Famen Temple is situated at Famen Town, ten kilometers north of Fufeng County, 120 kilometers west of Xi’an city of Shaanxi Province, China. It was widely regarded as the “ancestor of pagoda temples in Guanzhong area”. As a famous Buddhist temple with a long history, Famen Temple was built to house bones of the fingers of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism.

Famen Temple, also known as the King Asoka Temple, was built in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). According to the Buddhist scriptures, in 272BC, in order to carry forward Buddhist doctrines, King Asoka of India presented relics of Buddha to different places. All places receiving such relics must build pagodas to enshrine them; therefore, 84,000 pagodas were built all over the world. In China, there are 19 such pagodas, among which Famen Temple is the largest one. Its prosperity began from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), and reached the peak in the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907), when it was reputed as an imperial temple. Eight emperors of the Tang Dynasty welcomed several times bone relics of Buddha back to the palace for worship, and awarded a large amount of treasure to the temple, which was stored at its underground palace.

A 13-storeyed pagoda stands in Famen Temple. It was dilapidated for a long period. In 1987, the government decided to rebuild it. In the course of cleaning up the pagoda's base, an underground palace of the Tang Dynasty, which had been closed for one thousand years, was excavated.

The underground palace at Famen Temple is 21.2 meters long, and covers an area of 31.84 square meters. It is the largest palace in all the temples and stupas discovered so far in China. The four finger bones discovered there are most riveting. Only one of them is the real finger bone of the Buddhism master, the other three are “shadow bones”. This discovery of Buddhist relics is very significant. Besides the fingers bones, batches of precious cultural relics of the Tang Dynasty are treasured up in the underground palace. They are considered to be the national treasures, including the gold & silver relics, colored glaze, mystic color ceramics, silk, etc.

Famen Temple with a brand-new appearance has been rebuilt following the general layout of the early Tang Dynasty (628-907). The pagoda keeps the old style of the Ming Dynasty's brick towers, and becomes the symbol of Famen Temple. The main building of the temple is the Treasure Hall, where rare national cultural relics are exhibited. Nowadays, as one of the most famous Buddhist temple, Famen Temple plays an important role in Chinese Buddhism. It attracts tourists from both home and abroad.