The
Big Wild Goose Pagoda (dayanta) is located within the premises of
the Temple of Great Maternal Grace (Dacien Si), four kilometers away
from the center of the city. It is one of the city's most distinctive
and outstanding landmarks, possibly the most beautiful building left
in Xian today.
The Temple of Great Maternal Grace (Dacien Si) Known as the best-preserved Buddhist temple complex, the Da Ci'en
Temple was initially built in 589, during the Sui Dynasty (581-618).
At that time, it was named as Wulou Temple. In 648 A.D. the Emperor
Li Zhi, then still a crown prince, sponsored a repair project on the
temple o honor his mother, Empress Wende. The Temple then obtained
its name Da Ci'en Temple, meaning the Thanksgiving Temple. According
to the records, the temple, with more than 10 courtyards, contained
1,897 marvelous chambers altogether and was a place of grand extent
in the Tang dynasty. Within the temple, there is a small bell tower
from which a bell hangs, which was used for telling time to the monks
in ancient times. Daxiongbaodian is the main hall of the temple. It
went into gradual decay after the downfall of the Tang dynasty.The
halls and rooms that have survived the age are structures that were
built in the Ming dynasty.
The
Big Goose Pagoda In AD 652, the Big Goose Pagoda was built to store the sutras
and the figurines of Buddha, which were brought from India by a famous
Buddhist translator and traveler Tang Sanzang, also known by his Buddhist
name as Xuanzang. More Information...