Hsuan Hua, a native of Shuangcheng County of Jilin, was born Bai Yushu on April 16,1918.
20 Facts About Hsuan Hua
2.
At an early age, Hsuan Hua became a vegetarian like his mother, and decided to become a Buddhist monk.
3.
At 19 years of age, Hsuan Hua became a monastic, under the Dharma name An Tzu.
4.
In 1959, Hsuan Hua sought to bring Chinese Buddhism to the West.
5.
Hsuan Hua 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.
6.
Hsuan Hua traveled to Australia in 1961 and taught there for one year, returning to Hong Kong in 1962.
7.
Hsuan Hua resided in San Francisco, where he built a lecture hall.
8.
Hsuan Hua began to attract young Americans who were interested in meditation.
9.
Hsuan Hua conducted daily meditation sessions and frequent Sutra lectures.
10.
At that time, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred between the United States and the Soviet Union, and Hsuan Hua embarked on a fasting period for thirty-five days to pray for an end to the hostilities and for world peace.
11.
In 1967, Hsuan Hua moved the Buddhist Lecture Hall back to Chinatown, locating it in the Tianhou Temple.
12.
In 1968, Hsuan Hua held a Shurangama Study and Practice Summer Session.
13.
Hsuan Hua lectured on the entire in 1968 while he was in the United States.
14.
Hsuan Hua 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.
15.
Hsuan Hua would invite Bhikkhus from both traditions to jointly conduct the High Ordination.
16.
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 to attend.
17.
On November 6,1990, Hsuan Hua sent his disciples to Beijing to bring the Dragon Treasury edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon back to CTTB, furthering his goal of bringing Buddhism to the US.
18.
On June 7,1995, while visiting Long Beach Sagely Monastery, Hsuan Hua died in his sleep.
19.
Hsuan Hua had been ill for some time prior to his death at the age of 77.
20.
Hsuan Hua's sarira were then distributed to many of his temples, disciples, and followers.