Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t6: Famen Temple
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t6
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Famen Temple
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Famen Temple (Famen Vihar) is one of the most renowned Buddhist temples in China situated at Fufeng County, Baoji, Shaanxi Province. It is famous for treasuring the finger sarira (relics) of Sakyamuni.
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Famen Temple was built during the late Eastern Han Dynasty (second half of the 2nd century CE) and was originally referred to as Asoka Temple. At first, it was just a pagoda built over the relics of Buddha. Later a temple was constructed next to the pagoda. According to legend, after unifying the India, Asoka the Great divided the Buddhist relics into 84,000 shares and sent spirits to deliver them to various countries for the purpose of promoting Buddhism. Pagodas were built by people to worship those relics. It’s said that these relics reached 19 places in China and the Famen Temple, also known as the Asoka Temple was just the fifth. In 494 CE and 602 CE, the pagoda was opened twice for believers to worship the relics. In the Wude seventh year of Tang Dynasty, the temple was officially renamed as “Famen Temple” by the emperor and during Zhenguan period of Tang Dynasty (627-649 CE), the pagoda was opened three times. The pagoda was originally named as Grave of Saints and then it was turned into a four-level wooden building with a new name as Huguo Zhenshen Pagoda (Buddha Pagoda for the protection of country) in Tang Dynasty.
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Inviting and welcoming the Buddha’s relics was the grandest Buddhist event during Tang Dynasty, which was launched every 30 years. There were eight emperors of Tang inviting Buddha bones six times into the imperial palace for worship and sent them back twice to the Famen Temple to show respect. Each time the event was marked by a grand campaign with the involvement of a large majority of people. The most impressive one took place in the Xiantong 14th year (873 CE) with two years of careful preparations before the official launch of the event. When the relics were welcomed, endless stream of horses and carriages was seen day and night along the road more than 100 km away from the capital city all the way down to the Famen Temple and free food and drinks were available on the way for anyone who participated in the event. A guard of honour for the Buddha’s relics was performed under the guidance of imperial palace guards with the escort of ministers, famous monks and other dignitaries. During the whole process, banners and flags covered the sky, great music filled the air and ordinary people lined on both sides of the road for a good look at this grand ceremony. Decorated archways stood up on each street in the capital city of Chang’an, Tang Dynasty. The Emperor himself waited with reverence for the arrival of the Buddha bones standing on the city gate tower while the ministers and citizens stood on both sides of the street. The relics, after arrival, would be worshipped for three days in the imperial palace and then sent to various temples in the capital city for people to worship them. On this occasion, ministers and rich people rushed to donate money, ordinary people from all over the country took their sons and old parents to receive blessings and some of the believers even indulged in self sacrifice by breaking their arms or fingers or burning their hair or arms to display their loyalty and devotion. In January next year, the bones were sent back to the Famen Temple, which called for another event of ostentation and extravagance. This was the last known public event to worship Buddha relics according to the ritual in Buddhism. The *finger sarira* (relics) of Sakyamuni and thousands of rare treasures would remain buried in the underground palace beneath the pagoda during the subsequent period of 1,113 years. The underground palace [Figure: The Relic of the Buddha's Finger at Famen Temple, Shaanxi, China]
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Pagoda at the Famen Temple, Fufeng County, Baoji, Shaanxi, China
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continued to remain closed even at the time of establishing the dagoba.
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However, in August 1981, the dagoba built during the Ming Dynasty collapsed by half and then finally in the spring of 1987, an archaeological team discovered and opened the underground palace and thus uncovered the finger *sarira* (relics) of Sakyamuni and a large number of other precious ancient cultural artifacts.
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(Xue Keqiao)