Du Noi Pagoda (Phuc Lam Tu)

Du Noi Pagoda is located in Du Noi Village, Mai Lam Commune, now Mai Lam Village, Dong Anh Commune, Hanoi City. During the Ly Dynasty, the villages of Du Ngoai, Du Noi, and Du Bi were all within the Hoa Lam Garden area, of which Du Noi Village was at the center of the Ly Dynasty's royal resting palace. Since ancient times, the pagoda was named Hoa Lam Pagoda; today it is called Du Noi Pagoda or by its literary name “Phuc Lam Tu”. In 1957, the Mai Lam dike broke, and the villagers of Du Noi moved Phuc Lam Pagoda from outside the riverbank into the dike at its current location. Based on a number of relics, including a stone balustrade with crocodile motifs and lotus-shaped stone plinths carved with Ly Dynasty patterns, it can be inferred that Du Noi Pagoda was built during the Ly Dynasty (1009–1025). Based on the stele “Hau Phat Van Minh Vinh Tuyen” dated the 6th year of Vinh Thinh (1710), the stele “Ky Ky Ban Thon” dated the 7th year of Minh Menh (1826), indicate that Phuc Lam Pagoda has a long history and has been restored many times. The pagoda was built on a spacious, open plot of land facing south. The pagoda has a layout in the shape of the character “ding”. The front hall has 3 bays and 2 side compartments, built in the style of closed gable walls with ngai-style handrails, roofed with local tiles, the ridge built in the nail-ridge style, and in the center of the ridge three Han characters are embossed “Phuc Lam Tu” (Phuc Lam Pagoda); on both gable ends are embossed rice-ball-shaped brackets, and the long ridges are stepped. The two ends of the gable walls extend about 1.5m beyond the porch, ending in an ornamental pillar as high as the roof ridge. The front of the front hall has 3 plank doors. The roof-supporting frame consists of 4 trusses of the crossbeam truss type. The architectural decoration is simple; in the central bay of the front hall is a large horizontal plaque “Phuc Lam Thien Tu”, below which is a carved curtain door with two dragons flanking the moon and dragon heads. The two side bays have altars to the Holy Monk and Duc Ong. The upper sanctuary has two bays running lengthwise and connected to the central bay of the front hall, forming the character “ding”, the roof-supporting frame consists of 3 trusses with a structure of the “crossbeam truss”. Above hangs a large horizontal plaque "Great Hero Precious Hall” (the Buddha hall). Close to both gable walls, high platforms are built for altars to statues of De Thich Vuong and Pham Thich Vuong. The Mother House is to the right of the main pagoda, with 4 bays built in the closed-gable-wall style, roofed with local tiles, the ridge covered with discarded tiles, the side ridges built in the nail-ridge style, and the roof-supporting frame consists of 5 trusses of the crossbeam truss type; the front has three plank doors, and the two sides have solid walls. The central bay has an altar to the Three Holy Mothers, above which hangs a horizontal plaque: “A Motherly Model for the World”. On both sides are a pair of parallel sentences. The right bay worships Lady Son Trang; above hangs a horizontal plaque “Mountains and Rivers Gather Spiritual Essence”, below hangs a relief curtain door, pierced-carved with blooming chrysanthemums and two dragons flanking the moon. In the center, a statue of Mother Thuong Ngan is placed in a wooden shrine, with ritual objects in front. The left bay worships the saint of the Tran Dynasty; above hangs a horizontal plaque “The Tran Dynasty's Manifest Saint”; below hangs a relief-carved curtain door, pierced-carved with blooming chrysanthemums and two dragons flanking the moon. In the center, a statue of the Tran Dynasty saint is placed in a wooden shrine, with ritual objects displayed in front. The 4-bay Ancestor House is behind the left side of the pagoda, with a flat ceiling roof and a porch about 2m wide, with 4 rows of porch columns forming arches; the front has three doors, the central door has an iron flower grille above and below are carvings of plum blossoms, deer, and whips, the two side bays have windows, and the right bay has a side door. The central bay is the ancestor altar, above which hangs a horizontal plaque “To An Trung Quang”, with a pair of parallel sentences in Han characters on both sides.

The system of Buddha statues at the pagoda is quite rich, bearing 20th-century artistic style. Typical are the statues of the Three Worlds, Amitabha, Thousand-Armed Thousand-Eyed, Nine Dragons Bathing the Infant Shakyamuni, and the Duc Ong statue… In particular, the pagoda still preserves a Ly Dynasty stone balustrade with crocodile motifs, a well-rim, lotus-shaped stone plinths, and a system of stone steles dating from the Le to the Nguyen Dynasties, along with ritual objects such as a bronze censer, incense bowls, white-glazed blue-painted ceramic vases, incense tables, worship thrones, shrines, and many horizontal plaques, parallel sentences, and curtain doors, lacquered red and gilded, which are carefully preserved at the site. Every year, Phuc Lam Pagoda holds the main Buddhist festivals (according to the lunar calendar). For example, on the full moon of the first lunar month, the Thuong Nguyen ceremony is held; on 08/02, the commemoration of Shakyamuni Buddha's renunciation; on the 15th day of the second lunar month, the commemoration of Shakyamuni Buddha's entry into nirvana, etc. In addition to its significance as a place of Buddha worship, Phuc Lam Pagoda also carries important historical value: the pagoda is evidence of the Hoa Lam Garden event, the maternal homeland of Ly Thai To, with Bai Da Sap and Ly Gia Lang being important historical vestiges for research and understanding of Ly Dynasty history as well as the history of the capital Thang Long - Hanoi.

The Du Noi Pagoda relic site was ranked as a city-level historical and cultural relic according to Decision No. 490/QD-UBND dated January 19, 2012.