BA NANH PAGODA (TIEN PHUC PAGODA)

The Pagoda has official name as “Tien Phuc Pagoda” (meaning the pagoda blessed by the Fairy or the Pagoda where the Fairy descended to the earth); however, local people often called the pagoda with its ancient Vietnamese name Ba Nanh Pagoda. The Pagoda is located at no. 152, Nguyen Khuyen street, Van Mieu ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi city. In the Le Dynasty, the pagoda was in the land site of Ta Bien Giam Thuc Mien village, Huu Nghiem sub-district, Tho Xuong district, Thang Long capital. In 19th Century, Thuc Mien village merged with Thanh Ngo village into Thanh Mien village of Yen Hoa sub-district, Tho Xuong district, Hoai Duc sub-province, Hanoi province.

It is not clear when the pagoda was built. Researches by scholars suppose that Ba Nanh Pagoda started to be built in Early Le Dynasty (15th Century) for worshipping Ba Nanh (meaning the Soybean Lady), who had the merits for building the pagoda. According to folk legend, in the old times, there was a lady whose name and age were not known. She opened a small shop right in the place which later became the location of the pagoda, where the feudal students often passed by to enter the Imperial Academy. She often grinded soybean to make delicious and tasty cakes and sweet soups which were praised by everyone. People from everywhere came to her shop, she became prosperous and purchased a big marble block to make the shop’s counter, which still exists until now.

She saved enough money to build a magnificent pagoda named “Tien Phuc pagoda” right in the earlier location of the shop. Contemporary people appreciated her merits, so when she was dead, they inscribed her marble block into the altar to worshipping her and called the pagoda “Ba Nanh Pagoda”.

Ba Nanh pagoda is also attached to a mysterious story that King Le Thanh Tong (1460 – 1497) met a fairy in here. Legend has it that one time the king visited the Imperial Academy, when he passed by the pagoda, he heard a Buddhist nun reciting the Buddhist scriptures. On his way back, the king visited the pagoda and met the Buddhist nun. The King, the nun and the following mandarins made, read and commented on poems.

Nowadays, in the pagoda there still are many horizontal lacquered boards ang parallel sentences mentioning the strange meeting between King Le Thanh Tong and the Fairy, such as the lacquered boards with the words: “Tien Phuc pagoda”, “Tien Phuc gate” (meaning the pagoda blessed by the Fairy or the Pagoda where the Fairy descended to the earth, the gate blessed by the Fairy), or the parallel sentence at the entrance gate saying:

Ngọc Hồ tả trĩ, đế thi Tiên rịch cộng lưu phương;

Tam các hữu văn, Tiên trú thánh kinh đồng đại giác

Meaning:

The high mountain on the left of the lake, where the king and the Fairy played chess, is so beautiful

In the three houses on the right of the lake, listening to the Fairy praying and reciting the Buddhist scriptures, being enlightened together

The pagoda has elegant architecture and has gone through many times of repairs; the largest-scaled repair was in Dinh Hoi year of Dong Khanh Reign (1887), which was recorded in the stone stele of the pagoda.

The Pagoda is located in the high and airy land site in southeast direction, heading to Nguyen Khuyen street. According to memoirs of the elders, in the past the pagoda was quite large with magnificent lake and tomb towers garden. The current items of Ba Nanh pagoda consist of Entrance Gate – Bell Tower, Front Hall, Main Hall, Mother Goddess House and auxiliary work items serving for the activities and religious rituals in the pagoda.

The Entrance gate – Bell tower lies right close to the pavement of Nguyen Khuyen street. In the past, there were originally 3 gates; the two auxiliary ones no longer existed and now there are only one main gate and one small gate on the left. The main entrance gate is built in arch form, with three storeys and 8 roof sides altogether covered with pseud tube-tiles. The upper storey opens to 4 sides and has a big bell. On the roof top, there is an embarked sun pattern, below which is a board with three character saying “Tien Phuc gate”. The lower storey has an embarked ornamental ancient scrolled paper book saying “Tien Phuc Pagoda”; on the sides of the gate are two high symbolic pillars, whose tops have stylized Cape jasmine fruits and bodies divided into even decorative areas with parallel sentences in Chinese characters.

The auxiliary gate on the right-hand side is quite large; the roof is built of concrete covered with tiles; the door is made of wood. Visitors often enter the pagoda through this gate.

The Three Jewels of the pagoda has the structure of "Đinh" (丁) character, including the Front Hall and the Main Hall.

The Front Hall consist of 5 compartments, with close brick walls at the sides, roof covered with traditional tiles; at the middle of the roof top, there is an embarked horizontal lacquered board saying “Tien Phuc pagoda”. The frameset consists of 6 frames linked in form of “Overlaid beams and Gong hanging frame in upper and diagonal beam in lower”. The frames are made in pure manner with almost no decorative, mainly for solidity and strength.

The Main Hall consists of 4 longitudinal compartments with close brick walls at the sides, roof covered with traditional tiles; the frameset is in the same form as that of the Front Hall. There is a high pedestal close to the back wall to place Buddha statues rows. In the top-most row are the Three-World statues representing 3000 Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future; the second row are the Three Major Buddhas Statues (including Amitābha, Avalokiteshvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpt); the third row is the Nine-Dragon statue; the forth row includes statues of the King of Heaven and Nam Tào (Birth supervising god) – Bắc Đẩu (Death supervising god). On the two sides of the Main Hall, there are statues of Quan Âm Thị Kính (an incarnation of Avalokiteśvara) and Ba Nanh. On the worshipping altar of the Ba Nanh statue, there still is a marble block inscribed with patterns of swirling clouds in artistic style of Le Dynasty.

On the outside of the Front Hall, there are statues of two Dharmapalas for encouraging the kind and punishing the cruel, statues of Anathapindika and Ānanda. In the compartment on right side, there are three steles and two statues of the Ancestrals, who were the chief monks of the pagoda in the past.

The Mother Goddess House is built in "Nhị" (二) character layout with two 3-compartment rooms having close brick walls at the sides, roof covered with traditional tiles. Due to limited area, the outside room is used for welcoming visitors, the inner one is for worshipping the Mother Goddesses; on the middle altar, there are statues of the Three Mother Goddesses (of Heaven, Earth and Ocean); on the left hand side are statues of the Five High-ranking Mandarins; on the right hand side are statues of Court Dames of the Four Palaces, Lord of the Mountainous Village and Saint Tran Hung Dao.

Ba Nanh Pagoda still preserves a system of various relics, including the statues of Buddhas, Ancestrals, Mother Goddesses and Queens, which were created in a meticulous manner in artistic style of 18th – 19th – 20th Centuries, the bronze bell dated to 3rd year of Thieu Tri Reign (1843), stone stele dated to Dong Khanh Reign (1887), and many worshiping objects such as Horizontal lacquered board, ornamental ancient scrolled paper book, parallel sentences, door painting in fresco, altar, etc. which were inscribed in a skillful and meticulous manner; all of them contribute to making an ancient atmosphere for the vestige.

The Pagoda lies in the land area with many religious and belief vestiges of various types such as: The Literature Temple – Imperial Academy, Ba Ngo pagoda, Pho Giac pagoda, Thang Long Medicine temple, Bich Cau temple, Song Son temple, etc. which are attractive places for visitors to kowtow the Buddha, research and study about land of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism in the old Thang Long capital. The pagoda is also a place for the people to send their desire and belief of a peaceful and joyful life after hard-working days, and to drive the people to the good values in the life.

Ba Nanh Pagoda was classified as National Vestige in 1986.