Description
The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was built nearly 1400 years ago during the Tang Dynasty for the study of Buddhist scriptures. Open the card to see all 7 stories of the famous Pagoda in 3-D. This is an elaborate and beautiful card.
Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, or Dayan Pagoda, is a true monument to Buddhist culture and architecture.
This is a pop-up card to amaze any architect, Chinese friend, traveler, teacher, scholar, a Buddhist, or Asian history buff.
Chinese proverbs:
Every smile makes you a day younger.
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.
One generation plants the trees, another gets the shade.
Even though you have ten thousand fields, you can eat but one measure of rice a day.
It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.
Deal with the faults of others as gently as your own.
Teachers open the doors, but you must enter by yourself.
Heaven is high and the emperor is far away
A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.
A hundred men may make an encampment, but it takes a woman to make a home.
History:
The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, located in southern Xi’an, is a very famous ancient pagoda in China built nearly 1400 years ago. It is the bright pearl on the Silk Road with excellent architectural beauty, precious Buddhist relics, rich religious culture, and stories of the famous ancient monk Xuan Zang,
The pagoda was first used to enshrine the Sanskrit classic and Buddhist relics the abbot Master Xuan Zang brought from India. Xuan Zang developed theories of consciousness, karma and rebirth that were adopted later by popular schools of Buddhism.
Paintings and poems by the emperor were also stored inside the Wild Goose Pagoda.
The pagoda is an architectural marvel. It was built with layers of bricks without any cement. The seams between each layer of bricks and the “prisms” on each side of the pagoda are clearly visible. The grand body of the pagoda with its solemn appearance, simple style and high structure, is a good example of Chinese traditional architecture.
Although it has been attacked by centuries of weather, war and seismic activity which destroyed most of the original material of the structure, the pagoda has been rebuilt several times. Today it is known as the Temple of Kindness and Grace.
Today the Wild Goose Pagoda is 7 stories high. Tourists can see the whole Xi’an city at the top floor. In recent years the pagoda has started sloping downwards because of the environment and other issues. It is a landmark of Xi’an City, which is famous for the tomb of the terracotta warriors. [Xi’an is pronounced Chee-AN.]
See also Ancient Bell Tower.
