The Great Wild Goose Pagoda is a unique architecture from the Tang Dynasty. An evening walk at the Wild Goose Pagoda For those who are too lazy to surf the Internet themselves, we present a selection of materials from “traditional” sources

Walk at the Great Wild Goose Pagoda and at the Qien Temple. The pagoda is ancient, especially by our standards - 652 AD (we simply do not have such old buildings preserved), I will write about it in detail below. It is located 4 kilometers from the center of Xi'an, and is one of the main landmarks of the city. There is a park with endless shopping and restaurant pavilions all around.

It’s not so easy to get to the pagoda))) everything is dug up - construction. I had to walk along the fence until a bridge across the road appeared.

The road to the Pagoda lies through the pavilions... and everything, like everywhere else in China, is on a grand scale. The pavilions are large, the roads are long...

Construction doesn't end. There will probably be underground parking. Or a store with underground floors.

All the shops and pavilions here are in Chinese style.

There are many different gates of immeasurable size here,

The Pagoda appeared.

There is quite a spacious place and a lot of fountains. In the evening there is a performance of "singing fountains".

Here is the Wild Goose Pagoda.

There are several alternative versions of why the pagoda was named so originally. According to the first, a flock of large wild geese flew past this place and one of them fell from the sky and died. The monks wanted to eat it, but then they decided that suddenly the dead goose was Buddha himself. And he checks them. They buried the bird with honors, and erected a pagoda on the site, ~~as a monument to human stupidity~~, which was called the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

And the second version connects him with Buddha, who, while in these places, experienced a desire to feast on the meat of wild geese, but managed to overcome it. And in honor of such a rare event for him, a Pagoda was erected here. I was strong... I would not have been able to cope with the temptation...

According to the third version, Xuan Zang got lost in the desert and was dying of thirst, but a flock of wild geese showed him the way to the oasis, which circled him 3 times and flew to the source. Returning to China, he built a pagoda named after his saviors.

The park is decorated with monuments of outstanding Chinese poets, thinkers, artists, and scientists.

It's nice to relax here and admire the surrounding ancient architecture. There are also many newly made sculptures that tourists happily vandalize.

There was a whole line of people waiting to take pictures with this monk. And what they didn’t do with his sword and fingers... it’s even embarrassing to tell. And they sucked and licked and climbed on top...)))

This is for happiness, which is fleeting, like drying water...

The video is playing on the ceiling. There are relics from the Big Goose Pagoda and various other things...

The pagoda is located on Yanta Liu Street. Entrance to the territory is paid. It is quite expensive - about 300 rubles. And to go up to the pagoda is another 20 yuan, i.e. 200 rub.

The pagoda was built in 652 AD, under the direction of the temple's first abbot, Xuan Zhang. The emperor who built the Great Pagoda was not Chinese himself. He came from the Toba steppe people, who were assimilated by the Chinese. It was the origin of the Tang emperors that gave China a powerful impetus for development, because now they had excellent relations with the steppe peoples.

The Tang era is the age of the peak of the power of the emperors of China, when their decrees were carried out in the space from the Yellow Sea to the Caspian Sea. The zone of their cultural, economic and political influence included the territory of modern Kazakhstan in the west, Thailand and Vietnam in the south, and Primorsky Krai and Korea in the north.

Nearby there is also the Small Wild Goose Pagoda (Xiaoyanta), which is lower and located two kilometers south of the South Gate, away from the wide Yuisilu Street.

The large pagoda was built from bricks, each of which was individually shaped before being laid to ensure a perfect fit. Each successive tier of the pagoda is smaller than the previous one, and each floor is marked by several rows of prism-shaped bricks.

Wild Goose Pagoda was built to house texts and artifacts brought back by explorer Xuan Zhang. Xuan Zhang visited 100 countries besides India and studied with the best masters of Buddhism. He spent 17 years in India. His translations of Buddhist texts into Chinese amounted to 1,335 volumes. In addition to the translated texts, he managed to collect and transport many Buddhist treatises (a bunch of Buddha statues, more than 600 sacred texts (sutras) and several ~~stale~~ relics). Why the stolen relics? Because, in my understanding, if they give away a relic themselves, it was not a relic)) Some historians believe that it was he who discovered the Chinese Buddhist faith.

Ancient Sanskrit manuscript

The temple contains two rare steles signed by the emperors of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The steles were placed here more than 1200 years ago.

The temple complex, which houses the large Wild Goose Pagoda, includes beautiful gardens and marvelous architectural buildings. Although many of them were destroyed several times, they were later restored to their original appearance. The buildings are made of gray brick, with glazed roofs.

The temple complex is filled with ancient artifacts. Hidden from public view, the forest of stupas (grave stones) is where prominent monks are buried.

There is also the Buddha “Di Tsang Wang Pusa” with a rod in front of a naked child, which is especially worshiped by women))) but I didn’t find it, I read about it later)))

You can climb the pagoda, but we didn’t get there, everything was already closing.

Previously, the Da Xing Shan Si Monastery was home to 5 thousand monks who professed five schools of Buddhism. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is convenient for tourists to visit. It’s better to go to her in the evening, because... when it gets dark there is a fountain show.

Initially the tower consisted of five tiers. In 704, Empress Wu ordered the pagoda to be built with five more tiers.

The city of Xi'an is one of the main strongholds of culture in China; in addition, it served as the capital of the state for more than 13 dynasties. At the moment, the history of the city goes back about 3 thousand years and for some period of time it was the largest city in the world. As you already understand, this is one of the most interesting cities in China in terms of tourism, and in this article we will talk about one of its attractions - the large wild goose pagoda

This pagoda was built in Xi'an during its capital period during the Tang Dynasty. The main material used in construction is brick. Indian architecture had a strong influence on the plan of the pagoda.

The exact date of construction of the Big Goose Pagoda is 652; the original building included 5 tiers, each of which contained Buddhist statues. A few decades later, the Empress issued an order to complete the construction of 5 more tiers. Over the centuries, many wars and battles took place here, from which the upper tiers were partially damaged. They were subsequently demolished

Nowadays, the Pagoda consists of 7 tiers, and its height is 64 meters. From the top of the pagoda there is a magnificent view of the entire ancient city of Xi'an, which is also rich in many other attractions, such as the Temple of Motherly Love, many monasteries, the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and many others.

Detailed information about the city and its attractions is available on the Xianinfo website. Xi'an is an interweaving of an amazing centuries-old history and beautiful architectural monuments

Pagodas and stupas are not built just like that. They are installed specifically to store Buddhist relics. In our case, the Wild Goose Pagoda was built as a repository for texts and artifacts brought from India by the traveler Xuanzang.

He traveled for 17 years, visited 100 countries and studied with the best masters in India. From there he brought back many Buddha statues, more than 600 sacred texts (sutras) and several relics.

The pagoda became not only an important place of pilgrimage, but also a scientific center where texts were translated from Sanskrit into Chinese. The Wild Goose Pagoda made an invaluable contribution and gave a gigantic impetus to the development of the philosophy of Buddhism in China.

A little history

This tower was built under the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty. We understand that the names of Chinese dynasties mean nothing to most readers, so we will tell you a little about this era.

The first unification of China by the ruler Qin Shi Huang took place in 220 BC. It was Xi'an that was the capital of the empire, and the mausoleum with the body of the first emperor is located here. After his reign, the Han dynasty reigned in China, which ruled for another 420 years. In the next 400 years, there was little good in the history of China - the period of the Three Kingdoms and the invasion of nomads. And only in 581 a new unification of all of China took place under the central authority of the Sui dynasty, which, however, ruled for only 37 years, and was already replaced by the Tang dynasty.

The most interesting thing is that the emperor who built the Great Wild Goose Pagoda was not Chinese himself. He came from the Toba steppe people, who were assimilated by the Chinese. It was the origin of the Tang emperors that gave China a powerful impetus for development, because now they had excellent relations with the steppe peoples.

This period is poorly known to representatives of Western civilization. Perhaps the only reference to it is the animated film Mulan (the poster in the picture on the right). The action of this cartoon takes place on the eve of the Tang Dynasty.

It was during this period in 652 that the traveler and philosopher Xuanzan asked the emperor to build this pagoda to store the texts and relics he brought from India. The ruler gave his consent, and the first version of the Wild Goose Pagoda, 54 meters high and 5 floors, was built.

The pagoda stood for 50 years and fell apart. This happened already during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian. She was very supportive of Buddhism and rebuilt the Wild Goose Pagoda, but in the form of a 10-story building.

So the pagoda stood until 1556, when a serious earthquake occurred in this area of China, severely damaging the structure. The top three floors had to be removed. This is how the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, 7 stories high, which we see now in Xi’an, appeared. Since then it has only been renovated, and the last repair was made in 1964.

And here we are in Xi'an. We are greeted by a new guide - Nastya, a giggly, cheerful girl in a short pleated skirt.

Xi'an is another giant city, and it seems that we are already beginning to get used to the Chinese scale and calmly look at the blocks of skyscrapers, multi-story interchanges, and wide avenues stretching into the distance.

The city has 36 universities for 9 million inhabitants. There are many scientific institutes and high-tech industries here, in particular in the space sector. The “science-oriented” nature of the city is immediately felt - on the streets there are a large number of young people with intelligent, smart faces.

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Xi'an (formerly Chang'an) has a long and proud history of 3,100 years. Of these, for more than a thousand years, during 13 imperial dynasties, it was the capital of the country. The core of the ancient city is surrounded by a perfectly preserved fortress wall dating back six centuries, considered the largest city wall in the world. Indeed, it is an impressive gray brick structure with massive towers and entrance gates.

Behind the walls, the original orthogonal layout has been preserved. In the center is the heavy, bulky Bell Tower. As usual, it is accompanied by the Drum Tower - it stands on the edge of the square, and behind it is the Muslim quarter with an 8th-century mosque. Since the Great Silk Road began right from Xi'an, the city was flooded with merchants from different countries, and there were so many traders from Arab countries that a separate Muslim quarter with a mosque stood out in the center of the city.

The main attractions outside the city walls are two Buddhist complexes, the Big and Small Wild Goose Pagodas (in some sources - the Wild Goose and, accordingly, different versions of the origin of the name) and the Shaanxi Provincial Historical Museum. On the outskirts of the city there is the Banpo Museum - a Neolithic site of ancient people. The most famous local landmark, the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shihuang, is located 40 km from the city.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

We first headed to the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, the main Buddhist complex in Xi'an. In a spacious area surrounded by a fence, in addition to the pagoda itself, there is a temple of Kindness and Courtesy (or Filial Piety) and a park.

The temple was founded in the 7th century by Prince Li Zhi in memory of his deceased mother. Around the same time (645), the monk Xuan Zang returned from India, where he studied Sanskrit and learned the basics of Buddhism. And in general he was a person with a wide range of interests. This learned monk brought with him a huge number of scrolls with Buddhist canons. And in this pagoda it was decided to organize the storage of these scrolls, their translation and study. For 19 years, Xuan Zang and his students translated sacred sutras, and here he wrote books on geography and literary works. And he gave the name to the pagoda - it reminded him of the Wild Goose Pagoda in India.

In the 16th century, the temple and tower were badly damaged by an earthquake and were rebuilt. And in this form they have survived to this day.

The tall seven-tiered pagoda is visible from afar and is actually the second center of the city. On the one hand, the so-called “Sleepless Street” is a wide promenade with fountains and sculptural groups; on the other side there is a huge square, where a light and musical fountain show is held every evening at 8:30 p.m.

Around the pagoda is a typical Chinese monastery complex, i.e. a series of low pavilions and courtyards with curved roofs.

On the walls of the pavilions, the entire life path and deeds of Xuan Zang are depicted in detail: sometimes in the form of drawings on the walls, sometimes in the form of bas-reliefs.

And on the walls of the main temple, carved in stone, is the story of Prince Sidhartha, who became Buddha.

The monastery buildings are surrounded by a park, nice, Chinese-style: among the greenery there are stones, paths, steles, stone tables, obelisks and something like samovars on a high leg. Cages with songbirds are hung on the trees so that the birds do not fly away anywhere, but sing where they need to.

In the lobby of the restaurant where we were taken for dinner, there was an imperial chariot with terracotta warriors. Attributes of the main Xi'an hit are found here at every step.

The traditional food of Shaanxi province is noodles. Nastya said that she usually eats a bowl of noodles for dinner, and that’s enough. “Only very peppery, otherwise it doesn’t taste good to me,” she added. Indeed, at dinner there were noodles in a variety of forms: from the usual to very broad.

It must be said that in Chinese cities there are very few obese people. Until old age, the Chinese manage to maintain youthful slimness and not fade with age. They generally have a very relaxed attitude towards food and healthy taste preferences. There is, however, a bias towards spicy food, but this is typical for the cuisine of all countries with hot climates. But the Chinese do not have the habit of eating tea with sweets - tea is tasty to them on its own. Our guide Lilya told us that dentistry is the least popular of all medical specialties, since dentists have little work and they earn less than other specialists. To our compliments (“how slim you all are”) she replied that, on the contrary, the Chinese love to eat, especially in the villages, and that’s where you meet fat people. It is not for nothing that a pig is considered a symbol of a happy life in China - it eats all the time and does nothing. It is customary to give pig figurines as a wish for a prosperous life.

Cooking is the prerogative of men. “And in general,” said our girls, Nastya and Lilya, “we have a matriarchy.” Due to the “one family, one child” policy and the fact that ultrasound could determine the sex of a child before birth, Chinese youth were heavily skewed towards men (70% men and 30% women). “Therefore, girls can choose from a huge number of men,” Nastya said, “with a car, an apartment and other advantages.” And Lilya added: “When my husband goes on a business trip, he worries: you will die of hunger without me! In his absence we have to eat Doshirak.”

Both of our escorts come from villages. Nastya said that their village house still has clay floors and almost subsistence farming. This is such a rapid transition over literally two or three decades - from clay floors to skyscrapers filled with technical innovations - a leap from the past to the future.

Nevertheless, in the villages, a huge mass of people is artificially restrained - so that it does not flood the cities. However, to be able to move from a village to a city, it is enough to graduate from college, or serve in the army, or get married. Each city resident has a large number of relatives in the villages, and before major holidays, most of the urban population leaves for their small homeland, since holidays are usually celebrated among relatives. They say that before the holidays you had to wait for three days to get a ticket. Now tickets are purchased online.

In villages they allow themselves to break the law “one family – one child”. For an “unauthorized”, over-the-limit child, a fine must be paid, otherwise he will remain virtually without documents, unregistered and without rights. Lilya said that she turned out to be such an over-the-top child, so a fine was imposed on the family: they took away the fattened pig, cut down a large tree in the yard and - the saddest thing - requisitioned the TV. Throughout her childhood, her older sister reproached Lilya: why did they have to give birth to you? Because of you, they took away our TV and our pig. “Are you guys talking now?” - I asked. “We are very friends now,” Lilya answered.

I asked how they spend their holidays. Nastya said that usually residents of Xi'an go to the ridge. What a ridge, I couldn’t achieve it. I think so, they go to Huangshan - one of the five sacred mountains, located just near Xi'an.

Lilya added that the Chinese do not like to swim or relax near the water. They even have a saying: the better a person swims, the more likely he is to drown.

Evening Xi'an

After dinner, we went on a tour of Xi'an at night, which started from the Wall of Love park. Just five years ago there was a village on this site, now it is a modern park: with a lake, waterfalls, illuminated arches, stones, pavilions and a long red wall decorated with bas-reliefs of all kinds of love subjects. There are even Onegin and Tatiana there. A modern sculpture in the park has the same love theme. The bridge over the water surface with illuminated arches looked very beautiful: the arches and their reflections on the water surface merged into a full circle.

Then we moved to a square with tall columns and a colossal monument with a heroic theme. Each column had its own luminous pattern, which was constantly changing: first one pattern, then another, then a whole picture - in general, the eyes run wild.

The “Never-Sleeping” street began from the square. The “sleepless” street is about three kilometers of kitschy space with luminous trees, fountains, and sculptural groups illustrating important historical episodes. A large part of the street is occupied by a sculptural composition dedicated to Chinese writers dating back to antiquity. There are a lot of writers, and we haven’t even heard of any of them.

Let's go writers

Finally, we reached the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, on the other side of which the light and music fountain show was already underway - and even nearing completion. We got to the last song: “Farewell of a Slav”.

Then we moved under the fortress wall (from the singing fountain to the wall - about 4 km). And there the people were having fun: some danced, some huddled in a circle and sang, some performed complex body movements under the guidance of an instructor. Numerous groups dispersed throughout the area in front of the wall.

The last point of the evening excursion was the Muslim Quarter, which was located inside the fortress walls. In the center of the block there is a pedestrian street (I wanted to write “narrow”, but it is narrow only by Chinese standards, in fact it is quite wide), with numerous shops selling spices, nuts and dried fruits. Idle people were also strolling here. I didn’t feel such a strong Muslim spirit here, more like a scent, a taste. The pedestrian street ends directly at the Drum Tower. This is considered to be the very center of the city.

Very convenient service for travelers- everything in one place: searching for tickets (plane, train, bus), obtaining insurance, selecting and booking hotels, renting a car, obtaining a visa.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda- built of brick influenced by Indian architecture in 652 and originally consisted of five tiers on which were placed Buddhist statues and relics collected during his travels by the famous Buddhist monk, scientist and philosopher, Xuan Zang. In 704, Empress Wu ordered the pagoda to be built with five more tiers. The three upper tiers were badly damaged during the medieval wars and had to be demolished. Currently, the pagoda is seven-tiered and rises to a height of 64 meters. If you really want, for an additional fee of 20 yuan you can go up the stairs and see the surroundings.

Around the pagoda there is a Buddhist monastery with a large park; the park is decorated with monuments of outstanding Chinese poets, thinkers, artists, and scientists.
And in general there is a very peaceful atmosphere there. As always, there wasn’t much time for inspection, but look at what I was able to photograph.

Where did the name of the pagoda come from? There are several versions, I don’t know which one is correct. One day, a flock of large wild geese flew past these places, when one of them fell from the sky and died. The monks were confused - they did not know what to do in such a situation. They decided that the dead goose was Buddha. They buried the bird and erected a pagoda on the site, which they called the Great Wild Goose Pagoda.

The second version connects him with Buddha, who, while in these places, was tempted to eat the meat of wild geese, but managed to overcome it.

The third version was told to us by the guide. One day, Xuan Zang got lost in the desert. And in general, he was practically dying of thirst, but the way to the oasis was shown to him by a flock of wild geese, which circled him 3 times and flew to the source. Returning to China, he built a pagoda named after his saviors.

Another option from the Internet: officials then had to take exams. Those who could not, hired young talented people who passed written exams for them in this pagoda. After the exams they had to sign on its walls. But they couldn’t write their real name and, according to tradition, they wrote “wild geese.” It's like "anonymous" in Chinese.
In general, choose the legend yourself, who likes what.

Some of our people climbed up for views of the new buildings of Xi'an, but I went to wander around the park. And I came across a group of Chinese TV crews.

TV crews recorded this guy.

I was very interested in how Chinese opera works.

Wish boards

I sat down next to him on a pebble “to meditate in the garden.” Apparently we looked so good together that passing Chinese TV crews caught a picture of us.

There are many cages with songbirds in the garden. He sat down on a bench to rest and listened. I could sit like that for a couple of hours...

Local souvenir shop selection

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