【正文】 lty, he asked 50 hierarchs into the temple to translate sanskrit in sutras into chinese, totaling 1,335 volumes, which heralded a new era in the history of translation. based on the journey to india, he also wrote a book entitled 39。. externally it looks like a square cone, simple but grand and it is a masterpiece of buddhist construction. built of brick, its structure is very firm. inside the pagoda, stairs twist up so that visitors can climb and overlook the panorama of xian city from the archshaped doors on four sides of each storey. on the walls are engraved fine statues of buddha by the renowned artist yan liben of the tang dynasty. steles by noted calligraphers also grace the pagoda. as for the reason why it is called big wild goose pagoda, there is a legend. according to ancient stories of buddhists, there were two branches, for one of which eating meat was not a taboo. one day, they couldn39。big wild goose pagoda39。ci39。s story. renowned as the contemporary dunhuang buddhist storehouse praised by unesco, it is the biggest memorial of xuanzang. north square of big wild goose pagoda surrounding big wild goose pagoda, the scenery is also quite charming, especially the square north of the da ci39。 (mercy and kindness), for which the status and scale far exceeded all others. today, with an area of 32,314 square meters (38, square yards), one seventh of the original area, it still retains its grandeur. before the temple, there stands a statue of hierarch xuanzang, the meritorious hierarch. walking on and across a small bridge, visitors will see the gates of the temple. with guarding lions, the temple seems stately for lions were said to function as talismans. entering the temple you will see two buildingsbell tower in the east and drum tower in the west. inside the bell tower hangs an iron bell 15 tons ( gross tons) in weight. it was molded in 1548 in the ming dynasty (13681644). along the central axis are arranged the hall of mahavira, sermon hall, big wild goose pagoda, and the hall of xuanzang sanzang. in the hall of mahavira are three carved statues of sakyamuni, and 18 arhats as well as xuanzang. the sermon hall is where buddhist disciples would listen to a sermon. a bronze statue of amitabha is dedicated and a buddha statue is collected by xuanzang as oblation. the hall of xuanzang sanzang is north of big wild goose pagoda. in this hall are xuanzang39。en temple da ci39。today we have no meat. i hope the merciful bodhisattva will give us some.39。 in the tang dynasty, to which scholars attached great importance. first built to a height of 60 meters (197 feet) with five stories, it is now meters ( feet) high with an additional two stories. it was said that after that addition came the saying39。en temple, and the north square of big wild goose pagoda. big wild goose pagodaoriginally built in 652 during the reign of emperor gaozong of the tang dynasty (618907), it functioned to collect buddhist materials that were taken from india by the hierarch xuanzang.