For the first time in U.S. history, a state governor's inauguration invited Buddhist monks for introductory remarks. California Governor Wilson set this precedence, a symbol that Buddhism is developing roots in the United States.

San Francisco Bay area's largest English newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle in its January 10th editorial urged the reelected California Governor to listen to the remarks given by American Bhikshu, Dharma Master Heng Sure on behalf of Venerable Master Hsuan Hua at the Governor's inauguration, namely: May everyone practice all kinds of good deeds. May leaders accept filial respect as the foundation for virtue and the source of wisdom.

With three times of "namo sa dan dwo, su chye dwo ye, a la he di, san miao san pu tuo xie", Dharma Master Heng Sure, on behalf of Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, began in dignity the United Religions Prayer Breakfast for Governor Wilson's inauguration.

At Sacramento, California at 10 a.m. (Sunday, January 8), a total of more than one thousand leaders and representatives from various religions participated in this prayer breakfast. Twelve monastics under the Venerable Master and many laypeople also joined by invitation. Not only did Dharma Master Heng Sure's remarks emphasize the importance of filial respect, but he also recited in Chinese and English a small passage from Universal Worthy's Conduct and Vows Chapter in the Avatamsaka Sutra: "May all beings be at peace, free from any sickness and suffering. May they fail at any evil they attempt. May they quickly realize good karma. May I accept the extremely bitter fruits that result from the evil karma all beings accumulated."

The two major English newspapers in the Bay Area, San Francisco Chronicle's Editorial section and San Francisco Observer's news report, used quotes on "filial respect" and "practice all kinds of good deeds" as emphasized by Dharma Master Heng Sure. Actually, for many years now, Venerable Master Hsuan Hua has promoted "filial respect" as a basic virtue. Venerable Master Hsuan Hua pointed out last December that the world has to be saved with Chinese culture, which means advocating for the Chinese traditional virtues such as: filiality, brotherhood, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, justness, incorruptibility and a sense of shame. Only these moral virtues can revert the increasingly decrepit trends of today. Venerable Master Hsuan Hua also emphasized, every country around the world must learn these virtues of Chinese culture in the future.

For this reason, Venerable Master Hsuan Hua was the first to advocate for organizing a Respecting Elders Day in America, not only to respect one's own parents, but to extend that respect and care to all elders. Venerable Master Hsuan Hua founded many monasteries in the United States (San Francisco, West Sacramento, Talmage, Los Angeles, Long Beach) as well as in Canada's Vancouver and the country of Taiwan. At the end of every fall and marking the beginning of each winter, these monasteries organize Respecting Elders Day on the same date and recite the Sutra of the Difficulty to Repay the Kindness of Parents. At the beginning of every spring and marking the beginning of each summer, they also organize "Cherishing Youth Day." With long-term toil, may everyone come together to respect the elderly and cherish the young, reduce social violence; otherwise, people nowadays will gradually forget the root to being humans, tossing moral virtue behind them. No wonder the human mind is full of desire and violence, leading to endless natural and manmade disasters, the scale and scope of which increase by the day. This is precisely the reason why the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua speaks with such hurt: "The human race will become extinct in the future, not because of war but because people will forget moral virtue."

Since arriving in the United States to propagate the Buddhadharma, the Venerable Master has not only established the International Translation Institute for work on translating sutras, but he has suppported education too. At the City of Ten Thousand Buddha in Talmage, California, he founded Instilling Goodness Elementary, Developing Virtue Secondary School to nurture students who enjoy both upright character and excellent knowledge. There are also the Dharma Realm Buddhist University and Sangha Laity Training Program to develop people for propagating the Dharma. Venerable Master Hsuan Hua works so hard and insistently on nurturing the young to create future leaders who "will really pull living beings away from the sea of suffering."

In addition, Venerable Master Hsuan Hua very much values communication and cooperation with various religions. The Ten Thousand Buddhas Hall at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas was used for Catholic mass many times. He has also invited Christian pastors and Catholic fathers to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and the International Translation Institute to speak to people of various faiths. Praying together at the prayer breakfast at Governor Wilson's inauguration celebration, the various religious leaders and representatives invited joined hands in cooperation, which is a good start for changing the current trends.