Dinh Xuyen Pagoda
5.0Free
5.0Free
Đang tải…
Dinh Xuyen Village was formed from two villages, Nam Duong and Dinh Xuyen, of the former Hoa Nam commune.
Dinh Xuyen Village is the place that preserves a rich complex of historical-cultural relics, including Dinh Xuyen communal house and shrine, Hung Phuc Pagoda, and the Nguyen The family temple; these are works that not only carry distinctive artistic architectural value but are also places of worship for the Tutelary Gods and notable figures who made great contributions to the cause of nation-building and national defense of the nation.
The Dinh - Quan - Pagoda relics of Dinh Xuyen village are all national-level artistic architectural relics ranked under Decision No. 1057 dated June 14, 1991, of the Ministry of Culture.
Dinh Xuyen Pagoda has the Sino-Vietnamese name Hung Phuc Tu. Hung Phuc Pagoda belongs to Dinh Xuyen village and has a long history of construction. In the relic at the Tam Bao Hall, a number of precious Le-era artworks are still preserved. At the pagoda there are several rather beautiful artistic statues, together with the communal house located in an ancient area of Dinh Xuyen village.
Dinh Xuyen Pagoda is in the north of the village, located in the area containing the Dinh and Quan relics of Dinh Xuyen village.
Dinh Xuyen Pagoda has the following construction items: the Tam Quan gate, the Tam Bao Hall, and the Ancestor House combined with the Guest House. In particular, the pagoda area has an ancient Duoi tree, said to be four hundred years old or more.
The pagoda gate was built close to National Highway 21B. This is a cultural work with early Nguyen artistic architecture. Currently the Tam Quan gate leads to one main gate. The architectural item is made in the Hue Ngo Mon style, large in scale, massive, and sturdy. The wall is 60cm thick, arranged with two tiers and eight roofs covered with dui tiles. The decorative motifs have been damaged over time, leaving only a robust, solitary Tam Quan architectural structure standing in the sky, yet very beautiful.
It has a construction area of 42m2. Dinh-character architecture (J), the Dai Bai hall has 5 bays, inside is the Rear Hall divided into 5 small bays. This is the main architectural work of the pagoda, oriented toward the west. Dai Bai has 4 roof trusses connected by 4 rows of columns; each row has 4 small wooden columns, and each column has a square or round protruding stone base.
The trusses of Dai Bai are made in the upper stacked beam and lower bracket style, with square blocks placed between the beam sections. No corbel panels were found in the Dai Bai hall. The truss system is mostly plain and tightly joined. The column system is mortised at the top to fit the upper tie beams, truss beams, and horizontal and vertical beams. On some square beams, besides outside line carving, there are also sections in relief with floral and leaf motifs, apricot blossoms and chrysanthemums, the character for longevity, etc. The flower and leaf lines are somewhat stiff, the leaf veins have incised lines, rows of dots...
The Rear Hall is in the shape of a pestle handle, with 5 small bays divided into 3 trusses and two main rows of columns; two auxiliary rows of columns support the trusses hidden in the end walls. The truss structure in the Rear Hall is relatively mixed: stacked-beam trusses, continuous-brace trusses, transfer-brace trusses, and stacked-beam trusses with corbel panels. This is also evidence of the repair process. In the architectural system, there are two beautifully carved artistic corbel panels.
- The first corbel panel depicts "Long Van": a lone dragon flying in the clouds, its body appearing and disappearing through swirling cloud clusters. Mixed with the fan-blade-curled dragon tail, the sharp claws, and the long mane extending, it carries the power of a sovereign deity.
The second corbel panel opposite is carved in relief with the work "Rong Cuon Thuy": This is a theme often seen in relics of low-lying rice-field areas. The work shows the mindset of an agricultural worker, the wish for favorable rain and wind, green trees, and a life of warmth and abundance for them.
In the Rear Hall: one can also see some blocks carved with lotus flowers, square pillars with seal-script characters, truss ends with incised leaf motifs, lotus petals, and line carving.... In the central bay, the upper tie beam records the year of the pagoda's repair:
On the brick wall of the rear communal house, bricks of the 18th century are still preserved.
The Ancestor House combined with the Guest House uses qua giang and continuous-brace architecture, with smooth planing and tight joining, in ordinary wood material.
Before 1945, Hung Phuc Tu was an ancient pagoda with a fairly complete system of Le-era Buddha statues. During the resistance war against the French colonialists, the invaders destroyed the pagoda and a series of precious literary and artistic works were lost with it. Fortunately, three statues remain: Amitabha, Tuyet Suong, and one Tam The, along with one bell and three Buddhist stele inscriptions.
- Amitabha statue: is a beautiful artwork, and has a large carved presence placed in the middle of the Tam Bao. The work is divided into two parts: the statue and the statue base.
The statue is in a seated cross-legged position, circular, with both hands folded in its lap. Dimensions: height 1.57m, width at the base at the widest point 80cm in diameter, chest circumference 2.10m, base height 35cm, base diameter 1.10m decorated with 3 layers of lotus petals, each petal 22m wide and 20m high.
Observation: on the top of the statue's head there is a round protrusion, which is "Vo Kien Dinh" (a manifestation of the Buddha's long-cultivated profound wisdom; it is the voice of great wisdom that can see before, see after, see the whole universe, even the largest and the smallest, which only the wisdom eye of the divine can see. Surrounding the precious statue's head is a cluster of hair interwoven in a spiral style, expressing the character "Phạn" the Buddhist realm, is the halo radiating to all realms of the mortal world. The statue’s face is oval; all details—large kind eyes, a straight nose, and a gentle, approachable look close to an ordinary face—make the statue somewhat portrait-like. The Buddha’s ears are unusually large and long, the neck is tall with three folds, and the body wears a long flowing robe, creating many curving layers like the edge of a lotus leaf; in the middle of the chest there is a button shaped like the character “Phạm” and shimmering silk ribbons. Overall, the artistic details at the head, crown, and chest are prominent, and the face is very folk-like.
The Amitabha statue in a meditative sitting posture still carries much of the Vietnamese soul. Its lines are soft and graceful; it wears a long kasaya robe, and the coiled hair bun expresses yin and yang and the eternal existence of the Dharma. The statue is made of wood and is an extremely standard carving of a Buddha statue from the Later Le period (18th century).
- The Tam The statue: is a small-to-medium statue in a sitting posture on a lotus throne; on top there is an invisible topknot and a spiral hair cluster indicating the Buddha’s halo as described above for the Amitabha statue. The difference is that the statue sits with one hand pointing to the sky and one hand placed in its lap; the Buddha’s eyes are slightly closed, looking down gently and illuminating the conscience. The statue’s mouth still faintly bears a smile of salvation.
Overall, this is a statue of artistic value; standing before the Buddha, from the art and the Dharma, people who love art increasingly discover the profound meanings that the ancients wanted to send to later generations.
The remaining Tam The statue sits on a lotus throne; at a small scale, the lotus throne also has three layers, with bold petals, two layers opening upward and the lower layer folding down like the lotus pedestal of the Amitabha statue. Because they belong to the same statue system and were made by the same artisans, their style is harmonious and well matched.
- The Tuyet Suong statue: is carved very elaborately, in a sitting posture with both arms folded over the knees, one leg propped up and the other folded round. The statue is described realistically: the body is gaunt, the eyes look deeply in thought about the lives of sentient beings, as if admonishing them to do good.
The measurements are: height 78cm, chest 59cm, propped leg height 35cm, pedestal width 47cm. The statue’s body clearly shows each rib, thin and dry; it wears a loincloth, and soft strips of the loincloth are draped from the shoulder across the body and winding around the arms. Both arms are folded on the knees, matching the locked sitting posture. The face looks austere, with long, sharp-edged earlobes. This is a statue with a low posture like Tuyet Suong at Tay Phuong Pagoda.
In summary: The three statues remain after many wars. These are works of art, the result of the diligent labor and creative intelligence left by our ancestors.
The voice of art will help us understand the cultural, social, and economic traditions of that time. Preserving works of art must be regarded as treasuring precious objects and as materials for researching the history, economy, politics, and culture of a period. At the same time, they are evidence speaking of the historical tradition of the homeland through the centuries.
In addition, the pagoda also has a bronze bell cast in the sixth year of the Minh Menh reign (1825). The bronze bell is a work of bronze-casting technique and a musical instrument, and on it the art of decorating the casting mold is very elaborate: lemon flowers, trapezoids, round dots, lotus petals, seal script...
* Date of the pagoda
The current pagoda was rebuilt in the Nguyen period. According to local legend: when the communal house was built in the Quy Hoi year (1863), the pagoda had already been rebuilt before that. Also, according to the rear stele inscription in the twentieth year of Tu Duc (1859), many villagers contributed to rebuilding the pagoda. Thus, from 1859, the people of Hung Cong, one year later in 1860 (Canh Than year), completed the restoration of the pagoda on the current large scale.
However, this was a very large repair; on the other hand, Dinh Xuyen Pagoda has an even earlier date based on:
1 - Rear Buddha stele inscription dated the second day of the seventh month of the seventeenth year of Gia Long (1818).
2 - The precious statues from the 18th century.
From this it can be judged that: in the seventeenth year of Gia Long (1818) there was already a pagoda here, so the local people’s contribution to its repair was recorded on the rear stele; the pagoda must predate the Nguyen period. Because there is logical documentation and there are Buddha statues of the pagoda from the 18th century, this is scientific evidence giving us initial observations for further discussion of the origin date of Hung Phuc Pagoda, possibly in the Later Le period (18th century).
- Artifacts to be inventoried and entered into the list.
- Rear steles: 3, made under Gia Long in the seventh month, 17 (1818), Tu Duc 12 (1859), and Minh Menh 6 (...)
- Ceramic incense burners: 8
- Wooden lamp stands: 9
- Wooden incense tubes: 10
- Porcelain vases: 8
- Wooden offering trays: 7
- Wooden ceremonial stands: 9
- Bronze worship cranes: 4
- Minh Menh sixth-year bell (1825): 1
- Wooden statues: 18
- Worship thrones: 6
- Long altar tables: 1
- Box for Buddhist sutra books: 1.
Dinh Xuyen Pagoda is an artistic architectural work that has passed through many generations and contains several precious artistic works from the Later Le period. As a cultural work cared for by the people and repaired many times, it is relatively solid and spacious.
Dinh Xuyen Pagoda is a place of Buddha worship. This is a cultural work with ancient architecture. The pagoda still preserves many precious works of art, crystallizing the fruits of the diligent labor and creative intelligence of the people of the home commune.
