The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (DRBA), formerly known as the Sino-American Buddhist Association, was founded in the United States in 1959 by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua.

Taking the Dharma Realm as its fundamental basis, the Association is dedicated to widely transmitting the true principles of Buddhism throughout the world. Its mission includes translating the Buddhist scriptures, propagating the Proper Dharma, promoting moral education, and benefiting all sentient beings. Through these efforts, it aspires to enable individuals, families, societies, nations, and ultimately the world to be nurtured and transformed by the influence of the Buddhadharma, gradually moving toward the realm of truth, goodness, and beauty.

法界佛教總會，前身為中美佛教總會，是^上宣^下化老和尚於一九五九年在美國創立。本會以法界為體，以將佛教的真實義理，普遍傳播到世界各地；以翻譯經典、弘揚正法、提倡道德教育、利樂一切有情為己任，俾使個人、家庭、社會、國家，乃至世界，皆能蒙受佛法之薰習，而漸趨至真、至善、至美之境地。

To propagate the Proper Dharma, the Venerable Master not only cultivated and trained talented individuals but also devoted himself to establishing monasteries and practice centers, aiming to turn the Dharma wheel, carry out the Buddha’s work, and provide cultivators with pure places of practice that follow the Buddha’s regulations.

Upholding the principles:

Freezing to death, we do not scheme for conditions; Starving to death, we do not beg for alms; Dying in poverty, we do not seek conditions. Accord with conditions without changing, unchanging yet according with conditions. We firmly uphold our three great guiding principles.

Sacrificing our lives to do the Buddha’s work; Creating our destiny as our fundamental responsibility; Upholding right livelihood as the duty of monastics. Understanding principle through events and seeing events as none other than principle. We carry forward the mind-to-mind transmission of the Patriarchs.

We also practice the Six Great Principles:

No fighting, no greed, no seeking, no selfishness, no self-benefit, and no lying.

We further observe the Venerable Master’s regulations: eating one meal a day at noon and always keeping the robe on the body. Every day, we lecture on the Sutras and speak the Dharma, turning the great Dharma wheel to universally liberate all living beings.

為了弘揚正法，上人除了培育訓練人才之外，更致力於道場之建立，以期轉法輪，作佛事，提供修行人遵循佛制之清淨修持道場。

堅守：

凍死不攀緣，餓死不化緣，窮死不求緣，
隨緣不變，不變隨緣，抱定我們三大宗旨。
捨命為佛事，造命為本事，正命為僧事，
即事明理，明理即事，推行祖師一脈心傳。

及六大宗旨：不爭、不貪、不求、不自私、不自利、不打妄語。亦遵守上人之規定：日中一食、衣不離體。日日講經說法，轉大法輪，普度一切眾生。

In January 1989, during the Presidential Inauguration of President George Bush, the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua — a distinguished Chinese Buddhist monk who had come to the United States in the early years to propagate the Buddhadharma — was invited to attend the ceremony as a gesture of respect toward Buddhism. This marked the Master’s first visit to Washington, D.C.

Afterward, the Master searched many times for a suitable location. It was not until the latter half of 1990 that he found, within a small wooded area in the City of Potomac near Washington, D.C., a site with a stream in front and hills behind, possessing an exceptionally tranquil environment. He then decided to purchase the land to establish a monastery and named it Avatamsaka Vihara.

一九八九年一月，布希總統就職大典時，邀請了早期來美弘揚佛法的中國高僧──宣化上人，從加州前來觀禮，以示對佛教之敬重。這是上人第一次到華府。

上人多次尋找適當的地點，直至一九九○年下半年，於波多瑪克市臨近華盛頓特區的一座小叢林內，找到一處前傍溪流，後倚丘壑的地方，環境極為清靜，於是決定買下興闢道場，並定名為「華嚴精舍」。

華嚴精舍現址