The Big and Small Wild Goose Pagodas in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province are the best-preserved ancient pagodas from the Tang Dynasty in my country. They are quite famous not only in our country but also in the world.
Big Wild Goose Pagoda
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located in Daci'en Temple in the southern suburbs of Xi'an. It is one of the famous Buddhist pagodas in my country.
In order to invite Master Xuanzang, who was well-known at that time, to serve as the abbot of Daci'en Temple, the Tang Dynasty specially ordered the construction of a scripture translation hall in the temple. In 652 AD, Xuanzang petitioned to build a pagoda in Ci'en Temple to preserve Buddhist scriptures and statues brought back from India, and he readily agreed.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a pavilion-style brick tower. Its characteristics are: the brick structure reflects the Dougong style of the wooden structure. "Prisms" appear on the brick wall, clearly distinguishing the wall bays. These are traditional architectural art forms unique to China. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is tall, solid in structure and solemn, simple and generous in appearance, which fully reflects the wisdom and talents of the working people in ancient my country.
Small Wild Goose Pagoda
In Jianfu Temple, 1 km south of Xi'an City, there is a typical dense eaves style pagoda - Small Wild Goose Pagoda.
The Small Wild Goose Pagoda was built in 707 AD. It has 15 levels and is about 45 meters high. According to legend, in order to preserve the Buddhist scriptures brought back from India, Master Yijing requested the imperial court to fund the construction of the Jianfu Temple Pagoda. Emperor Li Xian was extremely cowardly and relied on the queen to make the decision in everything. After the queen learned about this, she ordered the concubines, maids, and colorful girls in the harem to donate money to build the pagoda. Palace
People rushed to donate generously. The money donated to build this tower has not been used up yet.
In the long years, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda still has a history of "spiritual harmony"! In 1487 AD, a magnitude 6 earthquake occurred in Shaanxi, which cracked a crack more than a foot wide in the middle of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda from top to bottom. However, 34 years later, during another major earthquake in 1521, the cracks closed again overnight. People were puzzled and called the closing of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda "Shenhe". In September 1555, a young Beijing official named Wang He stayed at the Small Wild Goose Pagoda on his way back to his hometown. After listening to this strange story told by monk Kan Guang who had witnessed this "spiritual union", he was extremely surprised and carved this historical material on the lintel of the north gate of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda. When the Small Wild Goose Pagoda was restored after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was discovered that it was not a "divine combination" but a "human combination". It turns out that ancient craftsmen specially built the base of the pagoda into a semicircular sphere with rammed earth based on Xi'an's geological conditions. After an earthquake, the pressure is evenly distributed. In this way, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda is like a "roly-poly" and still stands tall despite more than 70 earthquakes. This cannot help but impress the superb construction skills of ancient Chinese craftsmen!