and strictly uphold the precepts. Teachers of genuine wisdom and proper understanding capable of guiding those who aspire to pursue careers in Buddhism are also very rare. In order to raise the caliber of the Sangha, cause the Proper Dharma to long endure, provide professional training for Buddhists from around the world that emphasizes practice as well as theory, and perpetuate the wisdom of the Buddha, the Venerable Master founded the Sangha and Laity Training Programs in 1982 and the Proper Dharma Buddhist Academy in 1988.

The Sangha Training Program provides left-home people with a solid foundation in Buddhist studies and practice, training them in the practical affairs of Buddhism and giving them a conception of Sangha management. After graduation, students will be able to assume various responsibilities related to Buddhism in monasteries, institutions, and other settings. Emphasis is placed on students' thorough knowledge of Buddhism, understanding of the scriptures, development of virtuous character, earnest cultivation, and strict observance of precepts, so that they will be able to propagate the orthodox Dharma and continue the Buddha's legacy. The Laity Training Program offers courses appropriate to laypeople, allowing them to develop proper knowledge and proper views, advance together in cultivation, and gain an understanding of the regulations of the monastery and the essentials of cultivation. After completing the Program, they will be able to serve humanity by contributing their abilities in Buddhist organizations. Proper Dharma Buddhist Academy, founded in Taiwan, focuses on the study and cultivation of the Shurangama Sutra. In the Dharma-Ending Age, a time when deviant theories are rife, the Academy is devoted to training students to have clear and penetrating views and to be able to propagate the Proper Dharma.

International Translation Institute, Administrative Headquarters of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, and
Dharma Realm Buddhist Books Distribution Association

The Venerable Master vowed to translate the Buddhist Canon (Tripitaka) into Western languages so that it could become widespread in the world. In 1973, he founded the International Translation Institute at Washington Street in San Francisco for the purpose of translating the Venerable Master's commentaries on Buddhist scriptures into English and other languages. In 1977, the Institute was merged into Dharma Realm Buddhist University as the Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts. In 1991 and 1992, the Venerable Master purchased two bank buildings on adjacent lots in Burlingame (south of San Francisco) and officially established the International Translation Institute and the Administrative Headquarters of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association there for the purpose of translating and publishing Buddhist texts. To date the Association has published more than two hundred volumes of Buddhist texts translated from Chinese into English, French, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Japanese. Five bilingual (Chinese and English) volumes of Sutras and Dharma talks are also available.
One of the Venerable Master's three great vows was to translate the Buddhist scriptures. In China's past, this difficult and vast mission was directed and supported by the emperors and kings themselves. In the present, the Venerable Master encouraged his disciples to cooperatively shoulder this heavy responsibility, producing books and audio tapes and using the medium of language to turn the wheel of Proper Dharma and do the great work of the Buddha. All those who aspire to devote themselves to his work of sages should uphold the eight guidelines of the International Translation Institute--not being greedy for fame or profit, not being arrogant, not praising oneself and slandering others, not establishing oneself as the standard of correctness and looking for flaws in others' work, taking the Buddha-mind as one's own mind, using the Dharma-Selecting Vision to determine true principles, and requesting Virtuous Elders in the ten directions to certify one's translations, and endeavoring to propagate the teachings by printing Sutras, Shastras, and Vinaya texts when the translations are certified as being correct. These are the Venerable Master's wishes, and they should be the goals that participants in the work of translation strive to achieve.

Certain wise individuals in Taiwan, seeing the degeneration of human morality in the Dharma-Ending Age and wishing to avert the flood of disaster, organized and founded the Proper Dharma Buddhist Books Distribution Association in Taiwan in 1984. The Association's missions are to propagate the six great principles promoted by the Venerable Master Hua and to improve and transform social trends. Based on a membership system, the Association accepts donations to print books and reproduce tapes produced by Dharma Realm Buddhist Association in order to make the Proper Dharma available throughout the world. Since 1990, in addition to printing Buddhist texts, the Association began to hold a variety of other Dharma activities.

The Institute of World Religions

Founded in 1994, the Institute is located near the University of California at Berkeley. The purpose of the Institute is to study the truths of religion in harmony with other religious groups, without rejecting or opposing any religion. The six principles of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas serve as guidelines for the Institute. Propagating the spirit of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas with expansive open-mindedness, the Institute invites the members of various religions to give presentations, deepening our understanding of their ideals and practices. The Institute of World Religions offers an hour of meditation twice daily and presents evening and weekend programs that foster conversation between religions, the sciences, and the humanities. All truth-seeking individuals who wish to discover their innate wisdom, benefit all beings, and bring harmony to the world are invited to come to study and cultivate together.

Affiliated Monasteries

In order to propagate the Proper Dharma, the Venerable Master not only trained and educated people, but also spent great effort in establishing various monasteries. He wanted to provide monasteries where people could cultivate in purity according to the Buddha's regulations as well as turn the Dharma wheel and carry out the Buddha's work. After coming to America, over the years he established the many monasteries of the Proper Dharma in the United States, Canada, and southeast Asia, including the following: Gold Mountain Monastery, Gold Wheel Monastery, Gold Summit Monastery, Gold Buddha Monastery, Avatamsaka Monastery, Long Beach Monastery, the City of the Dharma Realm, Dharma Realm Monastery and Amitabha Monastery in Taiwan, Purple Cloud Monastery in Malaysia, and others. All of these monasteries firmly uphold the credo:

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 mold 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 patriarch's mind-transmission.

The monasteries follow the Six Guidelines: no fighting, no greed, no seeking, no pursuit of personal advantage, and no lying. They also honor the Venerable Master's rules of eating only one meal a day and only before noon and always wearing the kashaya sash. The monasteries have daily lectures on the Sutras, turning the great Dharma wheel to universally rescue living beings.

The Dharma is in decline and the world is under dangerous and evil influences. In accord with the mission of Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas has been established as an international center for the study of Buddhism and for spiritual cultivation. It is open to those of all ages, faiths, ethnic origins, and nationalities. Individuals devoted to seeking the truth, helping humankind, and working for the prosperity of society and the nation are welcome to gather in the City to honestly study, cultivate, and put forth effort to rescue the world.