THE WILD GOOSE PAGODA IN XIAN

This strangely named pagoda was erected to honor a Chinese monk. This monk had traveled to India to study and collect the sacred writing about Buddha and translate them from Sanskrit to Chinese. On his trip there (by foot) he became lost in a desert and was getting desperate. Then suddenly he heard a wild goose overhead and followed it out of the desert. After 30 years of study in India he returned to China with more than a 1000 scrolls of sacred writing. The emperor was so impressed by the story of his wondrous escape that he had the wild goose pagoda erected in the monk's honor to hold the sacred writings and to house the monks there to study and translate them. This was in the 7^th century. The structure is made of bricks and is more than 700 feet tall. It has withstood at least 10 major earthquakes and while it has been refurbished it has never had to be rebuilt.

You will see a mixture of gods in these pictures since the Chinese blend Taoist and Confucian beliefs. This temple is actively used by monks who live nearby. One of them is tidying up in one of the pictures.

And of course Clyde is fearlessly shown in the mouth of a dragon and resting on the back of foo dog.

He also was quite disappointed by this youngsters lack of interest in him, but definitely perked up when given a little ambassador.