Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Big Wild Goose Pagoda or Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (Chinese: 大雁塔; pinyin: Dàyàn Tǎ), is a Buddhist pagoda located in Da Ci'en Temple (meaning the Thanksgiving Temple), is about 4 kilometers south of Xian City,Shaanxi province, China.

Importance of Big Wild Goose Pagoda
Big Wild Goose Pagoda is valuable to the studies of Tang Dynasty religion, architecture, carving, painting, calligraphy and so on. Together with the succinct design of the building, it was actually an artistic architectural masterpiece of Tang Dynasty. It is a place you can't miss!

History of Big Wild Goose Pagoda
Taken Chenwei as his popular name, Monk Xuanzang was a very famous Buddhist Master and the founder of Faxiang sect of Buddhism. He went to India to research the Buddhist doctrines in 629 AD, and then he came back in 645 AD with 657 volumes of Buddhist scriptures.

In the temple, he translated 74 volumes in 1,335 chapters of the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. He was the best one of the four famous translators of Buddhist scriptures, because his translations were the largest in quantity, the best in quality and the greatest in influence.

In praise of the Master's dedication to Buddhism, Tang Emperor Tai Zong wrote "An Introduction to the Sacred Teachings of Monk Triptaka of the Great Tang Dynasty". When this temple was completed, Tang Emperor Xuanzong invited the Monk to be the headmaster immediately. In order to protect the Buddhist Scriptures, Monk Xuanzang asked for a pagoda to be built. He designed the pagoda like a wild goose as he saw in India. So this pagoda was called the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in memory of the famous Monk.

Panorama of Big Wild Goose Pagoda
It was a five-storied pagoda when it was first built. It was added to 10-storey in 701 AD when it was rebuilt, with a wooden stairs leading to the top inside. There have been over ten earthquakes over 7 degrees in the past 1300 years since Tang Dynasty in Guanzhong Plain(the central plain of Shaanxi Province). But now, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is still standing there firmly after so many earthquakes. It shows the ancient people's wisdom and talent in architecture.