The Master felt that one of the marks of decay
of proper monastic practice in China had been the gradual shift
of emphasis from large monastic training monasteries to small individual
temples, each with one or two monks or nuns free to do more or less
whatever they pleased. In order to insure that tendency for laxity
of practice did not take hold in the West, the Master wished to
unite all his Sangha members and lay people under a single organization,
that could both help to maintain uniform pure standards of conduct
for members of the Sangha and discourage the making of offerings
to individuals instead of to the Sangha as a whole. In order to
strengthen central organization and in recognition of his growing
number of American disciples, in December, 1968 the Buddhist Lecture
Hall was expanded into the newly incorporated Sino-American Buddhist
Association. As that organization became more international in scope,
in 1984, the name of the organization was officially changed to
the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association.
With the large influx of Americans wishing to study the Dharma,
the small Tianhou Temple was quickly outgrown, and in 1970 the Association
moved to a large three-story brick building, which was remodelled
to become Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery. In 1976 the Master established
the Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, which now encompasses almost
five hundred acres of land at Wonderful Enlightenment Mountain in
northern California. Among the many other temples, monasteries,
and retreat centers established by the Master are Gold Wheel Monastery
in Los Angeles, Long Beach Monastery in Long Beach, California,
Gold Buddha Monastery in Vancouver, Gold Summit Monastery in Seattle,
Avatamsaka Monastery in Calgary, the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery
and Institute of World Religions, and the Administrative Headquarters
and International Translation Institute, both in Burlingame, California.
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