Big Wild Goose Pagoda
For more information please visit the website of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian here
Background information
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the renowned oldest extant ancient architecture in Xi'an, is situated in Da Ci'en Temple, an ancient temple in the southern suburb of Xi'an with a history of thousands of years. This square cone-shaped, wood-like pagoda build with bricks joined layer upon lay, looks simple and magnificent with distinctive national features and the style of Tang Dynasty. It is the masterpiece of the Buddhist architecture.
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The historical record shows that in the 3 rd year of the Reign of Yonghui (652AD), the accomplished monk Master Xuan Zang pleaded with emperor Gao Zong with a design of the pagoda for the permission to build a stone pagoda in front of Duanmen Gate of the temple to house the Buddhist scriptures, statues, and relics so as to reveal the grandeur of Buddhism and the power of Tang Dynasty. Gao Zong gave the permission to build a five-story brick pagoda only with the excuse that he did not want to toil Master Xuan Zang with that big project. As a result, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built in the west courtyard of Da Ci'en Temple. The construction began in March that year and was completed in two years. Master Xuan Zang not only supervised the construction but also carried bricks and earth himself during the construction.
When the pagoda wad first built, it was a five storey, 180-feet-high earthen pagoda coated with bricks without staircases. However owing to the destruction from the weed growing wildly out of the seams between the bricks, it went to decadence gradually. After the restorations in the Reign of Chan' an by Wu Zetian, and in Later Tang, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the present 64.7-meter-high pagoda has a base which is 4.2 meters high, 45.7 meters from east to west and 48.7 meters from south to north. The square cone-shaped wood-like brick pagoda with seven stories is the typical brick pagoda of ancient tower-styled pagodas in the country.
Buddhist Relics
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is closely associated to the Buddhist relics. In the third year of the Reign of Yong Hui (652A.D), Master Xuan Zang built this pagoda to house the Buddhist scriptures and the Buddhist relics he brought back from the west. According to THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE MASTER OF BUDDHISM , Master Xuan Zang brought back 150 relics of the flesh and a box of relics of the bone, the number of which was not specified. In the description of the construction of the pagoda in this book, it is said that every story of the pagoda housed about either 1000, or 2000, or 10,000 Buddhist relics at its center. Later during the Reign of Chang'an by Empress Wu Zetian, she had the pagoda reconstructed and the whereabouts of the relics were not mentioned in any of the historical records. In spite of the effort of Master Xuan Zang to get the Buddhist relics to China, whether they were put away somewhere or whether they were lost remains a mystery in the history forever.
Relics (Sheli in Chinese) is the transliteration of"SHE LI LO" or "SHI LI LO" in Sanskrit, meaning "the remains". They were the remains of the cremation of the body of the Buddha after his nirvana. The legend has it that the relics of the Buddha were divided among eight kings. In light of the Buddhist theory, relics were the manifestations of the achievements of the Buddha or other accomplished monks. They were the crystallization of the conversion of religious discipline, cultivation and meditation, and wisdom. Relics are virtually the crystal of the remains after the cremation. They fall into different kinds. The white ones are the relics of the bone. The pinkish ones are the relics of the flesh while the gray ones are the relics of the hair. Relics of bones such as Buddha's teeth, Buddha's skull, and Buddha's fingers are often though to be even more precious, sacred and mysterious.
Where are the Buddhist relics brought back by Master Xuan Zang ? Are they in the underground palace or somewhere in the pagoda? This mystery remains unknown and it might be uncovered one day by the future excavation.
Bus routes:
Take tourist bus No. 6, No. 21, No. 22, No. 24, No. 601, No. 610 or 501, 503 minibuses
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