LANG PAGODA

Lang Pagoda is located in Lang Thuong ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi. It was originally An Lang Camp land belonging to Ha ward, Vinh Thuan district, Hoai Duc town during the Nguyen Dynasty.

The pagoda's name is "Chieu Thien Tu". Explaining this name, the stele "Chiêu Thiền Tự tạo lệ bi", from the date of Thinh Duc 4 (1656) stored at the pagoda, said: "Because there is a clear good sign, it is called "Chieu". This is the place where Zen master Tu Dao Hanh was born, so it should be called “Thien” (Zen), but local people still call it by the name Lang pagoda. In addition, the pagoda is also named Ca pagoda.

Lang Pagoda is built on a beautiful land with many cool old trees, dark and solemn landscape, which has long been named "Top Pine Forest" (the oldest pine forest in Thang Long citadel.). According to the article in the stele " Chieu Thien Pagoda made of tears of sadness", written by Dr. Nguyen Van Trac in the 4th Thinh Duc year (1656), he described the beauty of the pagoda as follows: “What a most famous place in the world, no pagoda could compare to, Phuong Thanh good vibe spreads on the right side, To Lich river flows on the left side. Nhi Ha thousand miles long river around the capital meanders like a green dragon flanking. Tan Vien, a beautiful mountain facing as group of white tigers united ...”

Also according to Tao Le stele, the pagoda was built during the Ly Anh Tong period (1138-1175). In addition to worshiping Buddha, the pagoda also worships famous Zen master Tu Dao Hanh and King Ly Than Tong. The legend of Tu Dao Hanh is widely recorded and spread out in folklore, through his myths and legends, especially the two works Linh Nam Chich Quai and Thien Uyen Tap Anh. These documents indicate that: Tu Dao Hạnh was born here, then cultivated enlightenment, incarnated at Thay Pagoda (Phat Tich Pagoda - Quoc Oai - Hanoi). He went to Tay Thien to study about magic, riding clouds, riding water, flying into the sky, crawling under the ground, immeasurably wonders. After Tu Dao Hanh went to Sai Son Mountain to practice, he was reincarnated into the son of Sung Hien Hau, the younger brother of King Ly Nhan Tong. Because the king did not have children, he appointed the succession to the son of Sung Hien Hau, King Ly Than Tong (1128-1138). Therefore, the son of King Ly Than Tong later, Ly Anh Tong (1138-1175) built Chieu Thien pagoda to worship his father and his predecessor - Zen master Tu Dao Hanh. Thien Uyen Tap Anh Book adds on: Tu Dao Hanh, a famous contemporary monk, became the 12th ancestor of the Zen monk Ty- Ni - Da - Luu - Chi. He trained many excellent monks, such as Master Nguyen Minh Khong.

Through the dynasties, Lang Pagoda was repaired many times in years: Thinh Duc 4 (1656), Canh Tri 4 (1666), Tu Duc 22 (1869), Thanh Thai 13 (1901) ... the appearance of the pagoda has changed a lot, but it remains in the same position with the ancient features of the most famous beauty in the West of Thang Long citadel.

The pagoda's campus is quite large, including a complex of architectural works arranged on a main axis. Coming from outside, you have to go through three layers of gates, yard tilling old Bat Trang bricks, in the middle of the yard, there is an Octagonal house, two parallel series of Outbuildings on both sides. The main architecture of the pagoda is made according to the style of "Noi cong ngoai quoc" including Front Hall, Square Hall, Middle Hall, Thiêu Hương, and Main Hall. On the two sides of the Main Hall, there are two rows of corridors. The Bell house, the Blessing Bell house are behind, the Mother Goddesses house, Ancestor monk building, corridors... are behind Main Hall. Along with Tower Garden behind the pagoda.

The architecture starts with Tam Quan Ngoai in the form of a Nghi Mon (Four Columns), which is considered by the researchers to be the “four columns” style of the royal palace of the Le Trung Hung Dynasty (1533-1789) with 4 big square pillars and three small bending roof attached to the side of the column, the middle roof is higher than the two side roofs creating a flexible and soft architecture. In the middle of the gate, there is a horizontal lacquered board with 4 words "Thien Thien Khai Thanh" (God zen brings Saints), "Tue Nhat" on the right, "Tu Van" on the left, underneath there are pairs of elephants. This pagoda is considered as a model for other cultural works to be restored later such as the gate of Voi Phuc temple, the gate of Kim Lien communal house (Hanoi) and more or less connects to the temple (worshiping Tu Dao Hanh).

Tam Quan Noi is a 3-compartment horizontal house, built with “eight roofs” style on two floors of 4 tiled roofs creating the fresh space. In the middle of the roof covering with the fire sun, between the upper and lower roof covering the topic "La Vong fishing", eight weapons, horseman, the bottom opens 3 doors. Structural frame is format of “Support, shell, gong is upper, column connection is lower”.

Behind Tam Quan Noi is a large brick road leading to the innermost gate, on both sides of the road is a mezzanine wall and two rows of two hundred-year-old Mangifera foetida Lour trees, spreading shine on the side of the road. A large yard is hiden after this gate, there are two series of Outbuildings, each row consists of 9 compartments. A large stone pedestal was built in the middle of the pagoda yard to be used on festivals; Nowadays, the local people builds the octagonal house surrounding.

The Octagonal house is also known as Bao Cai house. This is the place where the Saint palanquin was put before the day of festival. The house was built of old bricks, roofed with 2 stacked layers, 16 roofs covered with flaked tiles, with elegant curves, winding heads. The top of the roof is covered with 4 phoenixes dancing smoothly. The roof is covered with 8 dragons, this is a quite unique art work, creating a highlight for the architectural area of ​​Lang Pagoda.

The Front Hall has a large scale, including 9 compartments, built in the style of a gable wall, a roof of tile roofs, a “eight roofs” style with 2 layers of 4 roofs. The roofs are the sets of the structure in the style “Support, shell, gong is upper, column connection is lower”, two lower roofs make long curved connection. This decorations are quite diverse and varied on supports, column connections, sub beams with themes of tiger, dragon, horse – dragon, phoenix, four holy animals... with characteristic of nineteenth century art.

The Middle Hall is about the same size as the Front Hall. Connecting these two buildings is a small Square Hall with 4 curved roofs. The decoration theme in the Middle Hall is similar to that of the Front Hall in terms of art style and age. Particularly, the middle space is still engraved with the dragon, phoenix and features the art style of the Late Le Dynasty in the eighteenth century.

Thieu Huong is a vertical-style house with 2 compartments in the back. The frame structure consists of 3 sets of simple structure, with the walls surrounding.

The Main Hall is a horizontal house with 3 compartments paralleled to the Middle Hall, built in the shape of gasket wall. The frame has a stacked structure. The decoration focused on the residues carved with the dragon's head details, which are characterized by the style of art in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Two rows of corridors connecting the Main Hall with the Patriarch house, the structure is like a truss bridge, the front is empty and the back surrounded with walls. This is the place where 18 Arhat (known as 18 Ancestors of Truyen Dang) are placed.

Behind the main pagoda, there are works: Bell House and Blessing Bell house. They are designed in the style of two levels - 8 layers of curved roofs, hanging the old bell and blessing bell. The Patriarch house area has quite a large scale, including 2 paralleled houses, each of which has 7 spaces, forming a "number two” in Chinese language (“Nhi”). The outside of the house is used as the place of worship, the inner house is to worship the Mother Goddess; two rows of Ta - Huu, each with 5 compartments, built in the two sides of the ancestral house. The series of houses on the right are served as the place to place the steles with the names of the people were worshiped; The left row is the abbot’s room. Behind the pagoda, to the right is the Tower garden - the resting place of monks who passed away, on the left is a well. These constructions have contributed to beautify Lang pagoda 's tranquility and quiet of a pagoda dating from thousands of years old.

Corresponding to the architectural scale, the artifacts of the monument are extremely rich and diverse, including epitaphs, bell, blessing bell, horizontal lacquered board, distiches, hammock doors, conferment, worshiping statues ... reflecting the process of remaining and developing through each different historical period.

With the characteristics of the pagoda "The Buddhist is at the front, the Saint is behind", the artifacts in the pagoda are also diverse and plentiful, reflecting boldly the content and worship nature of the monument. With a total of 198 large and small Buddha statues arranged according to the regulations of an ancient Vietnamese pagoda, Lang Pagoda is like an art museum with full of beautifully crafted and elaborated statues like:: Tam The Buddha, Quan Am Chuan De, Amitabha, Ngoc Hoang - Kim Dong - Ngoc Nu, An Nan, Ca Diep, Maitreya, Tuyet Son, Cuu Long ... reaching high standards, dating back to the nineteenth century art. Besides, the statues made of clay such as: Tu Thien Vuong, Bat Bo Kim Cuong, Khuyen Thien – Trung Ac with majestic appearances, showing full power to protect Buddhism. Especially in the pagoda, there are two boards of Thap Dien Son Trang Dong (the West and the East) which are designed next to two corners of Trung Duong building, nearly reach the top of the house. The secret palace is made of mortar, shaped like a cliff with clouds, there are layers of statues of Buddha, Amitabha, the Jade Emperor of God, Angels - Human world and Hell. Although dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century, this is still one of the pretty Thap Dien caves still in the ancient pagodas in Hanoi.

The statues of Arhat on both sides of the pagoda corridor are manifested with different impressions: emanation, compassion, contemplation, lingering between the religious path and life; portrait of Ancestor monk statues, joyful Mother goddess statues ... are sent by artisans through each work, creating a rich, colorful and diverse Buddhist Dharma world, reflecting the thoughts of each character as well as many different aspects of contemporary social life.

In addition to the Buddha statues, the "pagoda" nature is expressed quite boldly through the relics system related to the "Saint of Lang". These are two statues of Zen master Tu Dao Hanh made of rolled clouds covered with paint, one of the rare masterpieces in Vietnam and a wooden statue of Ly Than Tong sitting in a wooden stuff made in the 19th century with many worshiping objects. Other like: Hac, Long Ngai, Kieu Long Dinh, Kieu Bat Cong, Chap Kich, Gia Kiem, ... are beautifully created, bringing the style of art from the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries that have contributed to the special, distinctive and unique features of relics of Lang pagoda, compared to other pagodas in the region.

Notably, the pagoda still retains 12 royal honor conferments for Zen master Tu Dao Hanh and King Ly Than Tong (including 3 conferments in the Hau Le period, one identity in the Tay Son period, 8 confermentss in the Nguyen Dynasty) and 15 stone steles, bronze bells and blessing bells, horizontal lacquered board, letters, distiches ... dating from the Le to the Nguyen dynasties. In these documents, it is worth noting that the stele: "Chiêu Thiền Tự tạo lệ bi", in addition to the value of sculpture, art, is also an important historical document that helps to understand history of the pagoda, identity, the legend of Saint Tu Dao Hanh, the restoration, embellishment, rules of the days and aspirations... With these values, the stele has been chosen as one of 63 epitaphs typically selected in the book "Collection of Hanoi epitaphs" published by the Social Sciences Publishing House in 1978.

From ancient times to the present day, Lang pagoda has still been considered as the center of the relics related to Zen master Tu Dao Hanh, such as Nen pagoda - is considered as the home of Tu Dao Hanh. Hoa Lang Pagoda (formerly known as Ba Lang) is a place of worship for his mother, Tam Huyen pagoda is where his father is worshiped, Thay Pagoda (a place to practice enlightenment of Zen master Tu Dao Hanh, Thua pagoda ...

Lang Pagoda has recorded in history as a pride of national culture. The presence of the pagoda is the evidence confirming the everlasting value of the monument in the west land of Thang Long capital, about the harmony between indigenous beliefs and Buddhism, about the unique mark of the pagodas "The Buddhist is at the front, the Saint is behind" formed in Vietnamese Buddhist history under the Ly Dynasty. The pagoda used to be a convergence of researches on Buddhist history, architecture, sculpture, art... by many domestic and foreign scholars. With the value of the monument, Lang Pagoda was classified as a national monument on April 28th, 1962.