Famen Temple (simplified Chinese: 法门寺; traditional Chinese: 法門寺; pinyin: Fǎmén Sì) is a Buddhist temple located in Famen town (法門鎮), Fufeng County, 120 kilometers west of Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.

The literature record indicates that during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534), Famen Temple already existed on a quite large scale.

However, Buddhism was greatly suppressed in Emperor Wu's years of the Northern Zhou dynasty (557–581), and Famen Temple was almost completely destroyed.

It was renamed to Cheng Shi Dao Chang (成實道場), and was merged with the nearby Baochang Temple (寶昌寺), becoming a temple-owned farm.

Later, the temple took in homeless people fleeing chaos caused by war at the end of the Sui dynasty, and was unfortunately burned.

Tang Zhongzong actively advocated Buddhism, and along with Empress Wei buried their hair under the pagoda (unearthed in autumn 1978).

In Wenzong Kaicheng 3rd year (AD 838), it was renamed Fayun Temple, but soon reverted to the name Famen.

[2] During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Prince of Qin Li Maozhen spent more than 30 years renovating Famen Temple.

After being renovated many times, in Da'an 2nd year, Jin dynasty, it was claimed to be "Temple and Pagoda against Heaven".

After formation of the Republic of China, Famen Temple was used to station army continuously, and it was largely ruined.

Because of natural and man-made calamities and the masses living in dire poverty, North China Philanthropy Association decided to rebuild the temple and pagoda, and use labor work as methods to relieve the distress.

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Famen Temple was among the first key protected historical relics of the province.

During the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guard damaged temple halls and Buddhist figures under the name of "breaking four old fashions".

The abbot, Liangqing (良卿法师), incinerated himself in front of the True Relic Pagoda, in order to protect temple's underground palace.

After 1979, Shaanxi province government once funded restoration of the Mahavira Hall and the Brass Buddha Pavilion (铜佛阁).

In 1985, Shaanxi province government decided to pull down the remaining half side wall and rebuild the True Relic Pagoda.

[5] In May 2009 the Shaanxi government finished constructing the first phase of a much larger complex in addition to the Famen Temple.

[7] Thereafter, Famen Temple became a Buddhist place of pilgrimage due to the discovery of what is claimed as a true relic of Buddha.

A tortoise-shaped gold-plated container with silver inlays is on display in the museum, the cover of which carved with turtle-shell and brocade patterns.

A magnificent set of miniature costumes specially fabricated for the Bodhisattva can be seen, the most typical being a half-sleeved blouse 6.5 cm in length, with 4.1 cm-long sleeves.

The blouse was worn drooped to the chest and has buttons down the front, with the collar and sleeve rims decorated with patterns embroidered with twisted gold threads.

In particular, loop edges of the gold threads make the fabric seem like a painting, and are arranged to display gradually changing colours.

Chinese glass manufacturing technology was long influenced by western Asia, and most common style was Islamic.

Later after clear-up, 98 figures of Buddha had been found in total, many containing scriptures, sealed at the times of the Ming dynasty and the Republic of China.