Lingxiao Pagoda is the only remainder of Tianning Monastery, which used to be located to the west of Longxing Temple. We can imagine from its name that it was a majestic and towering pagoda because Lingxiao, in Chinese language, means reach to the sky". Historical records show that it is about 41 meters high, topping all the ancient buildings in Zhengding. Chiefly it was made of wood, so it got another name “wooden Pagoda”.
It is octagonal in plane figure. As other earlier pagodas in China, it took on the form of a storied building. These kinds of pagodas were a mixture of foreign pagoda-building skill land fundamentals of Chinese multistory construction.
It has nine stores, each story smaller and lower than the one underneath. There is an arched door in each of the 4 main sides of every story. The structure of the three-lower stories is very different from that of the upper ones. The rafter sand upturned eaves of the lower part are made of wood, but the brackets and short pillars are made of bricks, above the eaves of every story is a flat stand circling the main body. It seems that the upper six stores were built later on and all the pillars, brackets and rafters are made of wood. The topmost part is the iron tip of t he pagoda. This part serves as a cover on the one hand and increases the height of the pagoda on the other. Entering the pagoda through the northern door in the first story, you can get to the fourth story along the brick stairs, and then to the top along the wooden stairs which circle a big wooden pillar supporting the cover of the pagoda. Where you can look far into the distance. According to the annals of Zhengding County, the Tianning Temple was established during the period of 860-874 (in the Tang Dynasty). In 1982, staff members from the Culture Relics Unit found a cellar inside the base. There were many historical relics in it, such as tooth and pearl relics of Buddha, the Seven Treasures of Buddhism and two stone cases with epigraphs. The cases were for pearls, one epigraph carved in 1103) says that the Pagoda had aboriginal name as Huiguang Pagoda. The other (carved in 1161) tells "the pagoda was built along with the monastery in the years of 762-779 and rebuilt in 1045. The year 1141 saw the constriction of another pagoda." Thus the mistake that the pagoda was built ill the years of 860-874 is corrected. Though the pagoda was renovated during the Ming and Qing Dynasty, the constructing style of Song and Jin Dynasties remains. In 1956, the People’s Government of Hebei Province put the Lingxiao Pagoda under the provincial protection. In 1981, funds have been located by the state to renovate the ancient pagoda. A more bright and beautiful Lingxiao Pagoda will be greeting you in the near future. [an error occurred while processing this directive]