The Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Da Yen Ta) was originally built in 652 A.D. specifically to house the 657 Sanskrit texts that Xuan Zang brought back with him from India. He spent the last 19 years of his life translating the texts into Chinese with a group of collaborators assembled from all over East Asia. Many of his translations, including the Heart Sutra, remain the standard texts to this day. The structure itself was originally made from rammed earth. Due to its enormous size (177 ft tall) it collapsed after 50 years. It was rebuilt by Empress Wu, but an earthquake destroyed the top three levels in 1556. The current structure is leaning slightly to the West due to a sinkhole caused by the overusage of groundwater under the pagoda. We learned that it used to be customary for students that had passed the standardized exams to climb to the top of the pagoda and write a poem on the wall. Poetry was highly valued during the T'ang Dynasty and a recognized poet had a better chance of landing a good job with the State. They don't let you write on the walls anymore, but they do have beautiful examples of famous poems in the uppermost levels (pictured above). I even spouted off a little 'roses are red, violets are blue...' just in case it somehow helps my career opportunities!
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