At fifteen Hsuan Hu took refuge with the Three Jewels under Venerable High Master Changzhi of Sanyuan Monastery in Harbin.

[2][4] After finding a spiritual teacher, Hsuan Hua enrolled into a private village school from the twelfth day of the third lunar month to the thirteenth day of the eighth lunar month in the year of Ren Shen (Monkey), April 16 to September 13, 1932, where he had his first experience of formal education.

He decided to established a free school teaching thirty impoverished children and adults, being the only teacher and faculty member.

[citation needed] Hsuan Hua traveled to Australia in 1961 and taught there for one year, returning to Hong Kong in 1962.

[citation needed] At that time, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred between the United States and the Soviet Union, and Hsuan Hua embarked on a fasting period for thirty-five days to pray for an end to the hostilities and for world peace.

In 1967, Hsuan Hua moved the Buddhist Lecture Hall back to Chinatown, locating it in the Tianhou Temple.

These lectures were recorded in an eight-part series of books containing the sutra and a traditionally rigorous form of commentary that addresses each passage.

It was again lectured by the original translator monks and nuns of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas at Dharma Realm Buddhist University in the summer of 2003.

[citation needed] With the founding of his American Sangha, Hsuan Hua embarked on his personal vision for Buddhism in the United States: Because of the increasing numbers of people who wished to become monks and nuns under Hsuan Hua's guidance, in 1972 he decided to hold ordination ceremonies at Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery.

In an address to Ajahn Sumedho and the monastic community at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery on October 6, 1990, Hsuan Hua stated:[10] In Buddhism, we should unite the Southern and Northern traditions.

[...] No matter the Southern or the Northern Tradition, both share the common purpose of helping living beings bring forth the Bodhi-mind, to put an end to birth and death, and to leave suffering and attain bliss.On the occasion of the opening ceremony for the Dharma Realm Buddhist University, Hsuan Hua presented K. Sri Dhammananda of the Theravada tradition with an honorary Ph.D.

[citation needed] On June 7, 1995, while visiting Long Beach Sagely Monastery, Hsuan Hua died in his sleep.

On June 17, Hsuan Hua's body was placed in a refrigerated casket and taken from southern to northern California, returning to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to lie in repose.

All major services during the funeral were presided over by Ming Yang, abbot of Longhua Temple in Shanghai and a longtime friend of Hsuan Hua's.

More than two thousand followers from the United States, Canada, and various Asian and European countries, came to CTTB to take part in the funeral service.

After the funeral, memorial services commemorating Hsuan Hua's life were held in various parts of the world, including Taiwan, China, and Canada.