法门寺英文导游词The Famen Temple

The Famen Temple

The Famen Temple is located in Famen Town north of Fufeng County, west of Xi’an. It is a famous temple in China. It was built in ancient times to house the finger bones of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism.

Famen means the initial approach to become a Buddhist believer. The Famen Temple was constructed in the Eastern Han Dynasty because of the stupa there. The Famen Temple stupa, also known as “the Real Spirit Pagoda”, is famous for the fact that it houses a finger bone of Sakyamuni. after Sakyamuni’s nirvana,an ancient India King decreed that send Skayamuni’s relics to places all over the world to spread Buddhism. The Famen Temple Stupa is one of them. Thus the Famen Temple and its stupa enjoyed the reputation of being the “for efather of pagodas and temples in Central Shaanxi”.

The Famen Temple Pagoda experienced two times of reconstruction and rebuilding during the Tang dynasty and Ming dynasty. In 1981, the western side of this tilted stupa collapsed after incessant rains. Most of the body of the stupa collapsed shortly thereafter.

In 1985, the Shaanxi Government decided to rebuild the stupa in the style of the brick one of the Ming Dynasty. While clearing the stupa foundation, the underground palace was accidentally discovered. For more than 1,000 years, the palace had housed the remains of the finger bones of Sakyamuni and other valuable relics that enshrined these precious bones.

According to the tablet inscriptions, the finger bone had always been kept inside the Famen Stupa. From the Northern Wei period to the Tang Dynasty, emperors of different periods believed that the worship of the finger bone could bless the security of the nation and bring a stable life to the people. So they opened the palace several times, and worshiped the enshrined finger bone. The ceremony took place during the reign of T ang Yizong(唐懿宗) was also the last time of the imperial worship.

The underground palace at the Famen Temple is the largest palace among all the temples and stupas discovered so far in China. The four finger bones discovered there are most riveting. The first one was a millimeters long and hollow, hung on a silver bar on a gold stupa base. The second, which is like

the first in shape, was kept in a double-eave marble coffin. The third one was kept in a five-layered marble chest. This finger bone is tube-like, 37 millimeters long and is slightly yellow. The fourth one was kept in a colored King stupa. Its color and shape are very much like that of the first and second finger bone. Zhao Puchu(赵朴初) determined that the third finger bone is the original, which means it is the only real finger bone of the Buddha. The other three were “shadow bone”, imitations which the Tang emperor had made in order to protect the real one. But in the eyes of Budd hist believers, even the “shadow bones” were so sacred that they also enjoyed the same significance and importance as the real one.

Ok, many other relics were also unearthed form the underground palace. They are considered to be national treasures.

The technique of gold brocade weaving developed in the Tang Dynasty was surprisingly exquisite. The embroidered skirts that Emperess Wu Zetian （武则天）consecrated were made out of this material.They are the best-preserved imperial silk of the hightest quality in tang dynasty.

The secret celadon is a kind of Chinese green porcelain. The techniques used to make the celadon are very intricate. The court kept all of this information a secret, which is indicated by its name, “secret celadon.” The secret celadon unearthed at the Famen Temple was a breakthrough for the study of the history of Chinese porcelain. It provides much information for the determination of the age and characteristics of this type of porcelain.

The gold and silver ware unearthed at the Famen Temple is of high quality and great value. The four-faced, twelve-ringed gilded monk’s cane （四面十二环鎏金禅杖）is the most precious Buddhist staff in terms of style, technology and material. This is a gilded incense-burner which is the heaviest and biggest one in tang dynasty(供香器). The glazed wares are the good proof of cultural and economic exchange in tang dynasty.The exquisite tea set of imperial aristocrats unearthed in the palace is a real eye-opener in the field of tea culture studies. And gold and silver bowls, vases, basins and are very exquisite and valuable.

The discovery of the underground treasures in the Famen Temple is unprecedented in all the archaeological findings of the Tang Dynasty, as far as