Cổ Bản Pagoda is part of the community's spiritual life.
Over many generations, the pagoda has been a place where people come on festivals, new-moon and full-moon days, and important belief events.
The pagoda space creates conditions for values such as inclination toward goodness, compassion, harmony, tolerance, and living responsibly toward the community to be maintained and transmitted from one generation to the next.
The pagoda is also a place that connects generations. Older people find at the pagoda a familiar space for spiritual activities; younger generations have the opportunity to learn about the history, traditions, and cultural values of their homeland.
In the current context of urbanization, relics such as Cổ Bản Pagoda are increasingly meaningful in maintaining community memory and local cultural identity.
Cổ Bản Pagoda, its literary name Khánh Hưng Tự, is a Buddhist belief work of typical value in the cultural space of the Cổ Bản community, Đồng Mai Ward, Hà Đông District, Hanoi City.
Although it is small in scale and relatively simple in architecture, the relic contains many historical, architectural, artistic, and cultural values.
The most outstanding value of the relic is expressed through the bell “Khánh Hưng tự chung” cast in the 6th year of Cảnh Thịnh (1798). This artifact not only has artistic and religious value but is also an important source of materials helping to determine the historical depth of the pagoda.
In addition, 3 pairs of parallel sentences along with many ritual objects still kept at the pagoda are materials capable of providing additional information about the history, culture, and religious life of the community.
In terms of architecture, the pagoda bears the characteristics of a traditional Bắc Bộ village pagoda, expressed through the layout of tiền đường – thượng điện, a “Đinh”-shaped ground plan, and the structural system of chồng rường, kẻ suốt, and kẻ chuyền.
Culturally, the pagoda is a place that preserves community memory, where generations of people return to traditional values and spiritual life. The relic's survival over many generations shows the important role of the pagoda in the spiritual life of Cổ Bản residents.
In particular, the story of the pagoda's formation from leftover materials after the construction of Cổ Bản communal house in 1798 clearly reflects the spirit of solidarity, joint effort, and awareness of building the cultural–belief life of the local resident community.
In the current context, when urbanization is rapidly changing the area's appearance, Cổ Bản Pagoda is even more meaningful as a “memory address” of Cổ Bản village, helping identify the layers of traditional culture that still exist in the urban space.
The preservation of Cổ Bản Pagoda therefore not only aims to retain an ancient architectural work but is also to preserve historical memory, cultural identity, beliefs, and community spirit of local people.
It can be affirmed that, together with Co Ban communal house, Co Ban pagoda is an important component of the local cultural heritage system. The research, preservation, and promotion of the relic's values will contribute to enriching the cultural heritage treasure of Dong Mai ward in particular and Hanoi city in general, while also creating a foundation for educating about hometown traditions and nurturing the pride and sense of responsibility of today's generations toward preserving the heritage left by their ancestors.
