Small Wild Goose Pagoda
Tang-era brick pagoda that has cracked open in earthquakes and sealed itself shut three times over centuries.
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About this audio guide
This guide to the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an follows the monk Yijing, who left Guangzhou by ship in 671 in search of authentic Buddhist scriptures in India rather than the disputed Chinese translations of his day. It traces his twenty-five years abroad, a decade spent studying at the monastery of Nalanda, and the hero's welcome he received back in Chang'an, where he spent his final years translating what he had carried home. This pagoda, finished around the year 709, was built to house that work, and the guide turns from there to what the structure itself has had to withstand ever since.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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