Past and present video footage of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Built in the third year of Yonghui in the Tang Dynasty (652 AD), the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built by Xuanzang for tibetan classics, with seven floors and a height of 64.5 meters. It is regarded as the symbol of the ancient capital of Xi'an. It is a famous tourist destination in Xi'an.

　　The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, also known as the Great Ci'en Temple Pagoda, is located in the Great Ci'en Temple in the southern suburbs of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China. Because it is located in the west courtyard of Ci'en Temple, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was originally called the West Courtyard of Ci'en Temple Futu (floating tu is the meaning of pagoda). It is a masterpiece of Buddhist architectural art of the Tang Dynasty in China. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built in 652 AD (the third year of Emperor Gaozong's yonghui of Tang). In order to enshrine the Buddha statues, relics and Sanskrit scriptures brought back from India, Master Xuanzang built a five-story brick pagoda in the West Pagoda Courtyard of Ci'en Temple. It was rebuilt during the Chang'an period of Wu Zetian. Later, it was repaired several times. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was a famous tourist attraction in the Tang Dynasty, so it left a large number of inscriptions of literati and scholars, and there were more than 200 inscriptions in the Ming and Qing Dynasties alone. Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a pavilion-style brick tower, the tower is 64.5 meters high, the tower body is seven-story, the tower body is a square cone, formed by the imitation wood structure, from the bottom to the top in proportion to decrease, the tower has a wooden ladder to climb up. Each floor has an arched gate opening on each side, which can be viewed from the railing. The whole building is magnificent, the shape is simple and stable, the proportions are moderately coordinated, the style is solemn and simple, and it is a relatively well-preserved pavilion-style tower. Inside the tower, you can overlook the ancient city of Xi'an. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a landmark building and famous monument of Xi'an City, and is the symbol of the ancient city of Xi'an. Therefore, the central emblem of Xi'an City is painted with this famous ancient pagoda.

　　The Great Ci'en Temple, where the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located, is where the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang specialized in translating and hiding scriptures. Master Xuanzang retrieved the Buddhist scriptures from Tianzhu and presided over the temple affairs at Ci'en Temple, in order to "fear that people will not be often replaced, the scriptures will be lost, and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda will also be fireproof."

　　Difficulty" and properly placed the statue of the relic, it was planned to build a stone pagoda outside the main gate of Ci'en Temple, so it was played in March of the third year of Tang Yonghui (652 AD) with a chart. Emperor Gaozong of Tang, because xuanzang planned a total of 30 meters in height, on the grounds that the project was too large to achieve and did not want the master to work hard, the Enzhun imperial court funded the construction of a five-story brick pagoda in the west courtyard of the temple. This pagoda is named Goose Pagoda, because a smaller Goose Pagoda was later built in Chang'an Jianfu Temple, the Ci'en Temple Pagoda is called the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, and the Pagoda of The Zhifu Temple is called the Little Wild Goose Pagoda, which has been passed down to this day. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda imitates the western region of the blockage slope system, brick surface and earth core, can not be climbed, each floor has relics. Master Xuanzang personally presided over the construction of the tower, which took two years to complete. Due to the turning of the topsoil core, the wind and rain eroded, and the tower gradually collapsed after more than fifty years. During the Chang'an period of Wu Zetian (701-704 AD), Empress Wu Zetian and the princes and nobles, Shi Qian, rebuilt it on the original site and built a new seven-story green brick pagoda (another story is that in 704 AD, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was rebuilt, and the tower was increased to 10 stories. In 931 AD, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was rebuilt in the Post-Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and reduced to seven floors). After the end of the Tang Dynasty, the temple of Ci'en Temple was repeatedly burned by war, and the temple was burned down, and only the Big Wild Goose Pagoda survived alone. In 931 (the second year of Tang Changxing after the fifth dynasty), the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was renovated again. Later, there were several major earthquakes in the Xi'an area, and the top of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda fell and the tower body was shattered. In 1604 (the twenty-third year of the Ming Dynasty Wanli), in maintaining the basic shape of the Tang Dynasty pagoda, a 60 cm thick cladding was completely laid on its appearance, making it wider than before, that is, the shape of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda seen today. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was promulgated by the State Council in 1961 as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. In 1964, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda underwent a renovation and basically maintained its original appearance. Big Wild Goose Pagoda tower base and tower body

　　The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a brick imitation wood structure of a square pavilion-style brick tower, which is composed of a tower base, a tower body and a tower brake, and is now 64.517 meters high. The base of the tower is 4.2 meters high, about 48.7 meters from north to south, and 45.7 meters from east to west; the tower body is square-shaped, the plane is square, the bottom side is 25.5 meters long, the height of the tower is 59.9 meters, and the height of the tower is 4.87 meters. Each floor of the tower is made of green bricks imitating the Tang Dynasty architectural cornices, bucket arches, railings, sandalwood, rafters, rafters and other imitation wood structures, grinding bricks are made of seams, the structure is strict, and the grinding bricks are strong and abnormal. The walls of each floor of the tower are made of brick flat columns and foreheads, and the upper part of the column is equipped with a large bucket, and a brick arch gate hole is opened in the middle of each of the four sides of each floor. The plan inside the tower is also square, with floor slabs on each floor, and escalators can be set up to spiral up to the top of the tower. The first and second floors of multiple square columns are separated into nine bays, the third and fourth floors are seven bays, and the five floors of six, seven and eight are five bays. On the pagoda are displayed Buddha relics, Buddha foot stone carvings, Tang monks to take the sutra footprint stone carvings and so on. On all four sides of the ground floor of the pagoda there are stone gates, and there are exquisite line-carved Buddha statues on the masts, and the west gate frieze is a map of Amitabha Buddha, which is engraved with a magnificent hall. The layout of the picture is rigorous, the lines are strong and smooth, and it is passed down as the handwriting of the Tang Dynasty painter Yan Liben. On both sides of the south gate cave on the ground floor are inlaid with two stone tablets written by the Tang Dynasty calligrapher Chu Suiliang, the "Tang Dynasty Three Tibetan Sacred Religious Orders" written by Tang Taizong Li Shimin and the "Shu Sanzang Sacred Religious Orders" written by Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, which have high artistic value and are known as "Two Holy Three Absolute Monuments".

　　In May 2008, Wang Yarong, director of the Institute of Religion of the Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences, said that the Big Wild Goose Pagoda

　　[1] Like the underground palace under the pagoda of Famen Temple in Shaanxi, there may also be a thousand-year-old underground palace under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an. It is speculated that after Xuanzang returned from India, the treasures he brought back may have been hidden in the underground palace under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. According to historical records, in the nineteenth year of Tang Zhenguan, Xuanzang returned from India to collect sutras, and brought back a large number of Buddha relics, hundreds of Baya Sanskrit scriptures, and eight gold and silver Buddha statues. In order to enshrine and treasure the Buddhist scriptures, gold and silver Buddha statues, relics and other treasures brought back, with the approval of the imperial court, Xuanzang personally presided over the construction of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. But until now, no one knew where the treasures that Xuanzang had brought back were. Wang Yarong believes that there are underground palaces under the ancient pagoda in general, and there are underground palaces under the pagoda of Famen Temple, and there must also be underground palaces hidden under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, but the Underground Palace of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda has not yet been excavated. From this, it is speculated that the underground palace under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is very likely to contain the Buddhist treasures that Xuanzang originally brought back. Xie Shoutao, director of the Xi'an Big Wild Goose Pagoda Depository, said that in 2007, the relevant departments had detected the internal structure of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, and the ground-penetrating radar had detected that there were holes in the underground of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, and these holes should be the underground palace of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

　　Due to man-made destruction and its own structure, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was found to be tilted in 1719 AD. Second, for a long time, especially in the 1960s, the excessive exploitation of groundwater around the Big Wild Goose Pagoda caused the pressure water level to drop significantly, causing a wide range of uneven settlement on the ground and accelerating the tilting and sinking of the ancient tower. By 1985 the tower had tilted 998 mm, and by 1996, the tower had tilted to the northwest by 1010.5 mm, with an average tilt of 1 mm per year. In 1983, the Xi'an Municipal Government listed the "Research on the Tilting Problem of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Its Reinforcement" as a major scientific research project and established a research group. After more than 20 years of comprehensive rectification by the relevant departments in terms of exploration, protection, drainage, anti-seepage, etc., the tilt of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda has obviously tended to be relaxed and stable, and the inclination amount in 2005 was 1001.9 mm.

　　Big Wild Goose Pagoda, is it really related to geese? Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty" records that he heard in India that monks buried geese to build pagodas, explaining the most credible theory of the origin of the wild goose pagodas. Book IX of the Tang Dynasty Records of the Western Regions: IndaraShiluo River and Mountain in the Kingdom of Magadha, there is a goose pagoda, and it is said that the geese have devoted themselves to enlightened Theravada, and perhaps this account is the origin of the name of the wild goose pagoda. Legend has it that a monk in a monastery in the kingdom of Magadha (present-day southern Bihar, India) practiced Theravada Buddhism and ate three pure foods (i.e., goose, deer, and calf meat). One day, a flock of geese flew in the air. A monk saw the geese and said, "Today everyone has nothing to eat, and the bodhisattva should know that we are hungry!" Before the words could be heard, a goose fell to his death in front of the monk, and he was so surprised that he told all the monks in the temple that this was the Buddha of Rulai teaching them. Therefore, at the place where the geese fell, the pagoda was built with a solemn ceremony to bury the geese, and named it the Geese Pagoda. Between 629 and 645 AD, the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang visited the pagoda while studying in India. After returning to China, during the translation of the sutras at Ci'en Temple, in order to store the sutra Buddha statues brought back from India, in 652 AD, a brick pagoda imitating the form of an Indian goose pagoda was built in the west courtyard of Ci'en Temple, which was called a wild goose pagoda. The name continues unchanged to this day.

　　The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is famous for its story of "Tang Monk (Xuanzang) Taking Sutras". The Great Ci'en Temple in front of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda

　　When it comes to Ci'en Temple and big wild goose pagoda, it is natural to think of Xuanzang, a senior monk of the Tang Dynasty, who once presided over temple affairs here, led the Buddhist scripture translation field, and founded a Buddhist sect. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda in the temple was built by him personally. Ci'en Temple is the most famous and magnificent Buddhist temple in Tang Chang'an City, built by imperial edict of the Tang Dynasty, and is a temple built under the auspices of the royal family, with a prominent position and grand scale. He was the first abbot here. This legendary figure is revered as the "Three Tibetan Mages". Xuanzang, a native of Yanshi, Henan, was a famous traveler, translator, and Buddhist scholar in history, Xuanzang traveled west from Chang'an in 628 AD, through difficulties and obstacles to reach India, received careful guidance from the Jiexian Master, returned to China in 645 AD, and the imperial court held an unprecedented grand ceremony at Ci'en Temple. Xuanzang brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures and translated 74 Buddhist scriptures in Hongfu Temple, Ci'en Temple, Yuhua Temple, etc., with a total of 1335 volumes, with the most translated books and the most refined translations among the four major translators of Chinese Buddhism. At the behest of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Xuanzang dictated and his disciples recorded the history, mountain and river transportation, folk customs, property climate, political culture, and religious beliefs of the 110 cities he experienced during his 17-year journey and the rumored history of 28 regions and countries, into 12 volumes of the Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, leaving a precious cultural heritage for future generations. Since the Tang Dynasty, he has braved difficulties and ruled out the 9981 difficulties to go to the Western Heavens to learn the scriptures, and the story has been widely circulated. On this basis, the Ming Dynasty novelist Wu Cheng'en wrote one of the four major novels of ancient China, Journey to the West.

　　Many famous poets of the Tang Dynasty who climbed the Big Wild Goose Pagoda left behind good sentences that have been recited to this day, such as Du Fu's "High standards cross the firmament, and the fierce wind is endless"; Zhang Bayuan's "But strange birds fly flat on the ground, and they are in the air with amazing words". In particular, the Tang Dynasty poet Cen Shan's "Floating Map of the Ci'en Temple with Gao Shi and Xue Zhao": "The tower is like gushing out, towering over the Heavenly Palace; ascending out of the world, the Dao Pan is empty." Suddenly suppressing the divine state, the crest is like a ghost worker; the four corners hinder the day, and the seven layers of the sky are firm. Peeping down to the tall birds, listening to the wind, the mountains are like waves, rushing to the east. Qinghuai Jia Chi Dao, Palace Hall He Linglong; Autumn Colors come from the west, and the sky is full of Guanzhong. The Five Tombs on the North Plain, ancient and green. Pure reason can be enlightened, victorious because of the dream, vows to hang up the crown, feel the infinite resources of the Tao." The poet's imposing descriptions and philosophical exclamations often resonate when people climb the tower. The grandeur of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda can be seen here. As early as the Tang Zhongzong Shenlong year, the inscription of the Wild Goose Pagoda has formed a custom. All the new scholars and the first, first of all, must feast together in qujiang and apricot gardens, and then climb the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and inscribe the pagoda wall as a souvenir. At the age of 27, Bai Juyi became a jinshi and wrote down "The inscription under the Ci'en Pagoda, the Ten Wild Goose Pagodas."

　　The youngest of the seven people" verse; Liu Cang more heroically inscribed "and the first New Year's Election Victory Tour, Apricot Garden First Feast Qu Jiangtou; Zihao Pink Wall Inscription Immortal Book, Willow Color Whispering Jade Building", the title of the Wild Goose Pagoda was mentioned together with Dengxian, which showed that they were full of joy in the spring breeze and regarded the title of the Wild Goose Pagoda as a great honor. Later, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda has formed a scene of "the four walls of the pagoda courtyard hut, all of which are qingxiang inscriptions", but unfortunately, a fire during the Northern Song Dynasty destroyed the precious inscription wall.

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