Return to the The Daily Recitation Handbook - Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB, rendered in Chinese as 万佛圣城 / 萬佛聖城 - Wanfo Shengcheng, in Tibetan as སངས་རྒྱས་སྟོང་ཕྲག་བཅུའི་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། sangs rgyas stong phrag bcu'i grong khyer Sangyé Tongtrak Chü Drongkyer, and in Sanskrit as दशसहस्रबुद्धनगर - Daśasahasrabuddhanagara, universally revered across the United States, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Canada, and the global Buddhist world as the flagship monastic community, retreat center, and educational headquarters of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (DRBA)), acclaimed throughout modern Western Buddhist history since the late 20th century as one of the largest and strictest Mahayana monastic sanctuaries in the Western Hemisphere, stands as a landmark institution of American Buddhism. Grounded in deep awareness of anicca, dukkha, and anatta, fearless renunciation, and unshakeable refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas upholds the pure Vinaya Pitaka tradition of ethical conduct, precepts, meditation, mindfulness, concentration, and liberating wisdom.
Historically and geographically, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas was founded in 1974 (and formally inaugurated in 1976) by the celebrated Chinese Chan master Hsuan Hua (宣化 - Xuānhuà, 1918–1995, Dharma successor of Xu Yun, 1840–1959, in the Weiyang lineage of Chan Buddhism), who acquired the historic former Mendocino State Hospital property in Talmage, Mendocino County, California, in the United States, nestled within the tranquil Ukiah Valley roughly one hundred and ten miles north of San Francisco. Encompassing nearly four hundred and eighty-eight acres of wooded hills, orchards, meadows, and over seventy buildings, the campus was transformed by Hsuan Hua and his pioneering American and Asian disciples into a self-sustaining sanctuary dedicated to authentic monastic discipline, scriptural translation, and harmonious interfaith dialogue.
Structurally and institutionally, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is anchored by its majestic main worship hall, the Jeweled Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas (万佛宝殿 - Wanfo Baodian), whose walls are lined with ten thousand hand-crafted golden images of Shakyamuni Buddha surrounding a towering central statue of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (Guanyin) with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, alongside dedicated men's and women's monastic quarters (Tathagata Monastery and Joyous Giving House), the Buddhist Text Translation Society (BTTS), and accredited educational institutions spanning from elementary and secondary schools (Instilling Goodness Elementary School and Developing Virtue Secondary School) to higher education at Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU, founded in 1976).
Monastically and ethically, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is internationally renowned for its uncompromising adherence to the classical Vinaya Pitaka (specifically the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, Taisho Number 1428 in the Chinese Tripitaka) and the Mahayana Bodhisattva precepts of the Brahmajala Sutra (Taisho Number 1484, and Toh Number 256 in the Tibetan Tripitaka): ordained bhikshus and bhikshunis wear the traditional kasaya robe at all times, observe strict celibacy, refrain from handling money personally, practice the ancient ascetic austerity (dhutanga) of eating only one vegetarian meal per day before noon, and maintain a completely lacto-vegetarian, intoxicant-free campus in accordance with universal compassion and loving-kindness toward all living beings.
Within its daily schedule and seasonal retreat cycle, monastics and lay residents at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas rise at three-thirty in the morning for communal chanting, meditation, and bowing—performing full-body prostrations in repentance ceremonies such as the Jeweled Repentance of the Emperor of Liang (Taisho Number 1909) and the Great Compassion Repentance, reciting the Shurangama Mantra from the Shurangama Sutra (Taisho Number 945), conducting intensive seven-day Chan meditation sessions (Chan Qi) and Amitabha Buddha-name recitation retreats (Fo Qi), and celebrating major annual festivals honoring Shakyamuni Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, Samantabhadra, Kshitigarbha, and Maitreya.
Literarily and translationally, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas serves as the primary center of the Buddhist Text Translation Society, established by Hsuan Hua in 1970 to translate the monumental scriptures of the Chinese Tripitaka and Tibetan Tripitaka into clear, accurate modern English and other world languages—producing landmark annotated translations of the Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Adornment Sutra, Taisho Number 279, and Toh Number 44), the Saddharmapundarika Sutra (Lotus Sutra, Taisho Number 262, and Toh Number 113), the Shurangama Sutra (Taisho Number 945), the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra (Diamond Sutra, Taisho Number 235, and Toh Number 16), the Prajnaparamitahrdaya Sutra (Heart Sutra, Taisho Number 251, and Toh Number 21), the Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva Purvapranidhana Sutra (Taisho Number 412), and the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (Taisho Number 2008) by Huineng (638–713).
Philosophically and contemplatively, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas embodies Hsuan Hua's non-sectarian vision uniting all five classical Chinese Mahayana traditions—Chan meditation, Pure Land mindfulness of Amitabha, Vinaya discipline, Tiantai and Huayan scriptural study, and esoteric mantra practice—while harmonizing with Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka dialectics regarding emptiness (शून्यता - śūnyatā; སྟོང་པ་ཉིད། stong pa nyid Tongpanyid) and dependent origination, Asanga and Vasubandhu's Yogacara phenomenology, and innate Buddha-nature (tathagatagarbha) aligned with Maitreya's Uttaratantra Shastra (Toh Number 4024, and Taisho Number 1611). Guiding practitioners to sever attachment to the five aggregates, emptiness of self, karma, and rebirth across samsara and nirvana, the community anchors every daily action in Shakyamuni Buddha's Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, generosity, merit, equanimity, right view, non-attachment, skillful means, and universal bodhicitta to extinguish the three poisons across the six realms.
Welcoming pilgrims, scholars, students, and spiritual seekers from United States, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Tibet, India, and across the globe into the 21st century, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas stands forever as a radiant sanctuary of wisdom and compassion illuminating the Middle Way to complete Buddhahood.