About 20 kilometers to the south of Xi'an lay Xingjiao Temple. The temple is the burial ground of Xuan Zang, the pilgrim who spent 15 years in India and brought Buddhist scriptures back to China. After his death in Yuhua Palace in 664, Xuan Zang was first buried on the Bailu Plateau (Bailu Yuan) on the east bank of the Chan River, several miles southeast of Chang'an. But 5 years later, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi), his grave was moved to its present location and the temple and dagoba were built in his memory. Two smaller dagobas were erected to hold the remains of Xuan Zang's disciplines. When a later Tang Emperor, Su Zong (Li Heng), visited the temple, he wrote “Xing Jiao” which means “Religion Shall Thrives” and thereafter the temple was called Xingjiao Temple.
After its founding in 669, the temple declined. It was repaired once by the Tang Emperor Wen Zong in 828.

The Xingjiao Temple exudes the atmosphere of antiquity. Its rural hillside setting makes it a peaceful place to visit. The five-room main hall of the temple is built of red pillars and green eaves. It contains a white jade statue of the Buddha which was a gift from Burma (the present Myanmar), a bronze statue of the Buddha, porcelain Langhing Buddha, and other ancient sculptures. Behind the main hall is a spacious garden planted with chrysanthemums, orchid's bamboos, and flowering plum trees.

There are two smaller compounds on each side of the temple. The building on the east side of the temple is the depositary of Buddhist scriptures, which contains thousands of copies of Buddhist scriptures, including six palm-leaf pages of a Song copy of Xuan Zang's original sutras. The three pavilion-style stupas on the west, modeled after wooden structures, are the only survivors of the temple. The one in the middle is Xuan Zang's stupa. It is a five-storied structure, 23 meters high. There is a clay sculpture of Xuan Zang inside the arch cave at the base of the stupa. Inlaid on its backside is a tablet with the “Epigraph of Master Dapianjue of the Tripitaka”, which tells the life story of Xuan Zang. The stupa on the east side is for Yuan Ce, and the one on the west is for Kui Ji. Both of them were Xuan Zang's senior disciples. The yard around the dagobas is landscaped with pine trees, cypress trees, peach trees, and plum trees.

It is stipulated in the Constitution that Chinese citizens enjoy freedom of religious belief. Many Chinese Buddhists enjoy such freedom, as is evidenced by the joss sticks and candles in the temple all year round.