page_title: Zen in the United States
section_title: Hsuan Hua
hierarchical_section_title: Zen in the United States / Chinese Chán / Hsuan Hua
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture taken by me, Qin Zhi Lau at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas.
context_page_description: Zen was introduced in the United States at the end of the 19th century by Japanese teachers who went to America to serve groups of Japanese immigrants and become acquainted with the American culture. After World War II, interest from non-Asian Americans grew rapidly. This resulted in the commencement of an indigenous American Zen tradition which also influences the larger western world.
context_section_description: The first Chinese Buddhist monk to teach Westerners in America was Hsuan Hua, a disciple of the 20th-century Chan master, Hsu Yun. In 1962, Hsuan Hua moved to San Francisco's Chinatown, where, in addition to Zen, he taught Chinese Pure Land, Tiantai, Vinaya, and Vajrayana Buddhism. Initially, his students were mostly ethnic Chinese, but he eventually attracted a range of followers. In 1970, Hsuan Hua founded Gold Mountain Monastery in San Francisco and in 1976 he established a retreat center, the City Of Ten Thousand Buddhas, on a 237-acre (959,000 m²) property in Talmage, California. These monasteries closely adhere to the vinaya, the austere traditional Buddhist monastic code. Hsuan Hua also founded the Buddhist Text Translation Society, which translates scriptures into English.
caption: The 480-acre (1.9 km2) City of Ten Thousand Buddhas founded by Hsuan Hua in Talmage, California is geographically the largest Buddhist community in the western hemisphere.
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