THANH NHAN PAGODA

Thanh Nhan Pagoda is located at no. 68, Alley 318, De La Thanh street, O Cho Dua ward, Hanoi city.

According to remaining materials such as the Stele titled “Nghĩa Phê Tạo Đình Bi Ký” built in Nham Than lunar year, the 13th year of Chinh Hoa reign (1692) (now belonging to the head office of public security of O Cho Dua ward) and the Stele titled “Cao Son Tay Hung mieu” built on 5th May of lunar year, in the Chinh Hoa reign (1680 – 1705), Thanh Nhan pagoda started to be built in 17th Century with spacious and sizeable scale and was a well-known place of the capital.

In 18th Century, the pagoda was damaged seriously; the high-ranking mandarin with surname Đỗ came forward to repair it. To commemorate his merits, after his death, the people built the stele and sculpture statue of him and put it in the pagoda for worshiping. This statue is of artistic style of 18th Century and is still remained until now.

In the beginning of 19th Century, seeing the pagoda being in ruin, Buddha statues being damaged, the people in Thinh Hao ward persuaded everyone to contribute to repairing the pagoda, the statues and casting the bell “Thanh Nhàn tự chung” (meaning the bell of Thanh Nhan pagoda). In the 7th year of Thanh Thai reign (1895), the chief monk of the pagoda ordered to overhaul the Three Jewels, and in 13th year of Thanh Thai reign to repair the Back Palace and to build auxiliary houses, etc.

Thanh Nhan pagoda lies in a high, airy, even and flat land in the residential area of the village. According to the local people, in the past, the pagoda had spacious scale and wide precincts with century-old plants in surrounding. Through ups and downs and variations of the history, the original appearance of the pagoda was lost. The current architecture and scale are resulted from the restoration in the end of 20th Century, with the work items: Entrance gate, Front Hall, Main Hall, Patriarch – Mother Goddess House, and auxiliary work items.

The Entrance gate of the pagoda is built in form of a Bell-tower, with two storeys and 8 roof sides altogether. In the gate, there hanged a bell, and on the two sides, there are parallel sentences; on the front side, there is 3 Chinese characters meaning “Thanh Nhan Pagoda”.

Inside, the pagoda’s garden is quite large with many fruit trees and perennial trees for shadow. In front of the pagoda, there is a semi-circle well; above it, there is a white rock statue of Avalokiteśvara standing on a pseudo-mountain. The pagoda’s yard is paved with sawed rock; on the two sides of the yard, there are two stele houses in form of two storeys and 8 roof sides; inside the houses, there are two large-sized stone steles.

The Front Hall consists of 3 main compartments and two auxiliary side compartments, with close brick walls and extending frames at the sides and roof covered with traditional tiles. The front doors of the 3 middle compartments are in form of “Railings in upper, plate in lower”. The frame sets are linked in form of “Overlaid beams and Gong hanging frame in upper and sculptured wooden boards in lower”, combined with wooden boards on 4 column rows. The ornaments on the beams are only embellished at the side boards with patterns of leaves, sealed characters, etc., creating a gentle and free-flowing feeling for the architecture.

The Main Hall consists of 3 compartments, with close brick walls and extending frames at the sides and roof covered with traditional tiles. The frame sets are linked in form of “Gong hanging frame in upper and diagonal beam in lower” on 2 column rows. The highest and most back-ward area are sitting places of the Buddhas. In topmost position is the Three-World Buddhas, representing 3000 Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future; next is the statues of Three Major Buddhas Statues (including Amitābha, Avalokiteshvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpt), the King of Heaven, Brahma, Indra god, Nine-dragons, Holy Lady. In the Front Hall, there are statues of the Khuyen Thien – Trung Ac (two Dharmapalas for encouraging the kind and punishing the cruel), Anathapindika, Ananda, Diem Nhien, Dai Sy, etc.

Besides the main architectural items, the pagoda also has the Patriarch – Mother Goddess House which is built in traditional architectural style. The right compartment is for worshiping Bodhidharma and the ancestral chief monks. The left compartment is for worshiping the Three Mother Goddesses.

Until now, Thanh Nhan pagoda still preserves a variety of relics with high historical, cultural, sculptural and artistic values, including: Buddha statues, Patriarch statue, Mother Goddess statues, Holy Lady statue, Stone stele, bell, horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences, door paintings in fresco, etc. with artistic style of 18th – 19th – 20th Centuries. The notable relics includes the statues of Three-World Buddhas, Three Major Buddhas Statues and the Holy Lady, which are beautiful statues of the pagoda and bring typical artistic style of Later Le Dynasty with balanced arrangement, meticulous and skillful carvings. Materials in Chinese – Ancient Vietnamese languages include: 17 stone steles (dated to 18th – 19th Centuries), bronze bell “Thanh Nhàn tự chung” dated to 9th year of Gia Long reign (1810), which is a source of precious historic materials and helps to study about the history of the land area, the pagoda, process of its restoration, repairs and various aspects of contemporary social life.

From the old days until now, Thanh Nhan pagoda always receives the attentions of people generations in caring, preserving and contributes to enriching the treasure of traditional cultural heritages of Thang Long – Hanoi. The pagoda was classified as National vestige in 1989.