Overview :
Located in Hacienda Heights in the Los Angeles district, Hsi Lai Temple is one of the biggest Buddhist sanctuaries in North America. Deemed the North American Regional Headquarters of Fo Guang Shan, Hsi Lai Temple continues to fill in as an otherworldly and social place for those keen on studying Buddhism and Chinese culture. It is the goal of its founder, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, to proliferate Humanistic Buddhism and to make a Pure Land here on the planet. Hsi Lai Temple has worked to satisfy these objectives in the United States.
The sanctuary’s basic philosophy is Humanistic Buddhism which tries to proliferate Buddhist lessons through training, social effort, local area administrations, and otherworldly practice. In this pursuit, Hsi Lai Temple has facilitated various nearby and global occasions, including the Chinese Spring Festival which, during its fourteen-day time span, invites an average of 20,000 guests each day. Hsi Lai Temple includes 15 sections of land and a story space of more than 100,000 square feet.
The sanctuary’s design, nurseries, and sculpture are dedicated to the customary style of Chinese cloisters from the Ming and Qing lines. The ten-year arrangement and development were finished in 1988. Hsi Lai signifies “Going toward the West” and connotes the commitment of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order to spread the lessons of the Buddha to those in the West.
Creating the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order:
Master Hsing Yun was born in 1927 in Jiangdu, Jiangsu Province, China. Having experienced childhood in a helpless family with two guardians working, Venerable Master Hsing Yun never received formal schooling and was left being taken care of by his maternal grandmother. After the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Venerable Master H
sing Yun was tonsured by famous Master Zhi Kai in Qixia Temple, Nanjing, with Dajue Temple in Yixing, Jiangsu, as his genealogical sanctuary.
In 1947, Venerable Master Hsing Yun moved on from Jiaoshan Buddhist College, where he went through total Buddhist training of Ch’an, Vinaya, doctrinal customs, and later turned into the head of Baita Elementary School, supervisor in-head of Raging Billows Monthly, and abbot of Huazang Temple in Nanjing. He fled to Taiwan in 1949 and became the dignitary of the Taiwan Buddhist Seminar and the proofreader in-head of Human Life Magazine.
In 1953, he was promoted to the directing educator for the Buddhist Chanting Association of Yilan, and along these lines set up the Buddhist Cultural Service Center in Taipei in 1957. In 1964, he established Shou Shan Temple and Shou Shan Buddhist College in Kaohsiung; and afterward established the Fo Guang Shan (Buddha’s Light Mountain) Buddhist Order in 1967.
With the targets to engender the Dharma through culture; to encourage gifts through schooling; to help society through cause, and to refine individuals’ brains through profound development, he has devoted his endeavors to spreading Humanistic Buddhism. Furthermore, he coordinated the establishment of guidelines which were drafted and distributed into the Rules and Regulations of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order, bringing Buddhism into another achievement of modernization.
Humanistic Buddhism and its Positive impact on Fo Guang Shun:
Humanistic Buddhism has been depicted as zeroing in on the living, working to support others, sympathy, and charitableness. It is worried about issues of the world rather than the best way to abandon the world. It is worried about helping others rather than oneself. It is a hopeful faith in the center poise of people and their capacity to change themselves emphatically.
Fo Guang Shan, in particular, is among one of the most reputable humanistic Buddhist organizations. The goal of the organization is to underline the ritualistic aspects of Dharma so that they can tailor their meditative practices towards the living, rather than the dead.
Fo Guang Shan is known for their Recitation Teams [which are individuals who assist the terminally ill in meditative practices], which they send off to emergency clinics and hospice care offices to help the perishing and their loved ones in performing humanistic Buddhist practice. Humanistic Buddhists accept that passing isn’t an end to such an extent as the start of another life and along these lines ceremonies toward the end of life should comfort and mollify the withering person. They likewise hold functions that commend marriage and the satisfaction of wedded couples which are well known around the world.
Revered Hsing Yun composed Rites for Funerals, a work laying out the Dharmic components of these customs and changing them to put accentuation on the living members and admirers. He likewise composed The Etiquettes and Rules, which diagrams the acts of conventional Buddhism according to a humanistic point of view.
Diversity Through Education:
Venerable Master Hsing Yun believed that “to become a better person, one needs to start reading”. With these sentiments, Master Yun founded a plethora of universities to educate the Buddhist Sangha, current youth, and the general public. Some of these schools include Fo Guang Shan Tsunglin University (intended for the Buddhist Sangha), Youth Buddhist Academy, and the Urban Buddhist College (intended for the public).
Aside from education, Fo Guang Shan is actively involved in culture, medical care, and numerous other initiatives that aid in benefiting living beings.
Through these offerings, many of Master Hsing Yun’s initiatives are representative of the promoting factors of Humanistic Buddhism, which are to foster peace and harmony among all peoples of the world.
Special Traditions:
At Hsi Lai Temple, there are regularly scheduled events offered annually which include the Great Compassion Chanting, the Peaceful Lantern Festival, Bhaisajya-guru, the celebration of Sakyamuni Buddha’s Birthday, and services that involve Amitabha. Additionally, there are frequent, established pilgrimages to Fo Guang Shan.
Government Support:
To promote traditional Chinese Faiths, China’s President Xi began a campaign titled “the rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation” where he has met with many Buddhist leaders that have inspired him. President Xi has met with Master Hsing Yun, telling the master on one 
occasion that he has read all the reading the master sent to the president.
The Chinese Government has allowed the Fo Guang Shan organization to establish cultural centers in 4 cities.
How is the Community funded?
Fo Guang Shan at Hsi Lai Temple is a 501(c) (3) charitable organization, which allows the public to “easily cultivate the field of merit, lighting up everyone’s heart and illuminating everyone in this world.”
Darius Dixon