The temple is situated at the foot of Shaoling Plateau, about 20 kilometers south of Xian. Built in 669 A.D. (second year of Zongzhang of the Tang Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi), the temple is the location of the pagoda under which the famous Tang monk Xuanzang was buried. Xuanzangs given name was Chen Yi, but he was honored as a 'Master of Sanzang'. He became a monk at 13, went to India to bring back the the Buddhist scriptures at 28 and returned to Chang'an at 44. 



During his search of the Buddhist scriptures, he mastered all kinds of Buddhist theories and later translated 1335 volumes of the scriptures in 75 sets from Sanskrit into Chinese, created Faxiang, a major sect of Buddhism and wrote a book called 'Records of Travel in the Western Region' which is a very important document of ancient times.