Famen Temple Hotel

Famen Temple became a Buddhist pilgrimage destination after the discovery of a relic claimed to be a true Buddha relic. The finds were uncovered from 5-12 May 1987, after an underground palace was opened. Four relics were said to be directly connected to Buddha: two were made of white jade, and a third came from a famous monk. Those three are known as "duplicate relics" (shadow relics). They were placed with a "true relic" (true relic) for protection. The true relic is yellow and has bone-like secretory granules. It is believed to be a finger bone of the Gautama Buddha (Sakyamuni). The finger bone sat in the innermost of eight nested boxes, each enclosed in the next larger one and wrapped in thin silk. The outer sandalwood box had rotted away. The smaller boxes, made of gold, silver, and jade, remain well preserved. Each has a silver lock and exquisite carvings. The true relic matches the descriptions in records by the Tang dynasty Buddhist DaoXuan and other Tang dynasty sources.