The origin of the name of Big Wild Goose Pagoda

The origin of the name of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda:

In the third year of Yonghui of the Tang Dynasty (652), in order to preserve the hundreds of Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures brought back from India, Xuanzang presided over the west courtyard of the Daci'en Temple. A Western Region-style Buddhist scripture tower was built. This pagoda was originally named the Ci'en Temple Pagoda, and was later renamed the Wild Goose Pagoda. Finally, it was renamed the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to distinguish it from the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Jianfu Temple. As for the origin of the name "Yan Pagoda", a widely circulated theory is that it was named based on the allusion of "burying wild geese and building a pagoda".

Extended information:

According to legend, a long time ago, a monk in a monastery in the Kingdom of Magadha (now southern Bihar, India) believed in Theravada Buddhism and could eat three kinds of pure meat. One day, a flock of geese flew in the sky. A monk saw a group of wild geese and said nonchalantly: "No one has anything to eat today. The Bodhisattva should know that we are hungry!" Before he finished speaking, a wild goose fell and died in front of the monk. He was filled with surprise and excitement. He told the monks in the temple that they all believed that the Tathagata was teaching them. So they buried the geese with a grand ceremony and built a pagoda at the place where the wild geese fell, and named it the wild goose pagoda.

Xuan Zang visited this wild goose pagoda during his study tour in India between 629 and 645 years. After returning to China, while translating scriptures at Ci'en Temple, in 652, in order to store the scriptures and Buddha statues brought back from India, a brick pagoda imitating the Indian Wild Goose Pagoda was built in the west courtyard of Ci'en Temple. This pagoda was called the Wild Goose Pagoda. The name remains unchanged to this day. The origin of the name of the tower is as follows: the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built by Xuanzang in imitation of the Indian Wild Goose Pagoda, so the original name of the Indian Pagoda was inherited. The word "大" added before the name of the pagoda means Mahayana Buddhism. ?

"Yan Pagoda inscription" began in the Tang Dynasty. It refers to the cultural activities in which the number one scholar and Jinshi in the Chang'an examination gathered at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to inscribe their names, as well as the martial arts examinations in the Small Wild Goose Pagoda. In the ninth year (1540) of the Shaanxi Provincial Examination, there is an inscription on the inscription: "The title of Yanta is the first-class person in the world."

The poet Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty passed the Jinshi examination in 800 AD. He wrote a poem: "The youngest among the seventeen people is the youngest person under the Ci'en Pagoda." It became a favorite story for a while. Meng Jiao, known as the "shabby Master Meng", was admitted to Jinshi at the age of 46. He wrote a poem: "The filth of the past is not worthy of praise, but now the dissolute thoughts are boundless. The spring breeze is proud of the horse's hoof, and I can see all the flowers in Chang'an in one day." After he was admitted to the imperial examination, " The famous poem "The Spring Breeze is Proud" has become a popular saying.

Reference materials: Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Xi’an Daci’en Temple Pagoda) Baidu Encyclopedia