Answered by John from China | Mar. 20, 2014 08:29
It was built by the Chinese Buddhist Monk Xuanzang who was the first Abbot. He was famous for his seventeen-year journey to India and noted for his detail of the journey in the classic Chinese text Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, which in turn provided the inspiration for the novel 'Journey to the West' written by Wu Chang’en during the Ming Dynasty.
John S from Xianyang