Yan pagoda

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

synonym

The wild goose pagoda (the famous ancient architecture in China) generally refers to the big wild goose pagoda (the Buddhist pagoda of Da Ci'en Temple in Xi'an)

Dayan Pagoda is located in dacien temple in jinchangfang, Chang'an city of Tang Dynasty (now south of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province), also known as "cisien Temple Pagoda". In the third year of Tang Yonghui (652), Xuanzang presided over the construction of the big wild goose pagoda to preserve the Buddhist scriptures brought back to Chang'an by Tianzhu via the silk road. The first five stories were covered to nine stories, and then the number and height of the later stories were changed several times. Finally, it was fixed to the seven story pagoda, with a height of 64.517 meters and a bottom side length of 25.5 meters.

Dayan Pagoda, as the earliest and largest brick Pagoda with Square Pavilion style in Tang Dynasty, is the typical material evidence that the pagoda, the architectural form of ancient Indian Buddhist temple, was introduced into the Central Plains with Buddhism and integrated into the Chinese culture. It is a landmark building embodying the wisdom of ancient Chinese working people.

On March 4, 1961, the State Council announced the Dayan Pagoda as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units

. On June 22, 2014, at the 38th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting held in Doha, Qatar, the Dayan Pagoda, as a site of the Silk Road: road network of chang'an-tianshan corridor jointly applied for World Heritage by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, was successfully included in the world heritage list.

Historical evolution

Building pagodas for temples

In 652, master Xuanzang built a five story brick Pagoda in the West pagoda courtyard of Ci'en Temple in Chang'an to worship the Buddha statues, relic and Sanskrit classics brought back from Tianzhu. In contrast to the Famen Temple in Baoji, the Dayan Pagoda was built for the temple.

Emperor Daowu of the Northern Wei dynasty built Jingjue temple here. Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty built Wulou temple at the former site of Jingjue temple, which was later abandoned. In 648, in memory of his mother, empress Wende, the eldest sun's family, the Crown Prince Li Zhi prayed for the blessing of the underworld and rewarded his mother's kindness. He asked Taizong to build a Buddhist temple and named it "Ci'en Temple". At the beginning of the construction of the temple, Xuanzang was invited to be the master of the temple. Here Xuanzang founded Mahayana Buddhism Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma Dharma. Because the founder Xuanzang and his disciple peep Ji always live in Ci'en Temple, they are also called Ci'en sect

The temple became the holy land of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. In the first year of Tang Xianqing (656), Emperor Gaozong wrote the inscription of dacien temple. From then on, the temple was named dacien temple. Dayan Pagoda is located in Ci'en Temple, so it is also called "Ci'en Temple Pagoda".

Dacien temple, where Dayan Pagoda is located, is the place where Xuanzang specializes in translating and collecting scriptures. Master Xuanzang presided over the affairs of Ci'en Temple. He planned to build a stone pagoda outside the main gate of Ci'en Temple on the ground of "fearing that people would not replace him often, the Scriptures would be lost, and it would be difficult to prevent fire". Due to the fact that the total height of the pagoda planned by Xuanzang was 30-10 Zhang, Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty, on the ground that the project was too large to be accomplished, and he did not want the master's hard work, supported the construction of a five storey brick Pagoda in the West courtyard of the temple.

The newly built pagoda is called the wild goose pagoda. Because a smaller one was built in Jianfu temple in Chang'an, the pagoda of Ci'en Temple is also called the big wild goose pagoda, and the pagoda of Jianfu temple is called the small wild goose pagoda, which has been handed down to the present. The original big wild goose pagoda imitated the shape of the western regions, with brick surface and earth core. It could not be climbed, and there were relics in each layer. Master Xuanzang personally presided over the construction of the tower, which took two years to complete.

In addition to preserving the Sanskrit Sutra of bedoro leaves collected from Tianzhu, there are more than 10000 sarikos in the wild goose pagoda.

Five reconstructions

for the first time:

The original architectural design of the Dayan Pagoda is to imitate the famous and only Buddha worship tower in India - Buddha Gaya (Dajue pagoda), which has five floors and is 60 meters high.

The second time:

Later, Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, felt that the Indian style building was not in harmony with the overall architectural style of Chang'an City, so he rebuilt it and raised the Dayan Pagoda to nine stories.

third time:

During the reign of Chang'an (701-704), the imperial court built the Dayan Pagoda for the third time. Wu Zetian broke the custom of odd number of storeys in Tang Dynasty and increased the height of Dayan Pagoda to even number 10 storeys. (on the other hand, Wu Zetian and the princes and nobles donated money to rebuild the original site and build a new seven storey green brick tower.)

The fourth time:

In the second year of Changxing (931) after the Five Dynasties, the later Tang Dynasty reconstructed the Dayan Pagoda for the fourth time, and the pagoda was restored to seven floors again. Later, several large earthquakes occurred in Xi'an area, the top of the Dayan Pagoda fell and the body of the pagoda cracked.

The fifth time:

In 1604, the Dayan Pagoda was repaired for the fifth time. On the basis of maintaining the basic shape of the tower in Tang Dynasty, a 60 cm thick cladding was built on the outside. The height of the tower is 64.5 meters, the side length of the base of the tower is 25 meters, and it covers an area of 2061 square meters. This is the Dayan Pagoda we see today.

Architectural pattern

building structure

Dayan Pagoda is a square pavilion type Pagoda with brick and wood imitation structure, which is composed of three parts: tower base, tower body and tower brake. The height of the whole tower is 64.7 meters, the height of the tower base is 4.2 meters, the length from north to south is about 48.7 meters, and the length from east to west is about 45.7 meters; the side length of the bottom layer of the tower is 25.5 meters, showing a square cone; the height of the Tasha is 4.87 meters. 1. There are 9 rooms on the second floor, 7 rooms on the third and fourth floors, and 5 rooms on the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth floors. There are security doors on all sides of each floor.

Yanta underground palace

In May 2008, Wang Yarong, director of the Institute of religion, Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences, said that like the underground palace under the pagoda of Famen Temple, there may be a millennium underground palace under the Dayan Pagoda in Xi'an. It is speculated that the treasures Xuanzang brought back from India may be hidden in the underground palace under the Dayan Pagoda.

According to historical records, in 645, Xuanzang returned from India and brought back a large number of Buddhist relics, hundreds of Baya Sanskrit sutras and eight gold and silver Buddha statues. In order to worship and collect the Buddhist scriptures, gold and silver Buddha statues, relics and other treasures, Xuanzang personally presided over the construction of the big wild goose pagoda with the approval of the imperial court. But no one knows where the treasures Xuanzang brought back are.

Wang Yarong believes that the underground of the ancient pagoda usually has an underground palace. Just like the underground palace under the pagoda of Famen Temple, there must be an underground palace under the Dayan Pagoda, but the underground palace of the Dayan Pagoda has not been excavated. Therefore, it is speculated that the underground palace under the Dayan Pagoda might contain Buddhist treasures that Xuanzang had brought back.

Xie Shoutao, director of Xi'an Dayan Pagoda storage office, said that in 2007, relevant departments detected the internal structure of the pagoda, and ground penetrating radar detected that there were holes in the underground of the pagoda, which should be the underground palace of the pagoda.

Cultural relics

pedestal

There are stone gates at the base of the Dayan Pagoda, exquisite line carved Buddha statues and brick couplets on the lintel and doorframe. There are steles embedded on both sides of the South Gate cave at the bottom. The West niche is written from right to left. The stele of preface to the three sacred religions of the Tang Dynasty written by Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and by Chu suiliang, a great calligrapher at that time. The East niche is written from left to right. The stele of preface to the three sacred religions of the Tang Dynasty written by Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, and by Chu suiliang, is called "two saints and three unique steles". The two steles have the same specifications and forms. The head of the stele is a round head. The lines on both sides of the body of the stele are obviously divided, showing a trapezoidal shape with narrow top and wide bottom (this is the typical shape of the Tang stele). The pedestal is a square stele with wired patterns. The height of the two steles is 337.5 cm, the width of the upper surface is 86 cm, and the width of the lower surface is 100 cm. The inscription highly praises master Xuanzang's learning scriptures from the West and his historical achievements and extraordinary spirit of Buddhism, which is known as "the sacred religion of the wild goose pagoda".

These two steles were erected by Xuanzang himself in October 653, the fourth year of Yonghui reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty. They are well preserved today. It is an important cultural relic for the study of calligraphy, painting and sculpture in Tang Dynasty. It is worth mentioning that Tang Dynasty painters Wu Daozi and great poets Wang Wei once painted many murals for Ci'en Temple, but they have long been lost in history. However, on the stone lintels and door frames of the four openings under the Dayan Pagoda, there are still exquisite Tang Dynasty line depictions. In addition, there are "Xuanzang's negative collection map" and "Xuanzang's translation map" on both sides of the south gate

The big wild goose pagoda was also the place where the Jinshi of Xinzhong in Tang Dynasty named it, which is one of the eight famous scenic spots in Guanzhong. It is said that Li Deyu, the Prime Minister of emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, was not a Jinshi, so he did not want to be a Jinshi. He ordered the cancellation of Qujiang Liuyin and the "elimination of Xiangzhi's title".

In the Tang Dynasty, Jinshi in Xinzhong were all named in the big wild goose pagoda, so that later generations called Jinshi and Jinshi by the name of wild goose pagoda. There are a large number of inscriptions in the past dynasties. Only in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the examiners imitated the Jinshi of the Tang Dynasty and left more than 200 inscriptions on the Yanta pagoda.

Tower body

Relic

In the third year of Yonghui reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty (652), master Xuanzang built a big wild goose pagoda to store Sutra statues and relics. How many relics did master Xuanzang bring back? In the biography of master Xuanzang, only 150 meat relics and one letter bone relics are recorded, but the specific number is not stated. In the same book, when describing the section of building a pagoda, it shows that "there are relics in the center of each layer, or one thousand or two thousand,

Chinese PinYin : Yan Ta