Hoi Village Communal House and Pagoda, Gia Lam Commune

The communal house and pagoda of Hoi village are named after the village's place name; the pagoda has the Sino-Vietnamese name “Sung Kinh Tu” (Sung Kinh Pagoda), in Co Bi commune, Gia Lam district, Hanoi city, now Gia Lam commune, Hanoi city.

The collection of legends compiled by Eastern Hall Grand Secretary Nguyen Binh in the 3rd year of Hong Phuc (1572) states that Hoi village communal house worships A La Nang De and Cao Bien. The legends of the deities are recorded and reflected as follows:

At that time, in Pha Lai page, Que Duong district, Tu Son prefecture, Kinh Bac region, there was a man surnamed La named Tien, whose wife was named Trieu Thi Phung. They were poor people who made a living by fishing all year round and were loyal and filial. One day, while fishing upstream on the Nguyet Duc River and resting near a shrine, they both dreamed that a deity sent a goddess down to help the people. Later, the woman became pregnant and in the second month of the Quy Mui year gave birth to a daughter of extraordinary natural endowment and remarkable appearance, so they named her A La. At the age of 16, A La was very bright, her learning grew ever more profound, and she also had courage, spirit, and generosity beyond others. Moreover, there was no skill in music, chess, poetry, or painting that she did not know; she was truly a talented young woman, and also possessed beauty as exquisite as Hang Nga on the cassia palace.

At that time, none of the talented scholars and writers in the pages satisfied her, so her good marriage fate was still waiting. Then unexpectedly, one night both her father and mother passed away. After she completed the funeral rites, it happened that the Trung Sisters raised troops to avenge and pacify the enemy To Dinh.

Upon hearing this news, Lady A La immediately recruited a thousand soldiers and horses; in her own village alone, more than fifty people asked to follow her as household retainers. Then the officers and troops performed rites to Heaven and Earth and paid homage to the hundred deities; afterward they led the army into battle, soldiers marching with banners fluttering and covering the roads, gongs and drums shaking the earth and resounding like thunder. One day the army advanced to the Hiep Ky area of Chu Dien district, Son Tay region, to join forces and discuss plans to attack the enemy. Trung Vuong knew that Lady A La was a person of military talent and rich strategy, so she appointed her as a strategic minister. Lady A La reported: “Send the commanding generals to lead troops divided into two routes, East and West, to guard the citadels; fighting this way, one battle will bring victory.”

Lady A La wore brightly colored clothes and asked Trung Vuong to let her use invisibility magic to enter the enemy camp and scout the situation of To Dinh's troops in the citadels, then return to report. Lady Trung Trac and her younger sister Trung Nhi led troops to defeat To Dinh and captured sixty-five citadels. The two ladies ascended the throne and issued edicts inviting the generals to court, held a grand banquet, and granted titles to the soldiers according to different ranks. Trung Vuong granted Lady A La a fief in Dong Ngan district.

When she died, Trung Vuong issued an edict permitting Duong An page to worship her. Later, King Dinh Tien Hoang, after pacifying the rebellion of the Twelve Warlords, came to her temple to pay homage and saw miraculous manifestations; therefore, from then on, sacrifices were held every year. She was granted the title A La Nang De Princess, and posthumously honored as Tue Tinh Lady. Yellow, purple, red, and white vestments were all prohibited. From then on, the deity was very efficacious, so later reigns added beautiful titles. In the Tran dynasty, when Yuan troops invaded and the capital was besieged, Tran Quoc Tuan obeyed orders to pray to the hundred deities, respectfully asking the deities for support; when he came to the princess's temple, he saw miraculous efficacy, and after defeating O Ma Nhi, King Tran Thai Tong conferred the beautiful title Dieu Quang Linh Ung. When King Le Thai To rose in revolt and crushed the Ming enemy Liu Thang, the king again conferred on the deity the title Nhan Uyen Cuong Nghi Anh Linh and issued an edict for Duong An page to build a temple to worship the deity. Surrounding villages and hamlets also established shrines for remote worship.

The second tutelary deity worshipped at the communal house is Cao Bien, an intelligent and strategically gifted man who understood history and geography and rose to the position of Vice Minister, was appointed Inspector, Minister of Works, Military Commissioner of Tinh Hai, Protector-General of An Nam, and concurrently Recruiting Commissioner of the mobile commands of the circuits.

At that time, the Linh Chieu rebels were all pacified, and the commanderies in Lingnan began to enjoy peace. Then the Prince made an inspection tour and saw that many places along the river transport route were dangerous; beneath the riverbed were many large rocks standing erect in the middle of the river, more than fifty truong wide, which no hammer could break. Not knowing what to do, the Prince prayed: “The way of Heaven helps the gentle, and meritorious officials help the upright. Now I dredge the sea current to help the living people; if it is not for private gain, what difficulty is there?” Suddenly the sky darkened, wind and rain arose, and lightning struck hundreds of times at that great rock. After a moment the sky cleared again, and the rock had been shattered. Thanks to this, the work was completed.

The people of Nam Viet remembered the Prince's merits, so three or four hundred communes established temples to worship him; in Bac Ninh district alone there were more than a hundred places. The temples worshiping the Prince were all very sacred, and prayers always met with response. Successive dynasties conferred on the Prince the title of superior blessed deity.

Over time, the communal house and pagoda of Hoi village have been restored and repaired many times, including a major restoration in the first year of Bao Dai (1926), recorded on the upper beam of the main communal house.

The communal house and pagoda of Hoi village currently stand on a spacious, airy plot at the head of the village and face southeast. According to the village elders, the Hoi communal house formerly had a ceremonial gate, a screen, a raised courtyard, and two rows of left and right side houses. However, due to years of war, these structures no longer remain.

The components of the communal house relic include the ceremonial gate and the main communal house. The communal house is arranged in a T shape, including the front sacrificial hall and the rear sanctuary. The pagoda is arranged in a T shape, including the front hall and the upper sanctuary, surrounded by a large garden planted with fruit trees, creating scenery and shade.

The ceremonial gate is built in a simple style. Around the front, an enclosing wall is built. Next is a courtyard paved with Bat Trang bricks leading to the front sacrificial hall, a three-bay, two-wing house with a Bat Trang brick floor. Through three brick steps, one enters the main architecture. The house is built in the style of a closed gable wall with hand-shaped supports, roofed with Vietnamese tiles, and the ridge is decorated with a motif of two dragons flanking the moon. The two gable walls of the front hall are connected to two symbolic pillars in front. The top of the pillars is in the shape of a young bud, the lantern panel is decorated in relief with the four sacred creatures, and below is the pillar body, square on three sides for writing couplets. In front, three doors are opened in the style of panel doors evenly dividing the three bays; the two front wings have longevity-character windows for light. The front hall has four roof frames structured in the style of ““crossbeam truss”.

The rear sanctuary is a single-bay house running lengthwise and connected to the central bay of the front hall to form a T shape; it is roofed with Vietnamese tiles and floored with Bat Trang bricks. In the center is a platform about 1.5 m high, on which the tutelary deity's throne and other ritual objects are arranged.

The pagoda was built in the same orientation as the communal house and has a T-shaped architectural structure consisting of the front hall and the upper sanctuary.

The front hall consists of five bays, built in the style of a closed gable wall with hand-shaped supports, the two gable ends are decorated with a motif of a square bracket, roofed with Vietnamese tiles, and the ridge and borders are built in the style of a nail border. The two gable walls are extended by about 50 cm and connected to two symbolic pillars almost as high as the roof ridge; the two pillars are simple, with a square bracket shape at the top, plain lantern panels, and the pillar bodies are decorated with two couplets. In front, two doors are opened; the door leaves are made in the style of “panel doors”, the steps are built with one level. The floor of the front hall is built 15 cm higher than the courtyard. The roof-supporting frame of the front hall consists of six roof frames made in the style of “gia chieng ke truyen”, the roof is divided as “upper three, lower four”. The round wooden columns supporting the roof have a gourd-shaped form and rest on smooth blue stone bases in two layers, the upper layer round and the lower layer square; the floor is paved with brick.

Upper Sanctuary is a single-bay longitudinal house connected to the central bay of the front hall to form a T shape. The roof-supporting frame has two roof frames; the outer frame is made in the style of ““con me”, with seal-script patterns carved on it; the inner frame is made in the simple “chong ruong” style. The upper sanctuary is formed by layers of brick platforms rising gradually from the outside to the inside, forming the Buddha hall with the following statue tiers: The first tier is the Three Worlds statues, whose full name is “Tam The Thuong Tru Dieu Phap Than”, symbolizing the existence of Buddhism on the time axis of past, present, and future. The second tier is the Amitabha statue. The third tier is the Cundi Guanyin statue (Bodhisattva and the Child-Sending Guanyin statue). The fourth tier is the Nine Dragons throne and the statue of the infant Shakyamuni. Outside the front hall, on the left is the altar of Duc Ong, and on the right is the altar of Duc Thanh Hien.

Among the statues worshipped at the relic, notable are the three Three Worlds statues, which are identical in size and appearance and not very large; they display auspicious marks such as a raised fleshy mound on the top of the head like a hair bun, spiral hair, so folk called them “three snail Buddhas”; long ears, long arms, round faces, half-closed eyes looking down, deep philtrum, and mouths with a faint smile. The noses of the statues are straight and slightly flat, bearing the artistic style of the 19th century.

Currently, the communal house and pagoda of Hoi village still preserve two stone steles: the “Hau Phat Bi Ky” stele dated the first year of Canh Thinh (1793); the “Ky Ky Bi Danh” stele dated the 5th year of Tu Duc (1852); and three edicts dated the 3rd year of Duy Tan (1909), the 5th year of Duy Tan (1911), and the 2nd year of Khai Dinh (1917), together with the round statues in Sung Kinh Pagoda, which contribute to a better understanding of the history of fine arts and the art of Vietnamese Buddhist sculpture in the 19th century.

During the revolutionary resistance period, the Hoi village pagoda was also a place for Viet Minh activities, a place where wounded soldiers were gathered, and the place where the first party cell of Co Bi commune was established. The hollow wooden columns made of lim wood inside the pagoda were places for hiding weapons, documents, and the red flag with a yellow star of the Hoi village guerrilla platoon.

The communal house and pagoda of Hoi village are not only a historical and artistic relic containing many cultural, historical, and Buddhist historical values, but also a revolutionary resistance relic of the locality. The Hoi Village Communal House and Pagoda were ranked by the Hanoi City People's Committee as a Historical and Artistic Relic in 2009.