Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a well-preserved ancient building and a Buddhist pagoda located in southern Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China. Standing in the Da Ci’en Temple, it attracts numerous visitors for its fame in the Buddhist religion, its simple but appealing style of construction and its new square in front of the temple. It is rated as a National Key Cultural Relic Preserves as well as AAAA Tourist Attraction.

It was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty and originally had five stories, although the structure was rebuilt in 704 during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian and its exterior brick facade renovated during the Ming Dynasty. One of the pagoda's many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha that were brought to China from India by the Buddhist translator and traveler Xuanzang.
The Wild Goose Pagoda was finished in 652 A.D. Its five stories are 60 meters in height. The decay of the earth-cored pagoda caused the new construction of a 10-storey pagoda from 701 to 704. However, the winds of war in the years to come reduced the pagoda almost to ruins, which in turn resulted in the construction of a 7-stored, 64-meter-high structure today. The storied pagoda was an architectural marvel. It was built with layers of bricks but without any cement in between. The bracket style in traditional Chinese architecture was also used in the construction of the pagoda. The seams between each layer of bricks and the “prisms’ on each side of the pagoda are clearly visible. The grand body of the pagoda with its solemn appearance, simple style and high structure, is indeed a good example of Chinese traditional architecture.

As for the reason why it is called Big Wild Goose Pagoda, there is a legend. According to ancient stories of Buddhists, there were two branches, for one of which eating meat was not a taboo. One day, they could not find meat to buy. Upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself: Today, we have no meat. I hope the merciful Bodhisattva will give us some. At that moment, the leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that Bodhisattva showed his spirit to order them to be more pious. They established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat. Hence it got the name.