Hsuan Hua
Hsuan Hua (Traditional Chinese: 宣化上人; Hanyu Pinyin: Xuān Huà Shàng Rén, literal meaning:"proclaim and transform") (16 April 1918 – 7 June 1995), also known as An Tzu and Tu Lun, was an influential Ch'an Buddhist monk and an important figure in the development of Western Buddhism in the United States during the 20th century.
During his time in the United States, Hsuan Hua founded the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (DRBA), a Buddhist organization with chapters in the North America and Asia, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah, California, one of the first Ch'an Buddhist monasteries in the America, the Dharma Realm Buddhist University, also one of the first American Buddhist colleges, and the Buddhist Text Translation Society, which works on the phonetics and translation of Buddhist scriptures from Chinese into English, Vietnamese, Spanish, and many other languages.
Hsuan Hua was one of the first known Chinese Buddhist Ch'an masters to transmit orthodox East Asian Buddhism to the west and ordained some of the first native-born Buddhist monks in the United States. Hsuan Hua was the ninth lineage holder of the Guiyang Ch'an School of Buddhism (潙仰宗), one of the five Ch'an families (Caodong, Linji, Fayan and Yunmen) and was granted dharma transmission from that lineage from the Venerable Master Hsu Yun.
Hsuan Hua often referred to himself as "a living dead person", or "the Monk in the Grave", and never wanted fame or profit. Hsuan Hua's life goal as a Buddhist teacher was to not contend with others, but instead, said that he would rather be "a little bug," or "a small ant" beneath the feet of all living beings, and vowed to use his body metaphorically as a stepping stone for sentient beings who sought to transcend samsara and go straight to the ground of the Buddha.
Buddhist publications
- The Fifty Skandha Demon States
- The Intention of Patriarch Bodhidharma's Coming from the West
- Commentary on The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra
- Commentary on The Sutra in Forty-Two Sections
- Commentary on The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra
- Chan: the Essence of All Buddhas
- Guanyin, Guanyin, Guanshiyin
- The Professor Requests a Lecture From the Monk in the Grave
- Venerable Master Hua's Talks on Dharma, Volumes I-XI
- Buddha Root Farm
- News From True Cultivators