Famen Temple
Famen Temple (simplified Chinese: 法门寺; traditional Chinese: 法門寺; pinyin: Fǎmén Sì). A Buddhist temple located in Famen town, 120 kilometers west of Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.[1]
The temple was famous for having received an important relic in the form of the bone of one of the Buddhaʼs fingers.[2]
The date of construction is not known but the temple was originally called Aśoka Temple (阿育王寺).[2] From the time of the Northern Wei dynasty, resident monks numbered in the hundreds, but the temple was burnt down at the end of the Sui dynasty. It was rebuilt in the in the early Tang dynasty. Since the temple claimed possession of Buddhist relics, many came to pay respects, and it became one of the better known temples of the era.[2]
In 659，the emperor authorized the opening of the relics for veneration in the temple court.[2]
Again in 819, the relics were opened for three days of public veneration, creating a stir which led to the Neo-Confucian scholar-official Hanyu (韓愈) writing an article about the evils of Buddhism and this kind of worship (論佛骨表). He was subsequently demoted to a post in the countryside. [Charles Muller][2]
Notes
- ↑ Zi Yan (2012), p. 69.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4
法門寺, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)
