TRĂM GIAN PAGODA

Not far from the center of Hanoi, a famous ancient temple throughout the Đoài region named Trăm Gian Pagoda is located in Tiên Lữ village, Chương Mỹ ward. Trăm Gian Pagoda is a national relic. Situated on Sở Mountain, which resembles a horse's back, the pagoda has the Sino-Vietnamese name Quảng Nghiêm Tự, also known as Tiên Lữ Pagoda.

According to ancient documents, the pagoda was established during the reign of King Lý Cao Tông, in 1185. Featuring the distinctive architectural style of 'Buddha in front, Saint behind,' it is a place to worship Buddha and Saint Bối Nguyễn Bình An.

Legend says that Saint Bối was born
in Bối Khê village (Thanh Oai). At the age of fifteen, he went to Tiên Lữ Mountain to seek
a teacher and study the Way, mastered all supernatural powers, and was conferred the title of Most Venerable
Đức Minh by King Trần. After rebuilding the pagoda on Tiên Lữ Mountain, when he was 95
years old  and preparing to leave the mortal world, on the night of the 12th until dawn on the 13th day of
the 12th lunar month, he sat in
a wooden coffin and instructed his disciples that after a full hundred days they should open it and see if there was a fragrant scent
then they should use rattan to make a new statue for worship/ on the 4th day of the first lunar month, the people opened
the wooden coffin to look and saw a halo and a fragrant scent, so they carried him up to the pagoda for a ceremony. Since then, the affectionate bond between the two villages
Bối Khê – Tiên Lữ has been firmly connected through many centuries, jointly revering and worshiping
Saint Bối.

Trăm Gian Pagoda today is a masterpiece
of unique architecture, nestled in the shade of hundreds of ancient trees. The complex
brings together exactly one hundred and four (100 rooms), divided into three spatial clusters arranged
symmetrically from low to high along the mountain slope.

When we step into the pagoda, we can rest
at the guest reception house and the ceremony preparation house; following the stone steps is the first cluster right
at the foot of the mountain, the silent Giá Ngự house overlooking a serene lotus pond, where in the past the
Saint's palanquin was placed during major festivals. Climbing the stone steps, we reach the second cluster
- the two-tiered bell tower built in 1693. It is considered one of the
oldest and most beautiful bell towers remaining in the northern region, with an otherworldly beauty
and soaring curved roof corners. Here hangs an ancient bell cast in 1794, along with a
bronze gong cast in 1749, its sound resounding throughout the spiritual realm. The
final cluster on the mountain peak is the main pagoda area, arranged in the 'inner
công, outer quốc' layout, very imposing, including the Bái đường, Thiêu hương, and
Thượng điện halls. The system of large lim-wood columns and finely carved trusses depicting
dragons, clouds, flowers, and leaves bears strong artistic features of the Lý-Trần period.

The pagoda also preserves more than one hundred ancient statues,
typically the terracotta altar from the Mạc period, the statue of General Đặng Tiến Đông, and the
shrine to Saint Bối made of woven rattan, along with ancient stupas such as Từ Huệ Stupa and Viên Dung
Stupa scattered on Tiên Lữ Mountain, marking the devout monks of a bygone era

Trăm Gian Pagoda Festival is one of the
the most distinctive festival in the region, still preserving intact cultural values; every time
at the beginning of spring, from the 4th to the 6th day of the first lunar month, the Trăm Gian Pagoda festival becomes bustling
as it opens, attracting tens of thousands of pilgrims and visitors from all directions. It has become a tradition for many
generations now, every year on the 4th day of Tet it welcomes a delegation of quan anh sãi guests consisting of 08 elderly
men and 08 elderly women from Bối Khê village, the homeland of the Saint, to attend the pagoda festival. The elderly
sãi from Bối Khê bring firecrackers to offer to the Saint and add orchid displays. Games are organized
in the festival: human chess, wrestling, water puppetry; a special feature of the festival is the contest
of cooking vegetarian offerings and performing dry puppetry

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The vegetarian offering contest (banana glutinous rice) to give thanks on the 6th day; ingredients must be prepared from
many months in advance. From August, one had to go find families with beautifully flowering banana plants
to order in advance; when the bananas shed their sheaths, buy square mats, cut holes in the bottom / cover them again
to avoid dust and insects causing scratches/ when the bananas grow a little, use paper
and padding to shape the banana bunch into an even round spread. By the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, prepare
the Quan Giám Trai ceremony to cut bananas and buy rice; about 50 kg of yellow-flower glutinous rice is pounded
by the 25th, sift the largest grains, taking only 2/3 of the rice to make 16 large oản offerings
the contest standard is 04 large, long, plump bunches of tiêu bananas, still green or just ripe
and not worm-eaten. The 16 white oản offerings must be smooth and shiny like a mirror. The family
winning first prize must present them to the elderly and the provincial head mandarins.

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Organizing the human chess contest: Those chosen as chess pieces must be healthy and strong,
graceful, unmarried; traditional costumes of different colors.
Those chosen to play the male general must be titled mandarins; those
playing the female general must be wives of mandarins with complete families and not
over 50 years old. Those who want to participate must register and be tested on chess
before competing. Through nearly one
thousand years of history, Trăm Gian Pagoda remains a sacred place, where fully preserved
the invaluable cultural, architectural, and spiritual values of our ancestors, forever a source of pride
for the people here.