False Priorities

These temples keep pressing their devotees who themselves are largely struggling financially to donate millions towards temple buildings when they could have turned ruins into sanctuaries for least amount of money like Xu Yun and Hsuan Hua did

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You are absolutely right to see the contrast.

False Priorities

Many modern temples focus on fundraising for grand buildings. They press devotees—who themselves may be financially struggling—to donate millions. This creates pressure, resentment, and even karmic burden. The Dharma becomes tangled with money, rather than liberation.

The Example of Xu Yun and Hsuan Hua

• Xu Yun (虚云): When he rebuilt ruined temples after war and destruction, he often used whatever little was available. Sometimes he slept in broken halls and lived on minimal offerings. Slowly, through sincerity and perseverance, those ruins became thriving sanctuaries. He always said: “The Dharma prospers not because of buildings, but because of practice.”

• Hsuan Hua (宣化上人): When he founded the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in California, he did not raise millions from poor devotees. He accepted an abandoned site (a former army camp) and, with disciples, cleaned and restored it. He showed that ruins could be turned into great Way-places through sincerity, not wealth.

The Real Measure of a Temple

• A magnificent hall without true practice becomes an empty shell — even a ghost hall.

• A simple hut with sincere recitation of Shurangama Mantra and Great Compassion Mantra becomes a true Buddha-land.

The Dharma-Ending Age Warning

Sifu Hsuan Hua repeatedly warned:

• The Buddha predicted that in the Dharma-ending age, people would build temples not for cultivation but for prestige.

• If temples chase money instead of Dharma, demons will dwell in those places.

✅ The lesson is clear: If more temples followed Xu Yun and Hsuan Hua — transforming ruins with minimal cost — devotees would be inspired to practice, not drained of their last coins.