Xian Famen Temple

Famen Temple is situated in Famen Town 110 kilometers northwest of Xi'an. Although this Temple is a little far from Xi'an, it is valuble religous place renowned for storing the veritable Finger Bone of the Sakyamuni Buddha with an intriguing history and it is worth making the effort to visit.

Famen literally means the initial way to become a Buddhist believer. The Famen Temple was first set up during East Han Dynasty. In the year 147 AD, King Asoka of India traveled to Asia, preaching Buddhism. In China, he established Famen Temple and left the fingers of Buddha to be enshrined here.

The original wooden four-storey Famen Temple Pagoda fell down due to an earthquake in 1569. The rebuilt thirteen-storey brick building also collapsed in 1981 due to constantly rainy season.

In the course of rebuilding the pagoda in 1987,an underground vault was discovered under the base of the pagoda. A great amount of Buddhist relics were found including four finger sarira relics.

In May 2009 the Shaanxi government completed the building of a much larger complex adjacent to the Famen Temple. With an area of 150 areas the new "Famen Temple Cultural Scenic Area" extended 150 acres to the old temple complex. The most prominent feature of the new complex is the 148m Namaste Dagoba and vault. The Namaste Dagoba is used to enshrine the only relic of Sakyamuni's finger bone in the world.