Temples and pagodas around Hanoi - Part 1

Thousands year Hanoi built up many AMAZING pagodas and temples. It is the reason why these places are the center of AMAZING NORTH VIETNAM.

Do Temple – Bac Ninh province

Name: Co Phap Temple, Ly Bat De Temple

Location: Dinh Bang Village, Tien Son District, Bac Ninh province

Worshipping: 8 Kings of Ly dynasty

Main festival: 15 – 17 of 3rd lunar month

Do temple was built in 11th century in ancient Co Phap village (Dinh Bang nowadays). According to Monk Ly Van Hanh, the place used to build that temple was a holy place that has 8 dragons come to visit. It is also said that in the past, near the temple, there used to have a forest and Tieu Tuong river flow around; due to the Feng Shui, Vietnamese people believe to build a temple there will bring the prosperity to the country. For many dynasty of Vietnamese feudal, Kings always took highly consideration in repairing and widening that temple. The temple also has the unique folk architecture of Vietnam.

Do Temple

In 1952, the French took and destroyed the whole temple and it was not until 1989 that the temple was recovered but the total square was limited. The total square of Do temple is 31.250 m2 included 21 items. In the center of the temple, there is altar to worship King Ly and around this, it is the house of patriarch, front sanctuary, Phuong Dinh house, palanquin house…

Three door gate of Do temple

Do temple is an example for the architecture of temple and pagoda in the North of Vietnam. The first thing tourists can see when visiting that temple is the main gate with the image of 5 dragons carving on the top of the gate because dragon is the symbol for the power of King.

Front yard

Besides, Do temple is also a center of culture and history in the North of Vietnam. Each year, many people come here to worship and ask for good health, luckiness, prosperity… It then becomes a center of culture in the North of Vietnam.

The main festival of Do temple occurs from the full-moon day to the 17th of the 3rd lunar month. It is the celebration of the day when Ly Cong Uan crowned to be the first King of Ly dynasty (1010). On the festival, people will have a ceremony to bring the palanquin of the King from the village to the main temple to describe the day when he became the King. In front the palanquin are some martial mandarin with more than 100 soldiers and follow the palanquin are 100 people in red clothe and black hats.

Do temple ceremony 

Dragon dancing

Palanquin ceremony

Besides the main ceremony, there are also a lot of activities like cock fighting, birds releasing, wrestling, Quan Ho singing…

Phat Tich pagoda:

Name: Van Phuc pagoda

Location: Phat Tich village, Tien Du district, Bac Ninh province

Characteristics: Buddhist monks were trained in the past in Phat Tich Pagoda.

Main festival: The 4th day of the first lunar month. Place: Phat Tich Commune, Tien Du District, Bac Ninh Province.

Objects of worship: Quan Yin Buddha and Ly Thanh Tong. 

Phat Tich Pagoda is in Phat Tich Village, Tien Du District, Bac Ninh Province, just 30km from Hanoi. The pagoda is located in the south of the Phat Tich Mountain with many buildings along the path from the foot of the mountain leading to the top. The whole complex of Phat Tich Pagoda faces southward overlooking the Red River.

Beautiful Gate of Phat Tich Pagoda

Phat Tich in English means the Legend of the Buddha. It is said that in the 11th century, the giant Buddhist Tower at the pagoda fell down which revealed the gold-gilded Buddha statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. Since then, the village and the pagoda got the name Phat Tich.

Giant Sakyamuni statue

Phat Tich Pagoda was expanded into a big complex in the 11th century under the Ly Dynasty, but archaeological artifacts found at the pagoda suggest that there had been a pagoda on the site from around the VII - X centuries. In fact, the region is believed to have been the area where Buddhism from India first arrived into Vietnam. And the tomb of King Duong Vuong is just across the Red River from Phat Tich pagoda. 

Phat tich pagooda

Phat Tich Pagoda's architecture came to its climax in the 17th century (1686) when it was expanded with funding from the first wife of Lord Trinh when he came to the pagoda and lived a monk-hood life.

Phat Tich tower

The pagoda was totally destroyed by the French 1947 when they came back to Northern Vietnam. There have been massive efforts by local individuals, by Vietnamese Buddhist followers and by Buddhist monks to restore the Phat Tich Pagoda to its original grandeur from after the war, and the most recent re-construction work was just finished in 2011. 

Rocky statue inside pagoda

Tower Garden

Nowadays, visiting the Phat Tich Pagoda you can easily find back peace and tranquility amid the leafy yards and gardens that is shrouded in full zen atmosphere. Paradissa offers day trips and bicycle tours from Hanoi to the Phat Tich Pagoda along with other attractions of Bac Ninh Province.

But Thap pagoda

Name: Ninh Phuc Pagoda

Location: Situated on the dike of the Duong River, Dinh To Commune, Thuan Thanh District, Bac Ninh Province.
Characteristics: The pagoda was built in 17th century, according to "Noi Cong Ngoai Quoc" architectural style.

Main festival: 23rd -24th of 3rd lunar month

But Thap Pagoda has the Chinese name of Ninh Phuc Tu. It is located in But Thap hamlet, Dinh To commune, Thuan Thanh district, Bac Ninh province. This is a quite ancient pagoda and it has a big architecture scale of AMAZING North Vietnam. This place now is considered as one of Vietnam Popular Destinations in spirit life of people.

Main gate of But Thap

Tower in pagoda

According to local people, the pagoda was built under Tran Thanh Tong dynasty. At that time, Huyen Quang monk was a nun in this pagoda. He had the stone tower of 9 floors built with the lotus shape but this tower is not available today. Until 17th century, the pagoda is famous for the nun of superior Buddhist monk named Chuyet Chuyet a citizen of Fujian province in China. In 1644, the nun passed away and titled to be a great by the king..

Ancient statue inside

Differently with other Vietnam pagodas and temples, the architecture of this pagoda is mainly the combination between “Noi Cong Ngoai Quoc” shape and “Tam” shape. “Noi Cong Ngoai Quoc” shape looks like letter “I” inside a squre and “Tam” shape like three horizontal parallel lines. All the buildings face the South, traditional architecture of the Vietnamese. The pagoda is balanced in the center area but very natural in the surrounding area. The center area includes eight houses which are set in an axis which are three gates entrance, bell tower, fore sanctuary, upper sanctuary, Tich Thien Am palace, middle house, Mother of goddess palace, and back house.

9 stories lotus tower

1 stele in But Thap pagoda

Stone bridge

There are two lines of stele house in the two sides and it runs along the length of the pagoda. At the left side and at the back of the lobby, there is a five-room house which is known as the house of patriarch and used for the worshipping place of the Buddhist priest Chuyet Chuyet, Minh Hanh. There are towers besides which are the tombs of the nun. The architecture of But Thap is also deeply marked by Chinese which are typically the stone bridge and Bao Nghiem tower.

In the corridor around the upper palace, there are many carving pictures of wood and stone. There are totally 51 carving pictures with many different topics with the generalization in the material, style and it is generalized in terms of time. The carving patterns are lively with the artistry characteristic with the topics of trees, flowers, birds, animals.

Carving on wood

But Thap is one of the few numbers of Vietnam Pagoda which keeps the ancient unique architecture. Visitors come here come to ancient pagoda with brown statues of Buddha to the architectures of tower, yard, corridor…

Bodhisattva statue

On the main festival of But Thap pagoda, there are two main parts: the ceremony is the same as many other pagodas with some offering to the Buddha to show respect and ask for good year with the bless of Buddha. After the ceremony, there are many activities like Chinese people chess, table tennis, birds releasing and Vietnam traditional folk songs…