Hello, tourists!
When you see this Tang Dynasty building in front of you, you must be bothsurprised and curious. First of all, why is this tower named after geese
According to Indian Buddhist legend, there were two schools of Buddhism,Mahayana and Hinayana, and Hinayana Buddhism did not avoid meat and fishiness.One day, it was Bodhisattva giving day, but a monk in a Hinayana Temple couldn'tbuy meat for dinner. At this time, a group of geese flew by in the sky. A monklooked at the geese and said to himself, "today there is no meat in the house.The merciful Bodhisattva must not forget what day it is." Before the voice fell,the leading goose folded its wings and fell to the ground. So the monks in thetemple were shocked and thought that it must be the manifestation ofBodhisattva. They built a stone pagoda at the site where the wild geese fell.They gave up meat and turned to Mahayana Buddhism. Therefore, the pagoda is alsoknown as the big wild goose pagoda.
The Dayan Pagoda is 60 meters high, 5 stories, brick surface, earth coreand CD ladder. In the center of the rear tower, there are lots of plants andtrees growing in the cracks of bricks, which are gradually decadent. Afterseveral renovations during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian in Chang'an, EmperorXuanzong in Tang Dynasty and Emperor Changxing in later Tang Dynasty, the bigwild goose pagoda was 4.5 meters higher than the original one and added twofloors. Each side of the ground floor is 25 meters long, the base is square, theside length is 45 meters to 48 meters, there are ticket doors on all sides ofeach floor, and there are stairs in the tower. On the lintel of the bottom floorof the pagoda, there are exquisite line carved Buddha statues, especially thepicture of Sakyamuni Buddha on the lintel of the west gate. The photo of theabandoned hall at that time is engraved on it. It is said that it was written byYan Liben, a great painter of the Tang Dynasty. It is a precious material forstudying the Buddhist culture and architectural art of future generations. Thebrick niches on the East and west sides of the South Gate of the pagoda areinlaid with the steles of preface to the three sacred religions of the TangDynasty written by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty and preface tothe three sacred religions of the Tang Dynasty written by Emperor Gaozong Li Zhiof the Tang Dynasty. The two steles were written by Chu suiliang, a famouscalligrapher in the Tang Dynasty. They are the best of the steles in the TangDynasty. They are precious original calligraphic inscriptions protected by thestate. They are important material for the study of ancient calligraphy. It canbe said that the square brick Pagoda with wooden structure is a masterpiece ofBuddhist architecture in China, with its simple shape, majestic momentum,remarkable national characteristics and the style of the times.
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Little wild goose pagoda
The small wild goose pagoda is located in Jianfu temple on the south sideof Youyi Road in Xi'an City, facing the big wild goose pagoda from east to west,which has become two important symbols of Chang'an, the ancient capital of TangDynasty. Because the scale is smaller than the big wild goose pagoda and theconstruction time is later, it is called the small wild goose pagoda.
Jianfu temple was originally built in Kaihua square of Chang'an City inTang Dynasty. It was the old residence of Xiangcheng princess, the daughter ofEmperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty. In the first year of Ruizong Li Li (684), theroyal family's relatives built a temple for Gao Zong. The first year of Tianshu(690) was changed into Jianfu temple, which is a famous temple in Chang'an cityof Tang Dynasty. Yizheng, a famous monk of Tang Dynasty, translated 56scriptures in Jianfu temple and wrote biography of eminent monks seeking Dharmain western regions of Tang Dynasty, which is of great value to the study ofcultural exchanges between China and India.
There is a small wild goose pagoda in the temple. It is a square brickstructure with dense eaves. It has 15 floors at the beginning and is about 46meters high. Each layer of the pagoda has its eaves. It is famous for opening adoor in the north and south. The body of the tower decreases from the bottom tothe bottom layer by layer, and the more it rises, the more it accelerates. It isbeautiful and exquisite, and has a unique style. The door frame is made ofbluestone. The inside of the tower is an empty tube structure with wooden floorsand wooden ladders circling up. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to repeatedearthquakes, the tower cracked in the middle, and the top of the tower wasdestroyed, leaving only 13 floors. Today, there is still a large iron bell inthe temple, which weighs more than 10000 kg and was cast in the third year ofMing Chang (1192) of Jin Dynasty. The bell sounds loud and is known as "themorning bell of the wild goose pagoda", one of the eight scenic spots inGuanzhong.