Founded in the late 3rd century, Daxingshan was one of the three great translation centres of Chinese Buddhism during the Tang dynasty (the others being Daci'en and Jianfu). The Indian monk Amoghavajra worked here in the 8th century to translate the foundational texts of esoteric Buddhism. The original buildings were destroyed in the late Tang and the present halls are mostly Qing-era reconstructions.
The temple sits in a quiet park surrounded by the modern city, less than a kilometre north of the Shaanxi History Museum. It is much less visited than the Big Wild Goose Pagoda complex but equally important historically — and a much calmer place to spend an hour.