Famen Temple-------Ancestor of Pagoda Temples in Guanzhong Area

Famen Temple is located in Famen town, Fufeng County, 120 kilometers west of Xi'an City, Shaanxi province. It was widely regarded as the "ancestor of pagoda temples in Guanzhong area".

One theory, supported by unearthed eaves-tiles and carved bricks of Han Dynasty, is that the temple was built during the Northern Zhou Dynasty, by Emperor Huan and also by Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The literature record indicates that during Northern Wei Dynasty, Famen Temple already existed on a quite large scale. However, Buddhism was greatly suppressed in Emperor Wu's years of Northern Zhou Dynasty, and Famen Temple was almost completely destroyed. After establishment of Sui Dynasty, Buddhism was venerated, and Famen Temple was rebuilt, although it couldn't be recovered to its heyday in Northern Wei Dynasty. Its name was changed to Cheng Shi Dao Chang, and soon it merged with nearby Baochang Temple, and became a temple-owned farm.

In May 2009 the Shaanxi government finished constructing the first phase of a much larger complex in addition to the Famen Temple. With an area of 150 areas the new "Famen Temple Cultural Scenic Area" added 150 acres (0.61 km2) to the temple complex. The most obvious feature of the new complex is the 148m Namaste Dagoba and vault.

Famen Temple has many relics, such as Buddha's relics and Gold & Silver Relics.

Buddha's relics

From 5–12 May 1987, after the opening of an underground palace, four relics claimed to be directly related to Buddha were found. Two of these were made of white jade. The third relic was from a famous monk. These three are called "duplicate relics". They were placed together with a "true relic" in order to protect them. The true relic is yellow-colored, with bone-like secretory granules. It was declared by experts to be a finger bone of the Sakyamuni Buddha. Thereafter, Famen Temple became a Buddhist place of pilgrimage due to the discovery of what is claimed as a true relic of Buddha.

Gold & Silver Relics

The underground “Palace” is now a museum, and contains some other relics. One of the best preserved is a gilt silver tea set, said to be one of the earliest royal tea sets ever discovered. It includes a tea caddy woven out of metallic yarn, a gilt silver tortoise-shaped tea box, a tea roller-grinder, and a silver stove for brewing the tea. As a part of the set, a kind of container for mixing tea, called a Tiao Da Zi, was used for tea mixing and drinking, since in ancient China the tea drinking ceremony was treated to some extent just like a meal.

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