Boi Khe Pagoda’s architecture includes a front hall, left and right corridors, and a Three Jewels Hall, all made of wood and built in the shape of the character “quoc” (国) . The rear hall is connected to the Holy Hall in the shape of the character “cong” (工).
Looking in from the main road, next to the village’s main road, before a large yard (including a row of five stupas, signaling that this is the pagoda’s precinct), on the left is the tomb of Quan Cong Le Tien Quy, a Boi Khe native, and on the right is the shrine to Duc Ong. In front of the pagoda gate is a spacious dirt yard with a bodhi tree and an ancient banyan tree, making the pagoda scene even more ancient and serene.
At the end of the yard is the pagoda gate. This is a type of architecture like a Nghi Mon, massive, opening into five gates, combined with built walls, blocking the entire width of the yard before proceeding over a brick bridge to enter the pagoda’s Tam Quan. The pagoda gate has 5 openings (Ngu Khong Mon), and above the main gate, on both sides, are four large characters: looking in from outside, the inscription reads 貝 溪 顯 跡 (Boi Khe Hien Tich), meaning Boi Khe has been illustrious for a long time. The couplet on the pillar of the main gate:
In Thanh Chau, nine villages together revere the profound mystery;
In the eleventh year of Thanh Thai, the path of enlightenment was reopened.
This means that in 1901, the people of nine villages (Boi Khe - Phuc Khe, Hung Giao, Le Duong, Te Qua, Dai Dinh, Van Khe, Sieu Quan, Sinh Qua, Dan Ne) in Thanh Oai contributed money and resources to build Ngu Khong Mon.
Next is the rainbow bridge spanning the Do Dong River with a beautifully scenic setting: the Ngu Quan main gate reflects on the clear blue Do Dong stream, creating a shimmering, mystical atmosphere in the Zen temple. That is exactly the meaning of the four characters 清 洞 重 關 (Thanh Dong Trung Quan) that the “learned Confucian scholars” of old inscribed on the Main Gate.
In front of Tam Quan are two large stone slabs placed close together (the left slab is 2.12m long and 1.06m wide; the right slab is 2.12m long and 1.30m wide), long regarded as the footprints of Saint Boi. Symmetrically on both sides of Tam Quan, near the two side gates, on the left is the pagoda well and on the right is the pagoda pond
Tam Quan, which also serves as a bell tower, is two stories high with eight roofs, built in the fourth year of Hoang Dinh (1603), repaired in the sixth year of Thieu Tri (1846), and restored in the eighth year of Khai Dinh along with the restoration of the pagoda’s Great Hall. The upper floor hangs two large bells, 60cm in diameter and 1m high. One was cast in the fourth year of Thieu Tri (1844), and one was cast during the Duy Tan era.
After passing the bell tower is the temple courtyard, 29m long and 22.30m wide. The yard is paved with Bat Trang square bricks and is where games and cultural performances are held during the temple festival. In the yard is a large stone platform (Long Sang) placed near the middle, 6.35m from the edge of the Tien Duong foundation. This platform is a rectangular box: 3m long, 1.62m wide, 0.56m high, with a flat top and legs in the quy da ca style; around its body are carved the four characters Tap Phuc Cung Tien and many motifs such as dragons with curled tails, dragons with tiger faces, lotus flowers, etc. This platform is where the bat cong palanquin carrying Saint Boi was placed during the rain-praying ceremony (formerly) or during the temple's main festival day.
Viewed from outside, at the inner right corner of the yard is the stele house, built of brick in a two-storey, eight-roof style: 3.70m long, 3.05m wide, 5.21m high. On the upper storey are two large characters Bi Duong. Inside this stele house is the stele貝 洞 聖 跡 碑 記 (Boi Dong Thanh Tich Bi Ky), recording the legend of Saint Boi, erected in the 11th Thai Hoa year (1454).
At the end of the brick yard are the two main and most important architectural complexes of Boi Khe Temple, including the Buddha temple section and the Saintly Palace section.
In architectural composition, these two complexes are linked into one entity, but in terms of religious function and the arrangement of the key structures they are two different complexes; their combination, if any, is shown only in individual architectural and worship parts:
The Buddha temple includes the Tien Duong, Thieu Huong and Thuong Dien buildings, the two corridors and part of the Dai Bai building (two side bays and two end bays), which basically belongs to the Saintly Palace behind:
Tien Duong has a rectangular plan, consisting of five bays and two side bays. Thieu Huong has two bays arranged along the longitudinal axis, in the same axial direction as the temple in general and perpendicular to Tien Duong. Thuong Dien is of the one-bay, two-side-bay type.
Thieu Huong connects to the central bay of Tien Duong and is the intermediary place between Tien Duong and Thuong Dien. This ground-plan structure gives the Buddha temple section itself the shape of the character Cong (工) in the general classification of Vietnamese temple plans.
The two corridors of the Buddha temple connect with the two side bays of Tien Duong, run parallel on both sides of Thieu Huong and Thuong Dien, and then connect with the two side bays of Dai Bai of the Saintly Palace.
At Dai Bai, besides functioning as a front hall, some ancestral statues of the temple are also worshipped, and it is also where rituals for Saint Boi are held on the main festival or annual customary festivals. In fact, Dai Bai serves both as a rear hall and as the front hall of the Saintly Palace.
The Saintly Palace consists of three structures: Dai Bai, the connecting section between the central bay of Dai Bai and Hau Cung, called in traditional architecture the Ong Muong, and Hau Cung (also called Cung To). The connection of these three structures is similar to that of the Buddha temple, giving the Saintly Palace section also a ground plan in the shape of the character Cong (工).
Following step by step the development of the architectural units, decoration and dates of all structures existing on the ground plan of Boi Khe Temple, it is as follows:
- Ngu Khong Mon, the brick bridge leading to Tam Quan, is decorated in the Nguyen style, around the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with motifs of the four sacred animals, flowers and fruits, elephants and horses... applied in mortar and painted on the walls. Its absolute date is 1901. Its character in the setting of Boi Khe Temple allows us to speak of the shrine character of the whole temple complex, or more precisely, confirms the mixed nature of worship that scholars call Buddha in front, Saints behind.
- Tam Quan today is the product of several different construction periods, but the strongest traces are from the Nguyen dynasty. The most recent restoration in the 20th century was under Nguyen Khai Dinh (1915-1925). This is a two-storey, eight-roof structure, one bay with two side bays, functioning both as the entrance to the Buddha temple and as the temple's bell tower. Traces of a Tran-era Tam Quan and a Le Trung Hung-era Tam Quan can still be seen in the lotus-shaped column bases and in the dragon heads on the lower-storey head beams.
- The Buddha temple includes Tien Duong, Thieu Huong, Thuong Dien and two corridors, with a form of inner Cong and outer Quoc, formed through different periods:
+ The present Tien Duong is a product of the Nguyen - Khai Dinh period, consisting of a building with seven bays: one central bay, two side bays, two end bays and two side bays. The two side bays connect with the two end bays of the two corridors, creating a linked arrangement. The frame structure is of the chong ruong - gia chieng type; there is also the ke goc cot tron type connecting the bays with the corridor. However, this building was only reconstructed on the basis of a building from the Mac and Le Trung Hung periods (Vinh To era). The decoration on the frame and especially on the veranda of this building is basically from the Nguyen period, with motifs of the four sacred animals, four seasons, landscapes and Buddhist and Taoist figures. Yet the decoration on the bricks bordering the foundation clearly shows the Mac art style, with dragons, phoenixes and lions arranged in rectangular and circular frames.
+ Thieu Huong dates to the same period as Tien Duong and has little decoration; it is a structure of the tran cot quan type. The most notable decoration is on the curtained doorway with dragon, unicorn and phoenix motifs in the Nguyen art style. The floor levels of Tien Duong and Thieu Huong are at the same height. The two corridors date to the same period as Tien Duong and Thieu Huong and have a fairly simple structure.
+ Thuong Dien is a one-bay, two-side-bay structure. It dates quite early; judging from the dragon carvings remaining on the beams and the divine bird at the corner spurs, Thuong Dien can be dated at least to the early Tran period, or even the Ly period if we rely on the carving now located in the foundation of the Tran lotus stone altar of 1382. However, considering other elements, it can be seen that basically today's Thuong Dien bears strong marks of the Mac period (the roof trusses, leaf-shaped decoration, dragon heads on the front eave beams) and the Nguyen period (columns, floor, enclosing elements, roof).
- The Saintly Palace section consists of three units: Dai Bai, Ong Muong and Hau Cung, also arranged in the shape of the character Cong. The Saintly Palace is connected to the two corridors of the Buddha temple at the two side bays of Dai Bai, creating an overall ground plan of the whole Boi Khe Temple that is inner (double) Cong and outer Quoc.
Dai Bai consists of nine bays and is both the rear hall of the Buddha temple and the front hall of the Saintly Palace. Its date is basically Nguyen, on the basis of at least a Dai Bai from the Le Trung Hung period.
Ong Muong also dates to the same period as Dai Bai.
Hau Cung is the most noteworthy architectural unit in the entire Saintly Palace section. It is a one-bay, two-side-bay structure with two storeys and eight roofs. The most notable structure is in the roof truss and the clusters of dougong brackets, showing that this structural type is very unique. Hau Cung has a clear date: built in the Le Trung Hung period (Chinh Hoa era), restored twice in the 18th century (Canh Hung era) and in restorations during the Nguyen period in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
