Buddhism

Buddhism was first founded 221 BCE in the Qin Dynasty. Buddhism wasn’t very common and didn’t last a long time - which is a mystery. The Han dynasty re-established Buddhism during the silk road period. Grottoes are very common in Buddhism. There are actually many Buddhism grottoes in the Shaanxi area. 350 caves discovered in Shaanxi. The largest Buddha grotto is in Binxian area, it was built in the Tang dynasty and survived through history, people can still visit it. They have beautiful statues of buddhas all across the cave. Another grotto in Northern Shaanxi, Zhichong. It is a popular grotto to visit as well, it was built in the North branch in the ancient silk road period. This grotto still has its original colour on the walls, statues and buddhas which makes it very vivid. The 10,000 buddhas were hand-carved into the walls. The Famen Temple is also a very famous, eye-catching temple. It was constructed by the end of the Eastern Han dynasty. During the Longqing years, 1567 - 1572 of the Ming dynasty, Famen temple was destroyed by an earthquake in Guanzhong. There was also a wood pagoda that was built in the Tang dynasty which also was destroyed by the Guangzhong earthquake. In 1579 they ended up re-building the “True Replica Pagoda”. It is 13 stories high and structured to look like the wood pagoda, except it was made out of brick-mimic-timber to make it more strong and stable. After the Government opened the underground part of the temple, 4 relics were found. 2 of them were made from white jade, white jade isn’t particularly rare but since this was ancient it can go for millions of dollars. Serious Chinese worshippers go to do their praying in the Famen temple. Around 75% are Buddhists in China which is quite a lot.