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An ornate two-tiered latern between the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is in the background.

Here's the legend for the name of the pagoda. There were originally two branches of Buddhism. In one branch eating meat was not taboo. One day, the monks of this meat-eating branch couldn't find meat to buy. Upon seeing a group of large wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself, "Today we have no meat. I hope the merciful Bodhisattva will give us some." At that very moment, the lead wild goose broke its wing and fell to the ground. All of the monks were startled and believed that Bodhisattva did this to show his compassion for them with the hope that the monks would be more pious. The monks established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat. Hence the name "Big Wild Goose Pagoda". In a variation of that story, the "Big" refers to this being larger than another similar pagoda built in honor of one of the women royalty that was also a wild goose pagoda. The smaller one is called "Small Wild Goose Pagoda" and it resides closer to the South Gate, a block west of the center line. Another place on the net I read says that the design is based on the ancient Indian wild goose pagoda (stupa), hence its name in Xi'an.

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