奠下基礎

一、上人西來初意

上人的遠見，廣大如法界，他廣度眾生，不問國籍、種族、宗教、背景，也不問人與非人。但是上人今生與中國、美國這兩個國家特別有緣，雖然他大部分的弟子都是中國人，但後人所記得他的，恐怕是他把佛教帶到西方的事業。

上人的生平，自中國東北開始，在他十多二十歲時，為母親廬墓三年，以盡孝行。那時他已是沙彌，用高粱桿子在墓旁搭了一個茅棚，就坐那兒打坐。一日，上人看見中國禪宗的六祖惠能大師，來談話許久，對上人說：

將來你會到美國，…五宗會分成十宗，你所遇的人，無量無邊，教化眾生多如恆河沙，不可悉數，這是佛教在西方真正的開始。

六祖給了上人這些話，又告訴上人以後應該到西方去弘揚佛法。在上人送六祖離開後，才想起六祖許久以前（西元七一三年）已入涅槃。

上人除了從六祖那兒，得知以後自己會到西方去弘揚佛法之外，在一九四九年去香港之前，極少和西方接觸，到香港後才正式和西方人有所接觸。

傳法予上人的虛雲老禪師（西元一八四○至一九五九年）入涅槃時，上人為其主持大般涅槃法會。之後，覺得到西方傳法的機緣已成熟了，那時上人有的弟子已赴西方去留學。

一九六○年，上人赴澳洲考察佛法機緣，他在那兒待了十分艱難的一年，便回香港稍留。一九五八年時，香港的弟子便已在三藩市成立了佛教講堂分部，上人應美國弟子之邀，於一九六二年初起身赴美。在中國城這一小講堂中，上人講了《阿彌陀經》。在這段期間，對禪有興趣的一些美國人前來參訪上人，其中包括三藩市禪坐中心前任主持人理查·貝克。

同年秋，正值美國古巴危機，上人因住美國受益，故思報恩，並見及古巴如果裝置了飛彈所可能引起的災害，故絕食三十五天，只飲水，並迴向功德，以期結束危機。

二、墓中僧時期

一九六三年，因為有些弟子對法不恭敬，上人離開中國城，並將佛教講堂遷至日本城邊緣，沙特街與韋伯街轉角處的一幢樓房的第一層。上人在此開始隱居至一九六八年，自稱「墓中僧」，並作詩為誌：

各位今遇墓中僧，上無日月下無燈；
煩惱菩提冰是水，生死涅槃色即空。
放下攀緣離諸妄，歇止狂心覺圓融；
悟得自性光明藏，原來報身即法身。

就在上述的地點，上人開始與對打坐有興趣的美國青年常常接觸，有的人天天來，共同坐禪時間是每天下午七至八時。有些美國青年也來聽他講經，上人講了《阿彌陀經》、《金剛經》、《心經非臺頌解》、《永嘉大師證道歌》和部份《法華經》。

一九六七年，上人將佛教講堂搬回中國城天后廟––這是美國最早的一座廟，在這裡上人講了七佛傳法偈及《法華經》〈普門品〉。

一九六八年農曆年時，上人對一些人宣佈了兩件要緊的事：第一件，上人預言那年美國佛教的蓮花會開放，時尚無任何美國青年會投身佛教的跡象。

第二樁事是上人注意到，當時團體中有許多人很害怕那年春天會有地震，所以上人宣布只要他住在三藩市，他就不准三藩市地震造成傷害或死亡。此後每個農曆年，上人都重申他這個願；一九八九年當三藩市地震時，上人正是離開美國，身在臺灣時。

一九六八年春天，美國西雅圖華盛頓大學一群學生寫信給上人，請求上人到西雅圖來主持一星期的禪七。上人教弟子南西·羅偉寫信給另一位弟子易象乾，讓他轉告這群學生，上人不能來西雅圖。因為他如果離開三藩市，三藩市就會有地震，所以上人建議他們到三藩市佛教講堂來。這群學生來了，就在那年春天打了一個佛七和一個禪七，大約有三十人參加。

三、一九六八年

楞嚴暑期經講修班

◆聽聞佛法Listening to the Buddhadharma

那年春天佛七及禪七法會結束時，上人對幾位參加法會的人建議，在暑假時間舉行一個三個月的講修班，大約有三十個人決定來參加。在這九十八天的暑期班，上人每天講解《楞嚴經》二次，在近結束時，每天講三次，甚至四次。這次的講習班是開放給大眾的，每天早上六點開始，晚間九點正式結束。除了講經之外，講修班課程包括打坐、研究、討論，所以時間是很緊湊的。

雖然當時參加的人年歲、背景都不同，但大部分都是年輕的美國大學生，或者是二十多歲或近三十歲，沒有學過什麼佛法，有一些在大學或研究所裡學過佛學，有少數幾個人曾試過打坐。也有幾個人懂點中文的，就當翻譯，開始的時候很生疏，後來就很流利了。

有幾件事情值得一書。一件是那時打了兩次三皈依，那些常來的人都正式成了上人的弟子；當時又傳了一次戒，大部分的人都受了戒。有的受了五戒，有的受了十重四十八輕的菩薩戒，有的受了五戒中的幾條戒。有一位還出家發了沙彌所發的願。那年夏天，上人的教化，特別注重以戒律為靈性生活的基礎，上人藉此對治當時吸毒濫交的文化趨向。

四、五位美國人發心出家

不久之後，又有四位美國人發心出家，其中三位是暑期講修班的學生。一九六九年，這三男二女五位出家人，在臺灣基隆海會寺受具足戒，成為最初的五位美國出家人。三位比丘名為恆謙、恆靜、恆授，二位比丘尼為恆隱、恆持。

◆打坐　Meditation

五、上人對美國佛教的計劃

在有了美國僧團之後，上人就開始了在美建立佛教之龐大計劃。上人曾解釋他一生有三個工作重心：（一）將正法佛教帶到西方，並建立正法僧團。（二）將三藏十二部佛經譯成英文及其他語言。（三）成立大中小學校，提倡正確的教育。

在西方成立僧團

一、於西方第一次傳戒

因為越來越多的人要求在上人座下出家，一九七二年，上人決定在金山禪寺傳授西方首次正式的三壇大戒。上人邀請了高僧大德在戒壇上一起傳戒。戒子包括五男一女，以後又於一九七六年、一九七九年、一九八二年、一九八九年、一九九一年、一九九二年，於萬佛城傳授三壇大戒，有越來越多的人受具足戒。世界各地大約有二百多人曾在上人座下受具足戒。

二、上人為改革家

上人決心將正確道地的佛教傳到西方來，對於不讓西方佛教受中國佛教普遍腐敗的感染，上人都很敢講話。上人雖然鼓勵弟子們學舊傳統，但也教他們小心不要將文化的外衣及愚昧的迷信，當做真的法，他鼓勵弟子們瞭解古時修行法的道理所在。

上人所做的改革有：恢復佛制，僧人披袈裟，以現僧相。又強調佛制過午不食，佛本身日中一食，上人以身作則，並教弟子們跟上人隨佛行，夜不倒單。早期在三藩市中國城天后廟時期，有些弟子為了訓練自己夜不倒單，曾在街上檢回人丟棄了的貨櫃箱，大小恰當，略為改裝，即可在晚上坐進去，使盤著的腿不致散開。上人也批評現代中國在家居士，同時皈依數位師父，上人本人不接受其他法師的皈依弟子。

有些弟子最初親近上人及佛教，是因為對感應及神通有興趣，這些人有很多想瞭解自己所具有的神奇感應。而那些有神通的，自然更願意親近上人。上人看清了美國文化追求神通感應的趨向將帶來的危害，常常強調這些境界是修行過程中的現象。若認識不清，則會帶來很大的危險。上人教導大家佛寺規矩中戒禁示現神通，並解說神通不表示智慧，有神通也並不一定品行就端正。

一般來講，上人很注重弟子隨他出家的動機清淨與否。因為不願見美國僧團受動機不正、別具目的出家人染污，所以上人為其寺院定了以下家風：

凍死不攀緣，
餓死不化緣，
窮死不求緣，
隨緣不變，不變隨緣，
抱定我們三大宗旨。

捨命為佛事，
造命為本事，
正命為僧事，
即事明理，明理即事，
推行祖師一脈心傳。

此外上人又為其出家、在家四眾弟子，定下了六大宗旨，這也是他自己一生所遵守的行為準則：不爭、不貪、不求、不自私、不自利、不打妄語。

上人在佛教中，為了彌補分裂已二千的南北傳僧團所作的努力，更是不平常。他邀請知名的南傳比丘一起傳戒，舉辦座談會商討如何解決差異。

四、中美佛教總會及
法界佛教總會之成立

上人認為中國正法寺院衰敗的現象之一，就是叢林趨向小精舍，只有一、二位和尚，或和尚尼獨居，隨心所欲行事。為了不讓這種懈怠風氣侵蝕到西方來。上人想將所有僧眾及居士們聯合在一個組織之下，一方面可以維持僧眾統一清淨的行持標準；再方向也可以防止人不做個別供養，而應供養全僧團。因為美國弟子越來越多，也為了加強中央系統組織，上人於一九六八年，將佛教講堂擴張為中美佛教總會成為法人組織，當總會的國際成員增多時，又於一九八四年正式將總會之名稱改為法界佛教總會。

五、上人在西方成立的寺廟

由於有大量美國人投入學習佛法，天后廟很快就容納不下了。所以於一九七○年，總會遷入一幢改裝過的三層樓房，成立了金山禪寺。一九七六年又成立萬佛聖城，這個地方座落在北加州妙覺山下，佔地五百英畝。其他上人建立的寺廟精舍有：加州洛杉磯的金輪聖寺、長堤的長堤聖寺、溫哥華的金佛聖寺、西雅圖的金峰聖寺、卡哥利的華嚴聖寺、柏克萊的世界宗教學術研究院、加州柏林根的法界佛教總會總辦事處及國際譯經學院。

說法及佛經翻譯

一、上人的教化

回想起來，上人為教化西方而付出的努力，其精進度、深度、廣度，實在是難以想像的。在早期教化西方人時，幾乎沒有幫手，上人自己作飯，並教弟子學習煮飯，教弟子打坐，且還並自己陪著坐。又講佛教故事逗他們歡喜，教他們基本佛法以及佛教儀規，教中文及中國書法，又教清淨的佛教生活方式。

他的西方弟子們，逐漸能在行解兩方面都有所進步時，上人仍舊一點都不鬆懈。不但還天天講經，並且還上別的課。上人講過四部大乘經典：《楞嚴經》、《法華經》、《華嚴經》及部分《涅槃經》，也講了《心經》、《金剛經》、《六祖壇經》、《地藏經》、《證道歌》及其他一切佛教典籍。

上人也訓練了好一些翻譯人才，也親自教過許多弟子如何講經。為了訓練弟子，差不多在所有正式的課堂上，上人總是讓弟子們有機會先講了，最後自己才講。

上人的教授方法，包括每年的講經及修行法會。仿照當初楞嚴經講修班的方式，訂下禪七及佛七的精進標準，打七期間並時常開示；又解釋佛法中懺悔的重要性，鼓勵拜〈大悲懺〉、〈萬佛懺〉和其他的拜懺。

許多上人最重要的教誨，是在正式說法場合之外說的。對上人來說，每一種情形都是教人的機會。不論受教的人是不是他的正式弟子，每次與人相會時，不論對方是自己的弟子或是政治人物、房地產經紀人，上人都是幫助人明白他們的毛病，幫助他們改過，幫助他們發展自己本具的智慧。處在任何情形之下，上人對人總是很坦誠、很直接、很老實的。上至總統，下至小孩，他都平等看視。所做的一切事，都是為利益他人，從不為自己。

二、風塵僕僕弘法西方

只要有人以恭敬心來求法，不管在什麼時候也不管到什麼地方，即使會傷害自己身體健康，上人也從不推拒。除了不停地往返於美加兩國，及幾次赴亞洲國家說法之外，上人還到過南美洲及歐洲弘法。

一九七三年，上人遠赴南美洲的巴西、阿根廷、巴拉圭說法。其主要目的，在於與當地居士結結緣。所以在當地時，上人花許多時間念〈大悲咒〉，迴向功德給當地人民。

一九九○年應歐洲國家佛教徒之邀，上人帶領國際弘法團赴歐洲說法。當時上人已抱病在身，明知這樣費力的事會要命，但還是認為法比自己的命更重要而去了。那次所到的國家有英國、法國、比利時、德國、波蘭。

三、佛經翻譯委員會及金剛菩提海

一九七○年，上人成立佛經翻譯委員會，準備將全部佛經翻譯成英文及其他西方語文。上人深知要西方人瞭解佛法，並進而修行，最基本的是要將佛經正確地譯成英文，並加以能懂易解的註釋。現在佛經翻譯委員會已翻譯出版了超過一百部書，翻譯工作現仍持續中，許多書並有上人的註釋。

同年上人也創辦了《萬佛城金剛菩提海》，這是一本正法佛教的月刊，至今仍每月出版。最初刊物是以英文出版，現以中英雙語對照出版。

提倡教育

上人認為中國佛教弱點之一，是不重視教育，沒能普遍建立佛教學校及大學。為了補救這種情形，上人在西方創辦了法界佛教大學、中小學，並設置獎學金給清寒學生。

上人教我們教育是最好的國防，並在小學提倡孝道，中學提倡忠心愛國，在大學提倡學生不僅學習專業技能，並且要發展利益世界、匹夫有責的責任感。

上人以教育革新來平衡固有的傳統，並時時想出新的方法來開發我們本有的智慧。例如上人自己就寫了幾首英文歌，並且還教弟子們用這個方法，來教授佛法。

一、法界佛教大學

一九七六年上人創辦法界佛教大學，校本部在萬佛聖城，其目的在以闡揚佛教、培養直心、利益社會、開悟眾生，來教育世界上所有的人。法大現今設有佛學修持系、佛經翻譯系、佛學教育系、中國語文研究系等大學部及研究院，上人在最後的遺訓中也特別提到，要實行他對法大的遠見。

法大自成立以來，許多美國知名的大學教授包括Edward conze, P. Jaini, David Ruegg, Henry Rosemont, Jr 和 Jacob Needlleman 等等曾來向上人致敬，並聽取上人的教導；另外上人也曾應邀前往史丹福大學、柏克萊加州大學、戴維斯加州大學、夏威夷大學、舊金山州立大學等校講演。

二、僧伽居士訓練班

一九八二年，上人創辦了僧伽訓練班及居士訓練班。居士訓練班訓練在家居士，在寺院中學習佛法及修持，以戒律為重。僧伽訓練班注重宗教修持、寺院生活訓練和寺院管理。這兩個訓練班裡，為法總訓練了一些能力卓越的人才。

三、育良小學及培德中學

一九七六年三藩市市參事卡洛  Ÿ西活向上人建議成立育良小學，學校為了培植兒童的善功德，逐步發展成立了一所內容素質兩者都充實優越的教育機構。課程兼顧中英雙語，教授中西文化傳統。初辦時校長倪氏（果參）及教師們在三藩市華盛頓街國際譯經院地下室授課，學校於一九七八年遷至萬佛聖城。一九八○年培德中學成立，中小學男女分校授課。

四、上人教化不分教別

上人常說「佛教」一詞，將佛陀的教化弄得太狹窄了，因此常將佛陀的教化稱為眾生教。上人批評佛教的分門別戶，不合佛法，認為信眾不應該執著教內宗派之分別；又主張各宗教之間應互相截長補短。為切實實行起見，上人率先邀請自己的好友──臺灣天主教的于斌樞機主教，於萬佛聖城共同成立世界宗教中心，並請于斌樞機為主任。上人建議于斌樞機做「天主教中的佛教徒」，並自居為「佛教中的天主教徒」。不幸于樞機早逝，使此宗教中心之成立延後至一九九四年，才於柏克萊成立世界宗教學院研究院。

一九八七年，上人並指導法界佛教大學於萬佛聖城主辦世界宗教會議。同年，並於柏克萊第三次國際佛教、基督教交談會發表演講。上人也曾應三藩市慈恩天主教堂之請講讚詞。一九八九年，上人應邀至賓州盆鐸山莊基督教教友會中心講學。一九九二年，上人應邀於加州奧立瑪吠陀教修行中心演講。還有值得一提的是，上人與加州漢堡大學天主教駐校神父羅吉斯神父交誼甚篤，持久不斷。

上人給予西方
永垂不朽的遺產

上人一生謙恭無我，無緣大慈，為了解除眾生因無明愚癡所障而不能見性，教化眾生，奮不顧身。為帶給眾生和平，增進人類互相之間的和諧，異類之間的和諧，宗教、國家之間的和諧，上人在不同層次上，不斷努力。雖然上人的任務是遍法界的，但此文簡短，只能就上人對西方佛教所做的貢獻，作一扼要的簡述。

當禪宗第一代祖師菩提達摩尊者，初來中國時，雖然佛教已傳入中國數百年，但中國人對佛法的要義仍是模糊不清，真偽不辨，不明佛法的表裡。達摩尊者澄清了佛法的真義，明心見性，直證菩提。佛法傳入西方一百年之後，上人西渡，正值西方對佛法有心研習，但困惑不明之時。上人教導只有在擁有健全清淨僧團的國家，佛教才能興盛，所以上人重興僧團制度，注重出家、在家兩眾戒律之精嚴。上人瞭解西方人實事求是的精神，並傳承達摩尊者流傳下來的精神，提倡正確精進禪坐，以直接親自印證佛教的真正教義。上人又鑒於一般人對佛教廣泛的誤解，於講解主要佛經時，總以簡單明瞭的方法，將經中真義與現代實際生活連接起來。並將其講解譯成英文，以方便西方讀者。上人最後決定駐錫西方以行教化，即在便於從日常生活中以身作則，示現佛教真義，因此而感動了無數西方人，教化了西方人，播下了菩提（覺悟）種。

Laying the Foundation

1. The Origins of the Master’s Mission to the West

The Venerable Master’s vision was as vast as the Dharma Realm, and he taught and transformed all beings without regard to path of rebirth, country, ethnic origin, religion, and so forth. There are two countries, however, where he had special affinities in this life: China and United States. Although the majority of his disciples are Chinese, history will probably remember him primarily for his work in bringing the teachings of the Buddha to the people of the West.

The story begins in rural Manchuria (northeast China) at his mother’s grave site. The Master, then in his late teens or early twenties, was observing the Chinese filial practice of three year’s mourning. As a novice Buddhist monk, he did it in a uniquely Buddhist way by building a meditation hut of sorghum thatch and sitting in continuous meditation there. One day he saw the Venerable Master Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch in China of the Chan (Zen) Lineage, walk into his hut. The Patriarch spoke with him for a long time. The Master remembered him saying:

In the future you can go to America...The five school will divide into ten, to teach and transform living beings: Ten will become a hundred and than a thousand, until they are endless...countless like the sands of the Ganges...the genuine beginning [of Buddhism] in the West.

That was part of the Patriarch’s instruction to the Master in which he told him that he should leave China and spread the Dharma in the West. Afterwards the Master got up to accompany the Patriarch out of the hut. Only after the Patriarch had disappeared did the Master remember that the Patriarch had entered Nirvana long ago (in A.D. 713).

Despite knowing from this initial vision of the Sixth Patriarch that he would eventually go to the West to propagate the Dharma, the Master had little contact with Westerners until he moved to Hong Kong in 1949. There he had his first substantial experiences with Western culture.

After his Dharma-lineage predecessor the Venerable Chan Master Hsu Yun (1840─1959) entered Nirvana and the Master completed the proper ceremonies in his memory, he felt that conditions had ripened for pursuing his Dharma mission in the West. Several of his lay disciples from Hong Kong had already gone to the United States to study.

In November 1960 the Master went to Australia to investigate the conditions for the growth of Buddhism there. He spent a difficult year there and then returned to Hong Kong briefly. In 1958 a branch of the Buddhist Lecture Hall had already been established in San Francisco by his disciples there. In response to their invitation, the Master decided to go to San Francisco and arrived there early in 1962. At the small Chinatown temple, he lectured on the Amitabha Sutra. During that period various Americans who were interested in Zen, such as Richard Baker, former Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, visited the Master.

In the fall of 1962 the Cuban missile crisis broke out. Wishing in some measure to repay the benefit that he had received from living in the United States, and seeing clearly the catastrophic threat imposed by the missiles in Cuba, the Venerable Master embarked on a total fast for thirty─five days, during which he took only water. He dedicated the merit of his sacrifice to end the hostilities.

2. The Monk in the Grave Period

In 1963, because some of the disciples there were not respectful of the Dharma, he left Chinatown and moved the Buddhist Lecture Hall to a first─floor flat on the corner of Sutter and Webster Streets on the edge of San Francisco’s Fillmore District and Japantown. The Master’s move marked the beginning of a period of relative seclusion during which he called himself “a monk in the grave.” It lasted until 1968. He later continued to refer to himself in that way and wrote the following poem:

Each of you now meets a monk in the grave.
Above there is no sun and moon, below there is no lamp.
Affliction and enlightenment──ice is water.
Let go of self─seeking and become apart from all that is false.
When the mad mind ceases, enlightenment pervades all.
Enllightened, attain the bright treasury of your own nature.
Basically, the retribution body is the Dharma body.

It was at that Sutter Street location that the Master first started having regular contact with young Americans who were interested in meditation. Some came to his daily, public meditation hour from seven to eight every evening, and a few Americans also attended his Sutra lectures. He lectured there on the Amitabha Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, the Heart Sutra with his own verse commentary, on his own commentary to the Song of Enlightenment, and also on portions of the Lotus (Dharma Flower) Sutra.

In July of 1967 the Master moved back to Chinatown, locating the San Francisco Buddhist Lecture Hall in the Tianhou Temple, the oldest Chinese temple in America. There he lectured on the Verses of the Seven Buddhas of Antiquity and “Universal Door” Chapter of the Lotus (Dharma Flower) Sutra.

On Chinese New Year’s Day in 1968, the Master made two important pronouncements to a small gathering. First he predicted that in the course of the year the lotus of American Buddhism would bloom. At that time there was still little outward sign of the influx of young Americans which would begin that spring.

Secondly, noting the great fear among large segments of the community that there would be an earthquake in the spring of that year, he declared that as long as he was in San Francisco, he would not permit earthquakes large enough to do damage or cause injury or death to occur. Every subsequent Chinese New Year he would renew his vow. When the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 occurred, the Master was out of the country in Taiwan.

In the spring of 1968 a group of university students at the University of Washington in Seattle wrote to the Master and requested that the Master come to Seattle to lead a week─long meditation session. The Master had Nancy Dana Lovett, a disciple, write for him to Ron Epstein, another disciple who was a member of the Seattle group, to tell the group that he could not come to Seattle, because if he left San Francisco, there would be an earthquake. He suggested that they come to the Buddhist Lecture Hall in San Francisco instead. The group went and that spring both a Buddha─recitation session and a Chan (Zen) meditation session, each a week long, were held. About thirty people attended.

3. The 1968 Shurangama Sutra Summer Lecture and Cultivation Session

At the conclusion of the spring sessions, the Master suggested to several of the participants that a three month lecture and cultivation session be held during the summer months. About thirty people decided to attend. During that 98─day session, the Master lectured on the Shurangama Sutra twice a day, and near the end of the session three and even four times a day, to explain the entire Sutra. The lectures were also open to the general public. The session itself started at six every morning and officially ended at nine in the evening. In addition to the Sutra lectures, the schedule consisted of alternate hours of meditation, study, and discussion, so there was very little free time.

Although those who attended were of varied age and background, the majority were young Americans of college age or in their middle or late twenties. Most had had little or no previous training in Buddhism; however, several had studied Buddhism at the undergraduate level and some at the graduate level. A few had also had a little previous experience with meditation. The handful who had some competency in Chinese provided translations, which started out on a rather rudimentary level and became quite competent during the course of the summer.

Events of special note that took place during the session included two refuge ceremonies, at which most of the regular participants became formal disciples of the Master, and a precept ceremony late in the summer in which almost all the disciples took vows to follow moral precepts of varying numbers, including some or all of the Five Moral Precepts up to the Ten Major and Forty─Eight Minor Bodhisattva Precepts. One participant took the vows of a novice monk. The Master’s teachings that summer specially emphasized the moral precepts as a foundation for the spiritual life. In this way he used them as an effective antidote against the proclivities of the popular culture for drug experience and sexual promiscuity.

4. Five Americans Leave the Home-Life

Soon afterwards four other Americans, three of whom had also participated in the summer session, left the home-life. In December of 1969 the five, three men and two women, received full ordination at Haihui Monastery near Keelung, Taiwan, and became the first Americans to do so. They were Bhikshus (monks) Heng Chyan, Heng Jing, and Heng Shou, and Bhikshunis (nuns) Heng Yin and Heng Ch’ih.

5. The Master’s Plan for American Buddhism

With the founding of a new American Sangha, the Master was then ready to embark on an incredible building program for American Buddhism. The Venerable Master has explained that his life’s work lay in three main areas: (1) bringing the true and orthodox teachings of the Buddha to the West and establishing a proper monastic community of fully ordained monks and nuns (Sangha) here; (2) organizing and supporting the translation of the entire Buddhist canon into English and other Western languages; and (3) promoting wholesome education through the establishment of schools and universities.

Establishing a Buddhist Sangha in the West

1. The First Ordination Ceremonies in the West

Because of the increasing numbers of people who wished to leave the home-life to become monks and nuns under the Master’s guidance, in 1972 the Master decided to hold at Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery the first formal, full ordination ceremonies for Buddhist monks and nuns to be held in the West. He invited virtuous elder masters to preside with him over the ordination platform. Five monks and one nun received ordination. Subsequent ordination platforms have been held at the Sagely 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.

2. The Master as Reformer

The Master was determined to transmit the original and correct teachings of the Buddha to the West and was outspoken about not infecting Western Buddhism with corrupt practices that were widespread in Chinese Buddhism. While encouraging his disciples to learn the ancient traditions, he cautioned them against mistaking cultural overlay and ignorant superstition for the true Dharma. He encouraged them to understand the logical reasons behind the ancient practices.

Among the reforms that he instituted were the following: he reestablished the wearing of the precept sash (kashaya) as a sign of a member of the Sangha; he emphasized that the Buddha instructed that monks and nuns not eat after noon and encouraged his Sangha to follow the Buddha’s practice, which he followed, of eating only one meal a day at noon; he also encouraged them to follow his example in the practice of not lying down at night, which was also recommended by the Buddha. In the early days at Tianhou Temple in San Francisco’s Chinatown, some of the disciples, in order to train themselves in this practice, found appropriate-sized packing crates abandoned in the streets and modified them so that they could sit in them at night and keep themselves from stretching out their legs. The Master also criticized the current Chinese practice among many Buddhist lay people of taking refuge with many different teachers, and he himself would not accept disciples who had previously taken refuge with another monk.

Some of the Master’s American disciples were initially attracted to the Master and Buddhism because of their interest in extraordinary spiritual experiences and psychic powers. Many of them were trying to understand remarkable experiences of their own, and many with special psychic abilities were naturally drawn to the Master. Clearly recognizing the danger of the popularity of the quest for special experiences in American culture, the Master emphasized that special mental states can be a sign of progress in cultivation but can also be very dangerous if misunderstood. He taught about the Buddha’s monastic prohibitions against advertising one’s spiritual abilities and made clear that spiritual abilities in themselves are not an indication of wisdom and do not insure wholesome character.

Generally speaking, the Master was concerned with the the pure motivation of those who left the home-life under him and did not want the American Sangha to be polluted by those who had ulterior, worldly reasons for leaving the home-life. To that end he established these fundamental guidelines for monastic practice:

Freezing to death, we do not scheme.
Starving to death, 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 mould our own destinies.
We rectify our lives as the Sangha’s work.
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.

In addition he summarized the standards of conduct that he upheld throughout his life for all his disciples, both Sangha members and lay people, in Six Great Guidelines: not contending, not being greedy, not seeking, not being selfish, not pursuing personal profit, and not lying.

One of the Master’s more remarkable endeavors in the area of monastic reform was his attempt to heal the two thousand year old rift between Mahayana and Theravada monastic communities.  He encouraged cordial relations between the Sanghas, invited distinguished Theravada monks to preside with him in monastic ordination ceremonies, and initiated talks aimed at resolving areas of difference.

4. Founding of the Sino-American Buddhist Association and the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association

The Master felt that one of the marks of decay of proper monastic practice in China had been the gradual shift of emphasis from large monastic training monasteries to small individual temples, each with one or two monks or nuns free to do more or less whatever they pleased. In order to insure that tendency for laxity of practice did not take hold in the West, the Master wished to unite all his Sangha members and lay people under a single organization, that could both help to maintain uniform pure standards of conduct for members of the Sangha and discourage the making of offerings to individuals instead of to the Sangha as a whole. In order to strengthen central organization and in recognition of his growing number of American disciples, in December, 1968 the Buddhist Lecture Hall was expanded into the newly incorporated Sino─American Buddhist Association. As that organization became more international in scope, in 1984, the name of the organization was officially changed to the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association.

5. Monasteries and Temples Founded by the Master in the West.

With the large influx of Americans wishing to study the Dharma, the small Tianhou Temple was quickly outgrown, and in 1970 the Association moved to a large three─story brick building, which was remodeled to become Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery. In 1976 the Master established the Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, which now encompasses almost five hundred acres of land at Wonderful Enlightenment Mountain in northern California. Among the many other temples, monasteries, and retreat centers established by the Master are Gold Wheel Monastery in Los Angeles, Long Beach Monastery in Long Beach, California, Gold Buddha Monastery in Vancouver, Gold Summit Monastery in Seattle, Avatamsaka Monastery in Calgary, the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and Institute of World Religions, and the Administrative Headquarters and International Translation Institute, both in Burlingame, California.

Teaching the Dharma and Translating the Buddhist Canon

1. What the Master Taught

In retrospect, the vigor, depth and breadth of the Master’s efforts in teaching in the West are nothing short of incredible. In his early days of teaching Westerners, he often had little or no help. He cooked, taught them to cook, sat with them in meditation and taught them to sit, entertained them with Buddhist stories, and taught them the rudiments of Buddhadharma and Buddhist courtesy and ceremony. He gave lessons in Chinese and in Chinese calligraphy, and taught the fundamentals of the pure Buddhist lifestyle.

As his Western students progressed in their understanding and practice, he did not slack off in the least. He continued not only to lecture daily on the Sutras, but to give various other classes. He lectured on the four major Mahayana Sutras, completing the Shurangama Sutra, the Lotus (Dharma Flower) Sutra, and the Avatamsaka Sutra, and finishing a substantial portion of the Nirvana Sutra. He also lectured on the Heart Sutra, the Diamond (Vajra) Sutra, the Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra, the Earth Store Sutra, the Song of Enlightenment and a host of other Buddhist works.

He also trained a whole staff of translators and taught many disciples how to lecture on the Sutras themselves. In almost every formal teaching situation, in order to train his disciples, he would first ask them to speak and only speak himself after they had had the opportunity.

The Master’s teaching methods included yearly Sutra lecture and cultivation sessions modeled on the first Shurangama Sutra Session. He laid down vigorous standards for meditation and recitation sessions, giving frequent instructional talks during the sessions. He explained the importance of the Buddhist Dharmas of repentance and encouraged the bowing of the Great Compassion Repentance, the Great Repentance Before the Ten Thousand Buddhas, and other repentance ceremonies.

Much of the Master’s most important teaching took place outside of his formal Dharma lectures. For the Master, every situation was an opportunity for teaching, and he paid little attention to whether the recipients of instruction were formal disciples. For him every worldly encounter, whether with disciples or politicians or realtors, was an opportunity to help people become aware of their faults and change them and to develop their inherent wisdom. The Master was always open, direct, and totally honest with everyone in every situation. He treated everyone equally, from the President of the United States to little children. Everything he did was to benefit others and never for himself.

2. Traveling to Spread the Dharma in the West

Whenever and wherever he was respectfully invited to speak the Dharma, the Master always tried his best to oblige, even if it was at the cost of his own physical well─being. In addition to his almost continual traveling in the United States and Canada to lecture and several major trips to Asian countries, the Master also visited South America and Europe.

In 1973 the Master traveled to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and other countries in South America. His main purpose was to establish affinities with the people, and so he spent much time while there reciting mantras of great compassion and transferring the merit to the local people.

In 1990 at the invitation of Buddhists in many countries of Europe the Master took a large delegation there on a Dharma tour, knowing full well that, because of his ill health at the time, the rigors of the trip would shorten his lifespan. However, as always the Master considered the Dharma more important than his very life. Among the countries visited were England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Poland.

3. The Buddhist Text Translation Society and
Vajra Bodhi Sea

In 1970 the Master founded the Buddhist Text Translation Society with the eventual goal of translating the entire Buddhist Canon into English and other languages of the West. The Master saw clearly that reliable translations into English with readable and understandable commentaries were essential to the understanding and practice of the Buddhadharma by Westerners. To date the Buddhist Text Translation Society has published over a hundred volumes, and the work of translating Buddhist scriptures, many with the Master’s own commentaries, is ongoing.

Also in 1970 the Master founded Vajra Bodhi Sea, a monthly journal of orthodox Buddhism. It has been published continuously ever since. Initially in English, it now appears in a bilingual Chinese-English format.

Promoting Education

The Master felt that one of the weaknesses of Buddhism in China was that it did not give high priority to education and failed to develop a widespread network of Buddhist schools and universities. In order to begin to remedy that situation in the West, the Venerable Master founded Dharma Realm Buddhist University, primary and secondary schools, and developed financial aid programs for needy and deserving students.

The Master taught that education is the best national defense. He counseled that in elementary school children should be taught filial respect, in secondary school love of country and loyalty to it, and at the university level students should learn not only professional skills but a sense of personal responsibility for improving the world they live in.

The Master balanced tradition with educational innovation. He pioneered what he called the development of each individual’s inherent wisdom, and he was always ready to employ new ways of teaching. For example, he wrote several songs in English himself and encouraged his disciples to use that medium for teaching the Dharma.

1. Dharma Realm Buddhist University

In 1976 the Master established Dharma Realm Buddhist University with its main campus at the Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Its main goals are to provide education to all the peoples of the world by explaining and propagating the Buddha’s teachings, developing straightforward minds, benefiting society, and enlightening all beings. The University currently offers undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in Buddhist Study and Practice, Translation of Buddhist Texts, Buddhist Education, and Chinese Studies. In his final instructions, the Master indicated that special attention should be paid to the fulfillment of his vision for the University.

Over the years many well─known professors from American universities, including Edward Conze, P. Jaini, David Ruegg, Henry Rosemont, Jr. and Jacob Needleman to name just a few, came to pay their respects to the Master and to listen to his teachings. He was also invited to lecture at various universities, including Stanford, Berkeley, University of Washington, University of Oregon, UCLA, University of California at Davis, University of Hawaii, and San Francisco State University.

2. Sangha and Laity Training Programs

In 1982 the Master established the Sangha and Laity Training Programs. The Laity Training Program emphasizes Buddhist Studies and Practice for lay people in a monastic setting with an emphasis on moral discipline. The Sangha Training Program emphasizes religious practice, monastic discipline, and temple management. Through these programs the Master has been able to train fully qualified and committed staff for the various programs and activities of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association.

3. Developing Goodness and Instilling Virtue Schools

At the suggestion of Carol Ruth Silver, who was then a San Francisco Supervisor, the Master founded Instilling Goodness School in 1976. In addition to nurturing the roots of goodness and virtue in the young children, the school was devoted to quality education. It promoted a bilingual Chinese-English curriculum and taught the fundamentals of both Western and Chinese cultural heritages. Principal Terri Nicholson and her staff taught the first classes in the furnished basement of the International Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts on Washington Street in San Francisco. The school moved to the Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in 1978. Developing Virtue Secondary School opened its doors in 1980, and a separation into boys’ and girls’ schools occurred in 1981.

4. The Master’s Ecumenical Teaching

In consonance with his Dharma Realm vision, the Master often said that Buddhism was too limiting a label for the Buddha’s teaching and often referred to it as the teaching of living being. Just as he was critical of sectarian divisions within Buddhism as not being in the true spirit of the Dharma, he felt that people should not be attached to interreligious distinctions either, that it is important for people of all religions to learn from the strengths of each religious tradition. To make that vision a reality, he invited his good friend Paul Cardinal Yu Bin, the Catholic cardinal of Taiwan, to join him in establishing a world Religions Center at the Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddha and to be its first director. He suggested that the cardinal be a “Buddhist among the Catholics” and that he himself would be a “Catholic among the Buddhists."” Unfortunately the cardinal’s untimely death delayed the plans for the Center, which in 1994 opened in Berkeley as the Institute of World Religions.

The Master also directed Dharma Realm Buddhist University to host a World Religions Conference in 1987 at the Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Also in 1987 the Master gave a major address at the Third International Buddhist-Christian Dialogue Conference in Berkeley. Once the Master was invited to give a eulogy at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. In 1989 the Master was invited to the Quaker Retreat Center at Pendle Hill, Pennsylvania to give a series of talks, and in 1992 he was the guest speaker at the yearly Vedanta Society gathering at Olema, California. Also worthy of mention is the ongoing friendship that the Master had with Father John Rogers, Catholic Chaplain of Humboldt State University.

◆上人總是讓弟子們有機會先講了，最後自己才講。
The Venerable Master would always allow his disciples to speak first, and he himself would speak afterwards.

The Master’s Enduring Legacy for the West

Throughout his life the Venerable Master was widely known for his selfless humility and his compassion for all living beings. He worked tirelessly and without regard for his own health and welfare to dissolve the boundaries of ignorance that obstruct true self-understanding. He constantly worked for peace and harmony throughout the world on all levels, between people, between species, between religions, and between nations. Although his mission has been to the Dharma Realm, in this brief account we have tried to focus on his contributions to Buddhism in the West. In this light, we conclude with a brief overview.

When the first Chan (Zen) Patriarch Bodhidharma came to China, although Buddhism had arrived several centuries earlier, most people in China were still confused about the central meaning of the Buddha’s teaching and could not distinguish what was true from what was false, what was superficial from what was essential. Patriarch Bodhidharma cut through that confusion and taught people to illuminate their own minds, see their true natures, and become Buddhas. The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua came to the West about a hundred years after Buddhism’s first introduction here. When he arrived there was much genuine interest but also tremendous confusion and misunderstanding. Teaching that Buddhism flourishes only in countries where the Sangha is strong and pure, the Master established a reformed monastic community and emphasized the importance of moral precepts both for Sangha and laity. Understanding the practical and pragmatic nature of the American character, he emphasized vigorous and proper meditation practice in the spirit and lineage of Patriarch Bodhidharma, so that the eternal truths of the Buddha’s teachings could be directly and personally experienced. seeing clearly the dangers of widely prevalent wrong notions about the Buddha’s teachings, he explained the major scriptures in a clear and simple manner while bringing out their contemporary, practical relevance. Then he worked to make those teachings available in English so that they would be accessible to Westerners. And finally, he chose to live and teach in the West so that every day he provided a living, breathing manifestation of the true meaning of the Buddha’s teachings. In that way he touched and profoundly transformed the lives of countless Westerners and planted the seeds of Bodhi (enlightenment) in their hearts.