Dày Pagoda (Sa Đê Temple)

Enter article content Dày Pagoda, whose literary name is “Sa Đê Tự,” is located on a high mound of earth, standing separately in the fields, far from the residential area of Kim Giang villagers, Ứng Hòa Commune, Hanoi City.

Dày Pagoda is also a relic of the anti-French resistance. In its early period, the pagoda was an operating base of the safe zone (ATK). In 1942, Dày Pagoda was the headquarters and the place where the Northern Vietnam Party Committee held meetings and worked. Here documents were printed; in the ground beneath the Buddha altar were secret bunkers to hide weapons and shelter guerrilla cadres day and night as they fought sweeps and the enemy to protect the homeland. This place records many examples of steadfastness and indomitability of Party members and guerrillas of the resilient Cháy area before the enemy.

Dày Pagoda has a history of construction from very ancient times. The remaining foundations show that the pagoda was burned down in 1953; it was quite large with many categories of buildings: the three-entrance gate, the main pagoda, the Patriarch's house, the Mother's house, and the living area of the abbots. Local people, with their need for religious practice, restored their pagoda as it is today. Sa Đê Temple currently includes: the pagoda gate, the main pagoda, and an auxiliary building area serving the life of the monk who looks after the pagoda here.