The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located in Xi'an, China. It was originally constructed in 652 AD by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang to house Buddhist scriptures and statues. Over the centuries it underwent several reconstructions and now stands at 64.5 meters tall. It provides an iconic example of the blending of Indian Buddhist architecture with Chinese styles. The pagoda and surrounding area are protected as an important cultural site.

1. G
Da-Yan Tower
eographic location:Inside the Daci’en Temple,
Yanta District, Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province
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Famous scenery:Big Wild Goose Pagoda Ruins Park,
Xuanzang Three-Tibet
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The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located in the Dacien Temple of
Jinchang Square (now in the south of Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province) in
Tang Chang’an City. It is also known as the “Cien Temple Tower”. In
the third year of Tang Yonghui (652), Xuanzang hosted the
construction of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda for the preservation of the
Buddha statues brought back to Chang’an by the Silk Road. The first
five floors were added to the nine floors, and then the number of
layers and heights were counted. The change was finally fixed to the
seven-story tower that I saw today, with a height of 64.517 meters
and a base length of 25.5 meters.
As the earliest and largest Tang Dynasty square brick tower, the Big
Wild Goose Pagoda is a typical form of the ancient Indian Buddhist
temple, which was introduced into the Central Plains with Buddhism
and integrated into the Chinese culture. It is a combination of ancient
Chinese working people. The iconic building of wisdom.
On March 4, 1961, the State Council announced that the Big Wild
Goose Pagoda was the first batch of national key cultural relics
protection units. On June 22, 2014, at the 38th World Heritage
Committee meeting in Doha, Qatar, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was
the “Silk Road: Changan-Tianshan Corridor” as a joint application of
China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A site in the Road Network was
successfully included in the World Heritage List.

3. Historical evolution
In the temple building tower
In the third year of Tang Yonghui (652), Master Xuan Zang built a
five-story brick tower in the West Tower of Chang’an Ci’en Temple
for the worship of Buddha statues, relics and Sanskrit classics
brought back from Tianzhu. The Famen Temple of Baoji is opposite to
the tower building temple. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is built by the
temple.
During the Northern Weidao Emperor Wudi, the Jingjue Temple was
built here, and Emperor Wendi built the Wushui Temple at the site of
the Jingjue Temple. In the 22nd year of Tang Zhenguan (648 years),
Li Zhi, the prince of the prince, prayed for his mother, Wende
Empress (that is, Chang Sunshi), to pray for the blessing, to repay the
mother-in-law, and to ask the Taizong to build the Buddhist temple
and give it the name “Cien Temple.” At the beginning of the temple,
he invited Gao Song Xuan Zang to take the seat of the mage. Xuanzang
founded the Mahayana Buddhism Law (according to the relative truth
(phase) and absolute truth (sex) of all things (law), and because of
Emphasizing that there is no need for extraterritorial independence,
also known as the literary sect. Since the founder Xuanzang and his
disciples often lived in the Ci’en Temple, it is also known as Ci
Enzong. This temple has become a holy place for Chinese Mahayana
Buddhism. In the first year of Tang Xianqing (656), Tang Gaozong’s
royal book, “The Monument to the Great Ci’en Temple”, was named
“Daci En Temple”. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located in the Ci’en
Temple, hence the name “Cien Temple Tower”.
The Dacien Temple where the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located is the
place where Xuanzang specializes in translation and Tibetan
scriptures. Master Xuan Zang presided over the temple in Ci’en
Temple. He wanted to properly install the relics like the relics. He
hoped to properly build a stone tower outside the main entrance of
the Ci’en Temple in Tang Yonghui for three years. 652) The March
drawing was played. Because Xuan Zang’s plan for the height of the

4. Futu (stupa) is 30 feet high, Tang Gaozong is difficult to achieve
because of the great project, and he is unwilling to work hard on the
ground. The imperial court subsidized the construction of a five-story
brick tower in the Temple West.
The newly built Buddhist Pagoda is a small wild goose pagoda built in
Chang’an Jianfu Temple. Therefore, the Ci’en Temple Tower is also
known as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The Jianfu Temple Tower is
called the Small Wild Goose Pagoda and has been passed down to this
day. The original Big Wild Goose Pagoda is shaped like a western-
style sloping slope, with bricks and soils that cannot be climbed, and
each floor is relic. Master Xuan Zang personally presided over the
construction of the tower, which took two years to complete.
In addition to the Sanskrit scriptures of the Bedolo leaves retrieved
from Tianzhu, there are more than 10,000 relics in the Big Wild
Goose Pagoda.
Five alterations
the first time:
The original architectural design of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a
mimic of India’s famous and unique ritual tower, the Buddha Gaya
(Daju Tower), which has 5 floors and a height of 60 meters.
the second time:
Later, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi felt that this Indian-style building was

5. somewhat uncoordinated with the overall architectural style of
Chang’an City, so it was rebuilt and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was
raised to the 9th floor.
the third time:
During the Chang’an period (701-704), the court also carried out the
third construction of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Wu Zetian broke the
practice of the positive odd-numbered heights that had been formed
in the Tang Dynasty Buddhist pagoda, and increased the height of the
Big Wild Goose Pagoda to an even 10th floor. (In addition, Wu Zetian
and Wang Gong nobles donated money to rebuild on the original site,
and built a new seven-story brick tower.)
the fourth time:
After the Five Dynasties, Tang Changxing two years (931 years), the
Tang Dynasty Dynasty carried out the fourth reconstruction of the Big
Wild Goose Pagoda, and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was restored to
the seventh floor. Later, several major earthquakes occurred in Xi’an,
and the tower top of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda shook and the tower
shattered.
the fifth time:
In the 32nd year of Ming Wanli (1604), the Big Wild Goose Pagoda
was repaired for the fifth time. This is a major repair and
reinforcement project. On the basis of maintaining the basic shape of
the tower body of the Tang Dynasty, the outer surface was completely
covered with a 60 cm thick cladding. The tower is 64.5 meters high
and the tower base is 25 meters long and covers an area of 2061
square meters. This is the big wild goose pagoda seen today.

6. Building pattern
Building structure
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a square-shaped pavilion-type tower
with brick-like wood structure. It consists of three parts: tower base,
tower body and tower brake. The whole tower is 64.7 meters high,
the tower base is 4.2 meters high, the north and south length is about
48.7 meters, and the east and west length is about 45.7 meters. The
bottom of the tower body is 25.5 meters long and has a square cone
shape; the tower brake height is 4.87 meters. There are 9 in the 1st
and 2nd floors, 7 in the 3rd and 4th floors, and 5 in the 5th, 6th, 7th
and 8th floors, each with four sides.
Yanta Palace
In May 2008, Wang Yarong, director of the Institute of Religious
Studies of the Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said
that like the underground palace under the pagoda of Famen Temple,
there may be a thousand-year underground palace under the Xi’an Big
Wild Goose Pagoda. It is speculated that after Xuanzang returned
from India, the treasures brought back may be hidden in the
underground palace under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
According to historical records, in the 19th year of Tang Zhenguan
(645), Xuanzang returned from India and brought back a large

7. number of Buddha relics, hundreds of Bayein Sanskrit scriptures and
eight gold and silver Buddha statues. In order to enshrine and collect
the Buddhist scriptures, gold and silver Buddha statues, relics and
other treasures brought back by the court, Xuanzang personally
presided over the construction of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. But the
treasures that Xuan Zang brought back to the present are in the end,
but no one knows.
Wang Yarong believes that there is a underground palace under the
general conditions of the ancient pagoda. Like the underground
palace under the pagoda of Famen Temple, the underground of the
Big Wild Goose Pagoda must also have a underground palace, but the
Big Wild Goose Pagoda has not yet been discovered. It is speculated
that the underground palace under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is
likely to contain Buddhist treasures that Xuanzang brought back.
Xie Shoutao, director of the Xi’an Big Wild Goose Pagoda, said that in
2007, the relevant departments had probed the internal structure of
the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The ground penetrating radar had
detected holes in the underground of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
These holes should be the underground palace of the Big Wild Goose
Pagoda.

8. Cultural relics
Tower
There are stone gates on the base of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. There
are beautiful lined Buddha statues and brick carvings on the door
frame. On the bottom of the south gate, the stone is embedded on
both sides, and the west is written from right to left. The poem
written by Tang Taizong Li Shimin and the great calligrapher of the
book, the book of the Great Tang Dynasty, is written in the book. It is
written from left to right, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi’s author, and Yan
Liang’s handwritten book, “The Data Book of the Three Tangs of the
Tang Dynasty”, known as the “two holy three monuments.” The
specifications of the two monuments are the same. The head of the
monument is the head of the skull. The two sides of the monument
have obvious points. The trapezoid is narrow and wide (this is the
typical shape of the Tang monument). The monument is a square
monument with a line engraved pattern. The height is 337.5 cm, the
width of the monument is 86 cm, and the width is 100 cm. The
inscription highly praises Xuan Zang Master for learning the Western
Heaven, promoting the historical achievements and extraordinary
spirit of the Dharma, and the world is called “The Wild Goose
Church”.
These two monuments were erected by Xuanzang in the fourth year
of Tang Gaozong Yonghui (653 years) and have been preserved so far.
It is an important cultural relic of studying calligraphy, painting and
sculpture in the Tang Dynasty. It is worth mentioning that the Tang
Dynasty painter Wu Daozi, the great poet Wang Wei and others have
made many murals for the Ci En Temple, but unfortunately it has long
been lost in history. However, on the stone gates and door frames of
the four-door cave under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, there is still a
beautiful Tang Dynasty line depiction. In addition, the Xuan Zang
negative map and the Xuanzang translation map are embedded on
both sides of the ticket hole of the South Gate.

9. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was once the title of the Tang Dynasty’s
new middle school scholar, namely the name of the famous Yanta
Eight Scenic Spot. But unfortunately, the name of Yanta has not been
seen. The reason is that Li Deyu, the prime minister of Tang Wuzong,
was not a scholar. He was deeply jealous of the scholars and ordered
to cancel Qujiang’s drinking, and he would “discard the title”.
The new scholars of the Tang Dynasty were all named in the Big Wild
Goose Pagoda, so that the later generations of the “Yanta Title” were
called the Jinshi and the first. There are a large number of
inscriptions in the past dynasties. In the Ming and Qing dynasties,
there were more than 200 pass-throughs for the names of the geese
that were left in the Tang Dynasty.
Relic
Tang Gaozong Yonghui three years (652 years), Master Xuan Zang
built the Great Wild Goose Pagoda for the storage of the image, relic,
how many relics Xuan Zang Master brought back, recorded in the
“Mage Biography” is only 150 meat relics and one The name of the
bone relic, the specific number is not stated. In the same book
describing the repairing tower section, it shows that “there are relics
in the center of the layer, or one thousand, two thousand, and more
than 10,000 grains.” After the Chang’an rebuilt the big wild goose

10. pagoda, how to deal with the original relic in the tower, There are no
detailed historical records.
The Buddha relics on the Big Wild Goose Pagoda are now donated by
friends. On June 10, 1998, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda hosted the abbot
of the Xuanzang Temple in India and the Indian overseas Chinese
high-ranking Shi Wuqian Master. The original origin of the Master
was from Xianyang, Shaanxi. He was born in his early childhood and
in the early 1940s, he used Xuanzang as a model. Go to India to seek
law and be a abbot at the Xuanzang Temple in India. On the same day,
he took out a red paper bag with the golden “One Buddha” and the
lotus pattern, with two precious Buddha relics (a diameter of 3.5 mm
and a diameter of 1.5 mm). Gifted to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. In
order to make up for the shortcomings of the mystery of the Giant
Goose Pagoda, let more people look at the Buddha’s relic and display
the Buddha’s treasure on the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
Bayeux
Among the relics preserved in the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the most
noteworthy number is the Bayeux, which is written on the leaves of
Bedolo. Since there is no paper in ancient India, the writing is often
replaced by Bayeux. The 657 true scriptures that Xuanzang retrieved
along the ancient Silk Road are Bayeux. The four-story tower of the
Big Wild Goose Pagoda enshrines two bay leaves with a length of
about 40 cm and a width of about 7 cm. It is engraved with dense

11. Sanskrit. It is said that there are fewer than 10 scholars who know
the word in the world, which is very rare.
Cultural relic protection
On March 4, 1961, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was announced by the
State Council as the first batch of national key cultural relics
protection units.
In 1964, after a renovation, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda basically
maintained its original appearance. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was
found to have tilted in 1719 due to repeated human damage and its
own structure. After more than 20 years of comprehensive
rectification by the relevant departments, the slope of the Big Wild
Goose Pagoda has obviously eased and stabilized. In 2005, the amount
of tilt was 1001.9 mm.
Since 2009, the government has implemented a well-sealing and
recharge of groundwater to protect the ancient culture of the Big Wild
Goose Pagoda and accelerate the recovery of the groundwater level.
Six groundwater recharge demonstration sites have been built in the
city. I hope that this will raise the groundwater level as soon as
possible and gradually “righteous” the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Xi’an
City injected about 1200 tons of water into the ground every day, and
the Big Wild Goose Pagoda has gradually returned.
In 2011, the Xi’an Municipal Government approved the
implementation of the “Strictly Strict Water Resources Management

12. System Work Plan in Xi’an”, which requires strict management of
groundwater development and utilization. 2215 eyes of various self-
prepared wells have been closed, and the depth, mining volume and
mining time of new mining wells have been strictly limited, and
groundwater recharge has been carried out in the groundwater over-
exploitation area of the city to speed up the restoration of
groundwater environment. The data of each monitoring well showed
that the maximum depth of the groundwater level in the recharge
area was 2.1 meters, and the inclined big geese tower had been
restrained, and the “retrograde correction” no longer continued to
tilt.
On April 1, 2013, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
approved the “Request for the Application of the Big Wild Goose
Pagoda” (Shaanxi Wenzi [2013] No. 20), and agreed in principle to
the second plan.
On June 22, 2014, at the 38th World Heritage Committee meeting in
Doha, Qatar, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was the “Silk Road: Changan-
Tianshan Corridor” as a joint application of China, Kazakhstan and
Kyrgyzstan. A site in the road network was successfully included in
the World Heritage List.
On April 18, 2015, the 50th anniversary of the International Council of
Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the theme of this year’s “4·18”
International Monuments and Sites was “Commemorating the 50th
Anniversary of the Founding of the International Council of
Monuments and Sites”, calling on countries to enrich The colorful
activities promote the concept and contribution of ICOMOS in the
protection of international cultural heritage sites. The International
Monument and Heritage Site Xi’an International Protection Center
(IICCX), as ICOMOS’s business center in Xi’an, actively responded to
the call of ICOMOS, focusing on the theme of “Commemorating the
50th Anniversary of the International Council of Monuments and
Sites”, in the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Xiaoyan The tower and
Dahua Spinning Mill launched a series of activities to promote the
promotion of cultural heritage.

13. Travel Information
Address: Daci’en Temple, Yanta District, Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province
Opening hours: 09:00-17:00 (daily)
Tickets: Big Wild Goose Pagoda 25 yuan / person, off-season 20 yuan
/ person
Transportation: Bus 5, 21, 22, 23, 27, 30, 41, 224, 320, 401, 500, 501,
527, 601, 606, 609, 715, etc.
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