法界佛教總會創辦人、妙覺山萬佛聖城開山祖師暨溈仰宗第九代傳人上宣下化老和尚於一九九五年六月七日（農曆乙亥年五月初十）下午三時十五分，在美國洛杉磯示寂。四眾弟子念佛八小時後，晚間十一時左右，方將上人法體移請出院。配合美國法律，暫安靈位於附近殯儀館，途中念佛不斷。略就緒後，隨從之四眾弟子即起讚誦《彌陀經》、南無阿彌陀佛聖號。館方特許當晚在該處自十二時三十分至次晨五時，進行佛教法事。

宣公上人一生以修持苦行、嚴持戒律知名。在戒律鬆弛的末法時代，宣公上人以身作則，提倡日中一食，夜不倒單的苦修精神，並將苦修的功德與福報完全迴向給法界所有眾生；又講經說法數萬會，三十餘年來未曾間斷，為長處暗夜的末法眾生，舉起智慧的明燈。

The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, founder of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association and the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas at Wonderful Enlightenment Mountain, the ninth generation patriarch of the Wei Yang Sect, manifested stillness (Nirvana) on June 7, 1995 (the tenth of the fifth lunar month in the year yi hai) at quarter past three in the afternoon in Los Angeles. Following eight hours of recitation of Amitabha Buddha’s name by the four assemblies of disciples, at about eleven o’clock at night the Master’s body was moved from the hospital. In order to comply with American laws, he was placed in a mortuary. As all arrangements were being made, the four assemblies of disciples continued reciting the Amitabha Sutra and Amitabha Buddha’s name. With special consent, the recitation continued from half past midnight until five o’clock in the morning (July 8) in the mortuary.

The Venerable Master was well-known for his lifelong ascetic practices and strict observance of the precepts. In the Dharma-ending Age when most people are lax about holding precepts, the Venerable Master was one who set a good example for others and advocated the ascetic practices of eating only one meal a day, before noon, and not lying down to sleep at night. What’s more, he dedicated the merit and blessings accrued from such ascetic practices to all living beings of the Dharma Realm. For over thirty years, without ever taking a break, the Venerable Master delivered several tens of thousands of Dharma talks and lectures on the Buddhist Sutras, raising aloft the bright lamp of wisdom for living beings who have long dwelt in the dark night of the Dharma-ending Age.

六月十二日下午四時，在加州洛杉磯面對太平洋的長堤聖寺為當代佛教高僧宣化上人舉行入殮大典。大典由美國妙法院住持旭朗法師主持。宣公上人門下出家、在家弟子，各界仰慕老和尚一生弘揚正法風範的信徒等數百人，參加這項莊嚴肅穆的大典。

將近下午四時，由老和尚一手創建的長堤聖寺門外張起黃色幡蓋，老和尚門下弟子跪在寺外念佛，迎請老和尚。四時十五分，老和尚法體抵達位於東海大道的長堤聖寺。許多弟子想起宣公上人住世時的殷殷叮嚀，都忍不住紅了眼眶。九歲的張羽蝶純真地說：「多希望能親耳聽上人的開示。可是再也沒有機會了。」

宣公上人在世時，經常以智慧的法語警醒大家，愷切直指人心。他一生以忍耐自持，曾經多次斷食，將功德福報迴向眾生。一九六二年，老和尚抵美不久，就遇上古巴飛彈危機。宣化上人當時斷食五週，迴向世界和平。世間傳說老和尚營養不良，但是據了解內情人士指出，老和尚是為法忘軀，積勞成疾。

一九八九年，上人訪問臺灣，斷食三週，將功德迴向臺灣民眾。臺灣之行後，又到歐洲各國弘法，不曾休息，不顧高齡。即使代眾生受病苦，老和尚仍然努力推動翻譯佛經的大業。譯經工作在唐朝由朝廷主持，而老和尚以一人之力扛起這份重擔，將大乘經典《華嚴經》、《法華經》、《楞嚴經》、《金剛經》、《阿彌陀經》、《地藏經》等等多部譯成英文，又陸續譯出法文、西班牙文、越南文等版本。他的目標是將三藏十二部佛經譯成各國文字，讓佛陀正法音普及全世界，讓普天下眾生離苦得樂。

除了譯佛經，老和尚花了大量心血在美加和亞洲成立二十七個道場。他致力佛教推展是為了端正人心，將世界由暴戾轉向祥和，讓人人都擁有一片純淨的心靈。他創辦的育良小學和培德中學，除了加州政俯指定的課程，還學《三字經》、《弟子規》、《千字文》、《白家姓》，讓學生從小明白做人的道理。宣公上人強調，造就一批品德高尚、學識優良的青年，就有希望將眾生從苦海中拉回來。

六月十三日下午四時，在長堤聖寺舉行初七紀念大典。十六日眾弟子將扶柩返回加州達摩鎮萬佛聖城。近日來，上人座下各道場紛紛舉行「華嚴法會」，於四十九日圓滿念誦《華嚴經》多部。這是宣公上人圓寂前的囑咐。

On June 12 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the ceremony for placement in the casket was held for the Venerable Master Hua, a renowned Buddhist master of his era, in southern California at Long Beach Monastery, which is adjacent to the Pacific shorefront. Dharma Master Xu Lang, the Abbot of Wonderful Dharma Temple, led the ceremony. Several hundred people, including the Venerable Master's left-home and lay disciples, and admirers of the Venerable Master's lifelong efforts to propagate the proper Dharma, including many members of the Los Angeles branch of the T'zu Chi charity organization, participated in the adorned and solemn ceremony.

A few minutes before four o'clock, yellow canopies were opened outside the entrance of Long Beach Monastery, which the Venerable Master established single-handedly. Disciples knelt on both sides of the monastery's entrance-way and recited the Buddha's name to welcome the Venerable Master. At quarter after four, the Venerable Master's body arrived at Long Beach Monastery on East Ocean Boulevard. The memory of the Master's repeated and earnest remonstrations to them when he was alive brought tears to the eyes of many disciples. Nine-year-old Amy Zhang innocently remarked, “How I wish I could hear the Master speak to us, but now it’s impossible.”

When the Venerable Master was alive, he often used wise words of Dharma to startle the assembly into wakefulness. His teachings pointed directly to people's minds. The Venerable Master conducted himself with patience throughout his life. He fasted many times, always dedicating the merit and blessings accrued from such fasts to living beings. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in 1962, shortly after the Venerable Master's arrival in the United States. At that time, the Master fasted for five weeks and dedicated the merit to world peace. Some reporters say the Master was suffering from malnutrition, but those who know the real situation point out that the Master forgot about himself for the sake of the Dharma, and that his sickness was the result of accumulated toil.

When the Venerable Master toured Taiwan in 1989, he fasted for three weeks and dedicated the merit to the people of Taiwan. Following that trip to Taiwan, the Master visited various European countries to propagate the Dharma. Despite his advanced age, he never took a rest.

Even while the Master was undergoing sickness and suffering on behalf of living beings, he continued to vigorously promote the great endeavor of translating the Buddhist scriptures. During the Tang dynasty of China, the project of translating the Buddhist canon was overseen and supported by the imperial court. In this modern age, the Venerable Master single-handedly took on this heavy responsibility. Under his direction, many Mahayana Sutras, such as the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Dharma Flower Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, the Vajra Sutra, the Amitabha Sutra, the Earth Store Sutra, and others have been translated into English and gradually into French, Spanish, Vietnamese, and other languages as well. The Master's goal was to have the entire Buddhist canon (Tripitaka) translated into all languages, so that the sound of the orthodox Dharma will be spread throughout the world, and living beings around the globe will be able to leave suffering and attain bliss.

In addition to promoting the translation of the Buddhist canon, the Venerable Master has also expended great effort in the establishment of twenty-seven Way-places (monasteries) in the United States, Canada, and Asia. He did his best to expand and develop Buddhism with the aim of rectifying people's minds, transforming violence into harmony in the world, and enabling every individual to have a pure, clean mind. At Instilling Goodness Elementary and Developing Virtue Secondary Schools, both founded by the Venerable Master, the curriculum includes the study of the Three Character Classic, the Rules for Being a Student, the Essay of a Thousand Words, and the Hundred Surnames in addition to the courses required by the California government. These traditional Chinese texts impress upon students the principles of being a good person. The Venerable Master stressed that if we can groom a generation of young people who possess high moral principles as well as superlative scholarship, there will still be hope for living beings to be pulled out of the sea of suffering.

On June 13 at four o'clock in the afternoon, a ceremony marking the completion of the first week of memorial services for the Venerable Master was held at Long Beach Monastery. On the 16th, the assembled disciples will escort the Master's casket to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmage, northern California. In the last few days, the branch monasteries under the Venerable Master have begun a forty-nine-day Dharma assembly for reciting the Avatamsaka Sutra several times through, in order to comply with the Venerable Master's instructions before he completed the stillness.