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| Wild Goose Pagodas tips and photos posted by real travelers and Xi'an locals. • 67 Photos
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The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located in south of Xi'an. It's convenient to visit it, by taxi or by bus.
It was set up in Tang Dynasty, about 1300 years ago. Now it is the symbol of my city, Xi'an, you can find it from postcards. Besides, it's also the famous building in the Buddhist religion.
Do you want to know its history? You know, there are four classical literatures in ancient China. One of it is Go West. One of the roles of it is a monk named Xuanzang. Realistically, it took Xuanzang 17 years to bring back over a thousand volumes of Buddhist materials from India to Xi'an, the capital of China in that time. The emperor ordered to establish a temple and a pagoda for him to store the Buddhist materials. The temple is Daci'en Temple, and the pagoda is the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
On the North Square of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, there is the greatest fountain in Asia. Enjoying it in summer night is good.
If someone wants to know about the real soul of this ancient city, the best choice is visiting the Pagoda under moonlight. I've seen it several times, and every time I'm affected. The yellow moon, the ancient pagoda......
And, if you visit it in the day, walk around the Square, you will see interesting people practicing drawing and calligraphy.
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The topless Small Wild Goose Pagoda has a name which is similar to another pagoda, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. People celebrated its 1300th birthday on 2007/1/1. With the surprising rejuvenation after 70 earthquakes in its life, it’s unfair for it to be ignored by visitors.
The topless look was caused by an earthquake. But why did I mention its rejuvenation? An earthquake split its body in 1487, but another earthquake which happened 34 years later made the crack disappear, so the pagoda recovered. The same miracles happened 3 times.
For me, I prefer the atmosphere here, quiet and comfortable even on hot summer days, compared to the crowds of people at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It’s the best place to relax from chaos outside, to imagine the old stories of the pagoda and the city. Not only do the old buildings attract me here, but also the yard for showing the sculptural stone columns which were put in front of the gate in ancient times. Besides, from 8:00 to 11:30, from 13:30 to 17:00, every half an hour there is a Chinese classical musical performance in a room, just several minutes long. If you are tired, why don’t you stop for a while?
Also, you can visit a new museum-Xi'an Museum, the ticket is included. There are many cultural relic exhibitions, including 3 national treasures.
Price:50(including Xi'an museum) Address: No 76, Youyi West RoadDirections: 3 kilometers from the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, 1 kilometer from the Bell Tower.
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The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is the best known structure inside the Daciensi.
The temple was built in 648, during the reign of Emperor Taizong, by Li Zhi, the heir aparent, who wanted to honour his mother. One of the earliest monks there was Xuan Zhuang, who established the Cien sect of Buddhism here as the first home in China of Mahayana Buddhism. The Cien sect is also known as the Faxiang or Weishi sect. The temple though was not actually called Daciensi until eight years later, when Emperoro Gaozong came to power.
Only the western part of the temple remains, as the rest was destroyed at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the buildings are mainly Qing. In recent years, however, an influx of money, presumably from benefactors in Taiwan, has resulted in some fine new buildings at the north end of the temple.
In its time though, the temple was the pre-eminent temple in China, as Xuan Zhuang was so well-known.
The collection of gilded buddhas in the daxiongbaodian is particularly impressive, dating from 1466 during the Ming Dynasty.
The temple complex is spacious and welcoming, and more relaxing than many in other cities. It is a pity that the temple has been symbolically relegated to the overwhelming presence of its pagoda, but the recent construction, so often a disaster in China, is in this case likely to highlight the role and importance of the Daciensi. Leave a Comment
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This is the small goose pagoda, located just outside (5Y by taxi) the city walls.
Nice building dating from 684 A.D. It is possible to climb it up to the top to watch the view (but I really do not recommend that, there is nothing special with the view and the crowded little space available at the top does not worth the pain).
Entrance fee is about 15Y/person. Leave a Comment Address: Youyi Xilu
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The monk Xuanzang travelled to India upon where he came upon a group of monks. According to the monks, they claimed they were once experiencing a time of famine, so they prayed to Buddha for a sign. All of a sudden, a flock of geese flew overhead, and the head goose was struck down suddenly, dead. And so, the monk Xuanzang returned to Xi'an with Sutras and this story. This pagoda was built in honor of the dead goose. Hence the name Wild Goose Pagoda.
There is a separate fee to climb to the top of the pagoda. Leave a Comment Address: Yanta Lu
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In my opinion, the Big Wild Goose pagoda was a good visit, but the Xiaoyan (Small Wild Goose) Pagoda was much better. Less people and better scenery in my opinion. Since everyone else commented on the history of the pagodas, I won't bother boring you with more.
One thing I did not see any comments on were the small horse stakes at the Small Wild Goose Pagoda. Set of on the side yard is a large variety of these ancient stakes taken from the provicial area.
Historically made with a native animal on the top, each one has a folk tale to go along with them. Functionally used to tie horses, many communities let them stand for many generations after for decorations.
(for a better sampling of these stakes, visit the Forest of Stones museum) Directions: The Large Wild Goose Pagoda is in the south on Yuntu st. Take a taxi or bus No.5, 19, 21, 610. Small pagoda is ~3 blocks north and ~2 west of the Large pagoda.
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In fact in Xi'an you can find two "Wild Goose Pagodes"
The little and the great one - want to know the difference ?
The great pagode (Da Yan Ta) counts 7 floors and is located 4km outside Xi'an.
It was a wish of the famous monk Zhuang to erect this pagode after his travelling period in India.
The legend is telling that this pagode is called wild goose because some monks were praying, many centuries ago for food.They were starving and their prayings made a wild goose falling down from heaven - On this spot the pagode was erected and called.......
The little goose pagode (Xiao Yan Ta) counts 13 floors !!! Was erected in the 8th century and is located about 1km south Xi'an and is a reflection of the famous Jianfu temple Leave a Comment
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It was built by Master Xuan Zang around 652 AD during the Tang Dynastyafter he had travelled to India via the Silk Road. It was at this temple that he translated the Buddhist scriptures he had obtained in India into Chinese.
The temple itself contains a Tang Dynasty buildings chart and traces the monk’s journey through India and Burma. The pagoda has been reconstructed many times over the centuries. Today it is a 7 storeyed, 64 metre structure with four arched doors in each direction of every storey.
There are stairs leading up to the top floor and visitors can have a bird’s eye view of the whole city.
Tickets are 20 Yuan with another 20 Yuan to climb up the pagoda. Directions: This is situated south of Yanta Road.
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The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located within the compound of Temple of Da Ci'en.
The full story about how's the pagoda come into existing can be found from some other VTers' pages. I personally don’t want to write too lengthily about it.
Da Ci'en is also known as the best-preserved temple complex in Xi'an, it was initially built in 589 and was named as Wulou Temple. In AD 647 of the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhi ordered to rebuild this temple in memory of his late mother, Empress Wende. The temple subsequently gained its present name Da Ci'en Temple. Daxiongbaodian is the main hall of the temple, there is also a small bell tower from which a bell, which was used for telling time to the. Leave a Comment
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This pagoda is 64metres tall and has seven stories, the original pagoda was built in 652ad to house Buddhist scripts from India.
If you go early morning you will see people practicing Tai Chi in the grounds, and join in if you are able.
also in the grounds is a huge bell, which is rung by swinging a large piece of wood at it Leave a Comment
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