Proposal: Center for the Study of the Life of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua

A Proposal by Ron Epstein:

Dharma Realm Buddhist University Center for the Study of the Life of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua

1) The Center would fulfill a number of functions. It would include a multimedia archives, display areas, and staff support for people who wish to do research on the Venerable Master. The center could sponsor research, conferences, and print and multimedia works about the Venerable Master.

2) Probably money could easily be raised for the remodeling of space at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas for such a center, for staff salaries, and for annual operating expenses.

3) Archives: the archives of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas would not replace the current photo archives at the San Jose temple, the video archives at HQ Burlingame, or the document archives at ITI Burlingame. Copies of the materials in those archives would be housed at the center. It may be that the center would be an ideal place to house additional materials, such as Internet and electronic information about the Venerable Master and print articles and books about the Venerable Master in both Chinese English and other languages.

4) Dharma Realm Buddhist University is the logical entity to house the center and to work in conjunction with the Center to develop educational programs about the Venerable Master.

Some of What Needs To Be Done

1) preservation of current collections including transfer of DRBA oral history project interviews to purely digital media

2) continuing collection of print and multimedia materials

3) permissions

4) review for sensitive materials

5) organization of various media for ease of access

6) the development of a policy for contacting and working with people who have made public information in various media about the Venerable Master without DRBA permission

7) review of current biographical efforts within DRBA

8) interview of people who have first-hand information of the Venerable Master who have not yet been interviewed

9) developing programs to teach people the skills necessary for doing informed biographical work on the Venerable Master

10) developing a plan for working with scholars who are interested in the Venerable Master and who are not part of DRBA

11) developing a plan for teaching about the Venerable Master at CTTB schools and at branch temples

12) development of online websites about the Venerable Master and containing links to multimedia materials about the Venerable Master

13) development of a multimedia bibliography of all information available about the Venerable Master