Famen Temple 法门寺

About Famen Temple

Excavation below the pagoda in 1987 revealed a Tang-period underground chamber containing offerings and a relic venerated as a finger bone of the Buddha. The finds make the museum especially rewarding: metal tea utensils, glass and celadon show the materials used in elite Tang ritual life. Distinguishing the historic temple and excavated objects from the modern Namaste Dagoba makes the site’s different layers easier to understand.

One theory holds that the temple was founded in the late Eastern Han dynasty, during the reigns of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling; the Buddha's relics are said to have been distributed worldwide by King Ashoka, and Famen Temple was built around a pagoda enshrining one such relic. It took its present name in the first year of the Tang Wude era (618). Emperor Zhongzong and Empress Wei buried their hair beneath the pagoda, unearthed in 1978. Tang emperors obtained Buddha relics here seven times, each donating generously toward the temple's expansion, and it grew to twenty-four courtyards.

The temple keeps a layout of pagoda in front and hall behind, with the True Body Pagoda (真身宝塔) on its central axis, the mountain gate and front hall before it and the Great Hall (大雄宝殿) behind. The pagoda has been rebuilt several times, from a four-story pavilion-style tower in the Tang dynasty to a thirteen-story brick pagoda in the Ming; the present structure, on a reinforced-concrete frame faced with blue brick, follows survey drawings made of the Ming pagoda before its collapse. The underground chamber has been restored to its Tang-period state, built of white marble and limestone slabs with carved walls and doors.

What to look for

• The reconstructed thirteen-storey True Relic Pagoda and the historic temple axis.
• Tang offerings, including gilt-silver tea utensils and secret-colour celadon, in the museum displays.
• The modern Namaste Dagoba, whose scale contrasts with the older monastery.

Location & getting there

Getting to Famen Temple

Travel to Famen Town in Fufeng County, west of Xi’an, and use the Famen Temple visitor entrance.

• The older monastery, museum and modern complex occupy different parts of the site; check the current access arrangement before choosing the sequence.