentions.
In the City's auspicious environment, talented and learned
individuals are not lacking. In this age of the Dharma's
decline, they shine through the darkness to illuminate the
universe, spreading the Buddha's teachings and perpetuating the
Triple Jewel. It is said,
「無不從此法界流，無不還歸此法界」，
There is nothing that does not flow forth from the Dharma Realm.
There is nothing that does not return to the Dharma Realm.
此處乃是十方聖賢豪傑，薈萃之地也。今逢七週年慶祝大典，益加勇猛直前，誓與同仁共入無量光明解脫境界！
This is the place where sages, worthies, and heroes of the ten
directions convene. On this occasion of the City's Seventh
Anniversary Celebration, may we advance with vigor and enter the
realm of infinitely bright liberation together.
