El Zorro: Off to Xian 7 (Jianfu Temple 荐福寺 & Little Wild Goose Pagoda 小雁塔)

After visiting the Han Yang Ling, we got the chance to visit another famous landmark in Xian, the so-called 小雁塔 ( "Small Wild Goose Temple" ). The temple, originally called Great Jianfu Temple ( 大献福寺) literally "The Great Temple for Conferring Blessings", was built in 684 AD by the imperial family upon the site of the former residence of Taizong 唐太宗's daughter Princess Sheng Shing (襄城), inside Kaifa Square (開化坊) about 2 KM from the South Wall of the ancient City Wall to solicit blessings for Gaozong (高宗) a hundred days after his death but was renamed 大荐福寺 (Dajianfu Temple or The Great Upheld Blessings Temple) in 690 AD during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian (武則天). It's popularly called Small Wild Goose Temple (小雁塔寺) because it's lower and smaller than the Great Wild Goose Pagoda (大雁塔 ), facing it just about 3 KM away, to its east.

The trapezium shaped 43-metre (originally 45 metres) tall pagoda superstructure, added to the temple during its restoration in about 707-709 AD upon an 11-metre wide square base, now only has 13 of the original 15 tapering storeys (the 2 top floors having collapsed in the great earthquake of 1555), its the lowest floor having the highest roof, each surrounded by four projecting eaves formed by overlapping bricks without any cross beams. It has one arched entrance and exit on its north and south and also a number of arch-shape windows on each floor, all full of sculptured lines characteristic of Tang architectural style. It is served by a wooden staircase which winds up right to the top floor and also a cellar. The original temple was also repositioned to align with the new pagoda in the middle of the garden. During the reign of Tang Zhongzong (唐中宗) it served as a Buddhist sutra translation centre. It was renovated in 1116 and repaired 5 times during the Song (宋) (960-1079 AD), Jin (金) (1115–1234 AD ), Yuan (元) (1271-1368 ), Ming (明) (in 1449) and Tsing (清) (1271-1368 AD) dynasties. There is a bell tower to house a 10-ton, 3.5 metre high and 2.5 meter diameter cast iron bell cast in 1192 during the 金 Dynasty, originally belonging to the Zen Temple for the Honour of Religion by Martial Art ( 武功崇教襌院) but later thrown into a river and only recovered during the reign of Kang Hsi (康熙) in the Tsing Dynasty. The bell was struck every morning and can be heard miles around and was considered one of 8 "views" of Xian (八景)

The temple was the site where many Buddhist sutras from Sanskrit were translated. In 671 AD, a Tang monk called Yijing( 義净) (615-713 AD ). who had first learned Buddhism in Shantung, then went to Xian to listen to 唐玄奘, then after staying there for 10 years and reading about Abhidharma-kosa-sastra《俱舍》、Yogācāra/Vijñānavāda《唯識, left Luoyang (洛陽) for Canton (廣州), took a Persian trading ship first to the present day Kalimantan, Indonesia and then to India where he furthered his learning in Buddhism at the Buddhist Centre at 那爛陀寺 in present day Nepal for about 11 years after which he taught in various parts of India and some 30 odd states in the present day India and South East Asia and the East Indian Ocean before returning to China in 695 AD, after a quarter of a century, bringing back with him some 400 Sanskrit sutras, 56 of which he translated into Chinese in 18 years. He wrote about what he learned in India in a book called "The Inner Book of Dharma Returned from the South Seas" (南海寄歸内法傳) and The Book of a Tang Monk's Search for the Dharma in the West " ( 大唐西域求法高僧傳), both written in Indonesia which he caused to be sent to the imperial court. They have both been translated into English, French and Japanese .When he returned to China, he was received personally at Luoyang by Empress Wu Zetian who wrote the preface for his 《大新翻聖教序》in 700 AD and later Tang Zongzhong (唐中宗) summoned him to court to help translate some Buddhist texts and in 705 AD, wrote the preface for his 《大唐龍興三藏聖教序. He also wrote 《别說罪要行法》、《受用三水要法》、《護命放生軌儀. A sutra depository (藏經閣) was added to the temple during the Tsing Dynasty. He died at the temple in 713 AD when more than 10,000 attended his funeral and his funeral expenses were paid for by the court.

Since its construction more than 1300 years ago, the Pagoda has gone through some 70 odd earthquakes, including one in 1487 during the Ming dynasty (明成化二十三年), which split the temple from top to bottom by a crack more than a foot wide. Legend has it that after another earthquake at the end of the reign of 正德, 34 years later in 1521 AD the crack was "miraculously" sealed and that this cycle was repeated twice later. But during the renovation of the Pagoda in 1965, it was discovered that the crack was in fact sealed by the addition of new brick by men.It was then discovered that the secret of its ability to survive so many earthquakes is that it was built upon a semi-spherical foundation which enabled it to sway in all directions when subjected to earthquake forces, like a rolly-polly or tilting doll. Now all that is left of the original temple is the pagoda.The temple was used by the military until 1958 when it was taken over by the Office of Adminstration of Heritage(文物局)("OAH") in 1958 and in 1961, it was declared one of the important historical heritage buildings to be preserved after which repairs and renovations according to the original plans and materials were started in 1964-65. However it was taken over by the military and a primary school during the Cultural Revolution and was not returned to the OAH until 1989. At present the original and reconstructed buildings there include the Mahavira Hall (大雄寶殿), Sutra Depository (藏經樓), Maitreya Pavilion (慈氏閣), White Clothing Pavilion (白衣閣), Bell Tower (鐘樓), Drum Tower ( 鼓樓) and Small Wild Goose Pagoda (小雁塔). Some of the trees in the courtyards are more than 300 years old.

On the way, we passed through the very shady and pleasant boulevards of Xian with little traffic all covered over by trees which give one the feeling of a more leisurely and civilized pace of life.

The entrance to the Pagoda

Behind the entrance, there is a huge garden.

The entrance to another courtyard in front of the pagoda

The entrance is overgrown with creepers

Some of the trees in the garden

The garden was densely populated by all kinds of hardy trees.

Its walls are are overgrown by creepers

The creepers blend so well with the buildings that it's hard to tell which is predominant.

In front of the Pagoda is the Mahavira Hall

The predominant colors are vermillion, yellow, punctuated by green and blue in this Tsing addition. One could detect some Tibetan influence in its use of colors.

Two tortoises guarding a temple building. Not how elaborate are the carvings of the lines on the shell of the tortoises.

The base of the Pagoda. During the Tang dynasty, it was one of the three most important centres for translation of Buddhist Sanskrit text into Chinese and for centuries, it has been a centre where the emperors, the nobility and the intelligentia congregate to learn about Buddhism. The Pagoda form part of the 大荐福寺 At one time, Xian was the biggest city in the entire world. But the temple was subjected to numerous mutilation caused by dynastic wars.

One can see the simplicity and regularities of Tang dynasty lines and patterns of squares and arcs. It is a valuable monument of Tang architectural style which is much imitated by temples and pagodas in other parts of China.

Tsing patterns are obvious in the decoration of the eaves of the corridor

An enscounced stele to commemorate the restoration of the temple saying that it shall be a place where people from everywhere may come.

The stairs leading to the entrance to the pagoda

A forest of stone pillars for tying the leather bridle strings for horses at the side of the pagoda

The L-shaped stones and the round pillar stumps are the steps to help the rider mount his horse

At the side of the pagoda is a small garden in which are shown relics of some pillars for tying horses on the old tea and silk road. The facial features are those of people of Central Asia

Another horse pillar of Central Asia people. Note the headwear.

Another one of those horse pillars. At the bottom one can see the head of a monkey to symbolize 升侯 (rising to be a count or noble) the word 猴 being a homonym of the word 侯.

A servant awaiting the descent of his master from the horses.

Two servants for cleaning up

A more primitive horse pillar

There are also some exhibits about the traditional leather puppet shadow shows

And some masks

and mud sculptures

A stone lion and some abandoned machinery. Obviously the pagoda needed better management.

A pagoda tree (槐樹) which has been growing there for more than 1300 years !

Part of its bark overgrown with moss.

For some reason, the ancient bell at the temple has now been removed from the bell tower and placed on the ground, presumably for ease of inspection by tourists?