Hundred years old temple

Along both banks of the Vam Co Dong River, there are many ancient pagodas nearly 200 years old. These places of worship were established to represent the beliefs of the residents during the process of reclaiming land, forming the land of Tay Ninh in the past and present.

Phuoc Luu Pagoda

Trang Bang is the first land where immigrants from the Central region settled in Tay Ninh . On this land, there still exists the ancient Phuoc Luu pagoda. The predecessor of this pagoda was a small hermitage with a thatched roof built on the edge of the flooded Trang land to worship Buddha.

The first hermitage was established in the year Canh Ty 1840. Later, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Trinh, from Long An (old), followed the immigrants to Trang to renovate the hermitage to worship Buddha. This woman had the ability to possess spirits and predict the future, so people called Mrs. Trinh "Ba Dong" and the hermitage was also called "Ba Dong's hermitage".

Phuoc Luu Pagoda in 1950

Many years later, a nun named Tran Thi Nen, dharma name Chon Tang, came to the hermitage to practice and practice with the female medium. The female medium was old, and people called her Mrs. Coc. The female medium and Mrs. Coc stayed at the hermitage to do charity work and save people. The good news spread far and wide, and more and more people came here to worship and be cured. Later, the hermitage was upgraded, expanded into a pagoda and was called the female medium's pagoda.

Before practicing, Mrs. Coc had 3 sons, all of whom became monks. Her eldest son took the Buddhist name Trung Luc. After Mrs. Coc and Mrs. Dong passed away, monk Trung Luc took charge of the pagoda. In 1900, monk Trung Luc mobilized Vietnamese and Chinese people in the area to contribute manpower and money to renovate the pagoda and named it Phuoc Luu. After that renovation, this place became the largest pagoda in Trang Bang as well as in the whole southern Tay Ninh region.

Precious antiques in Phuoc Luu Pagoda

Currently, Phuoc Luu Pagoda preserves many precious paintings and statues, such as the series of paintings Ngu Hien Thuong Ky Thuc painted by artist Nam Kieng, from Gia Binh village (formerly Trang Bang). The pagoda also preserves many woodblocks carved around 1898 with contents of dharma sects, memorials, incantations, spells, eight trigrams, etc. In the pagoda, there are hundreds of sutras, treatises, and medical books written in Han Nom script, compiled by the ancestors.

Mr. Phi Thanh Phat - member of the Vietnam Folk Arts Association, member of the Tay Ninh Literature and Arts Association, said that since the 1900s, Phuoc Luu Pagoda used to be a training center for Buddhist rituals in Trang Bang. The pagoda has a "Nhi"-shaped architecture, consisting of two layers of four-pillar houses connected together. Adding to the antiquity are the elaborately carved panels, horizontal lacquered boards, and parallel sentences. In the pagoda, there are still handwritings written by the "magic pen" Mac Thien Trai - a famous Chinese calligrapher in the 19th century, and the ancestors of the pagoda. This is an ancient temple with many typical historical, cultural and artistic values ​​of Tay Ninh, ranked as a provincial-level historical and cultural relic and introduced as one of 108 famous ancient temples of Vietnam.

Venerable Thich Thien Nhan - Abbot of Phuoc Luu Pagoda, uses bullet shells instead of gongs in ceremonies.

When visiting Phuoc Luu Pagoda on holidays, Buddhists and tourists can see a very special item, which is currently used by Venerable Thich Thien Nhan - Abbot of Phuoc Luu Pagoda, every time he chants, which is a bullet shell used by the US-puppet army during the war. The Venerable uses this bullet shell instead of a gong in rituals and chanting sessions in the pagoda. He uses a metal bolt to hit the shell to create a ringing sound.

Abbot Thich Thien Nhan explained: “In the past, this type of weapon caused crimes. Now the pagoda has been renovated to guide people to do good, to express the spirit of Buddhism, to guide people to do good and avoid evil, to rely on the Triple Gem for happiness and joy.”

Tinh Ly Pagoda

In addition to Phuoc Luu Pagoda, Trang Bang land also has the ancient Tinh Ly Pagoda, located in An Tinh ward (old Trang Bang town). The predecessor of this pagoda was a small temple built from bamboo by the village's buffalo herders, under the tree, in the middle of Bau Dang field. In the temple, there are Buddha statues made of clay, also molded by the buffalo herders from Bau Dang soil. Many years later, many people brought offerings to worship, and seeing the miracle, people called it Bau Dang Pagoda.

In 1902, during a trip to see the road construction, District Chief Nguyen Van Buu of Trang Bang district (originally from An Tinh) saw that Bau Dang pagoda was small and low, so he invited villagers to help rebuild the pagoda on a larger scale and named it Tinh Ly pagoda. The word Tinh means the pagoda in An Tinh village, and the word Ly means the village chief, the village representative who built the pagoda.

Tinh Ly ancient pagoda today

Presently, the pagoda is rebuilt with brick walls and tiled roofs in the traditional style of Southern pagodas. From the outside, the pagoda looks like the traditional house of an ancient Southern dignitary. In front of the pagoda yard is a statue of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, a lake, a rockery, altars to Maitreya Buddha, Ba Dau Ma Thang Nhu Lai, a temple to worship the Jade Emperor, Linh Son Thanh Mau, Dia Mau, Ong Dia, etc.

Presently, Tinh Ly Pagoda still preserves a number of precious artifacts of historical and artistic value, such as three clay Buddha statues that were molded by District Governor Nguyen Van Buu, including the meditating Buddha Shakyamuni, the infant Buddha Shakyamuni, and the Three-Headed Demon Tathagata.

This rustic village temple has been associated with many generations of An Tinh villagers from the past until now.

Along both banks of the Vam Co Dong River, there are also a number of other ancient pagodas, such as Cao Son (Phuoc Thanh Commune), Thien Lam (Hoa Thanh Ward),... These nearly 200-year-old places of worship all preserve many typical historical, cultural and artistic values ​​of Tay Ninh. For nearly 200 years, the ancient pagodas along the Vam River have accompanied the settlers during the land opening period and contributed to the prosperous development of Tay Ninh today./.

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Source: https://baolongan.vn/tram-nam-chua-co-a202494.html