Bộc Pagoda

Bộc Pagoda (also known by its formal names Sùng Phúc Tự or Thiên Phúc Tự) is located in Khương Thượng village, now part of Kim Liên ward, Hanoi city. The pagoda is situated in the area where the historic Đống Đa battle took place in 1789 (about 300 metres from Đống Đa mound), next to Loa Mountain (Loa Sơn), also called Cây Cờ Mountain, where the enemy general Sầm Nghi Đống hanged himself.

The pagoda was originally built for the worship of the Buddha, but because it is located right next to a battlefield between the Tây Sơn and Qing armies, it also worships King Quang Trung and the souls of those who died in battle.

Previously, the pagoda was called Sùng Phúc (Sùng Phúc Tự), and it was built during the Later Lê dynasty or earlier. The oldest stele at the pagoda records the first year of the Vĩnh Trị era, during the reign of Lê Hy Tông (1676). The pagoda's historical record notes that in 1676, during the reign of King Lê Hy Tông, the monk Trương Trung Bá together with the people rebuilt the pagoda after it had been destroyed by war.

During the Đống Đa battle, the pagoda was burned down (1789), and three years later, in 1792, during the Quang Trung era, it was restored on the old foundation as a place for the souls of the Qing soldiers to take refuge, and renamed Thiên Phúc Pagoda. However, people still commonly called it Bộc Pagoda, referring to the corpses of the enemy exposed everywhere. "Bộc" means "exposed", indicating that the pagoda was built right on the battlefield where the enemy lay dead and exposed.

The pagoda has close ties to the Tây Sơn army's victory in the Year of the Rooster (Kỷ Dậu, 1789). Right in front of Bộc Pagoda, there is still a pond called Tắm Tượng Pond, where the Tây Sơn army's elephants bathed after capturing the Khương Thượng fort. Today, the pond's area is much reduced compared to before.

Behind the pagoda is the Loa Sơn relic, where the enemy general Sầm Nghi Đống, after his defeat, hanged himself. Within the pagoda is also the Thanh miếu, that is, the shrine to Sầm Nghi Đống as well as the Qing soldiers who died in battle. The Thanh miếu was built by order of King Quang Trung himself. Among the people, the following verse is still passed down:

Đống Đa ghi dấu nơi đây

Bên kia Thanh miếu, bên này Bộc am.

(Đống Đa marks this place

On that side is the Thanh miếu, on this side is the Bộc hermitage.)

In the pagoda, besides two steles made in 1676, there is also the "Chính Hòa Bính Dần" stele (1686), but more importantly, there is a stele made in the Nhâm Tí year of the Quang Trung era.

Before 1945, the abbot Hòa thượng Chính Công opened a dharma school here, training many monks and nuns.

In 1959, a stele inscribed with the fourth year of the Quang Trung era (1792) and a bronze bell inscribed with the Cảnh Thịnh era (under Nguyễn Quang Toản), as well as several artefacts around Đống Đa mound such as a coin-casting furnace, horizontal boards, and parallel sentences related to the Tây Sơn dynasty, were discovered.

The pagoda is also known for its famous traditional medicine clinic.

The pagoda was recognised by the Ministry of Culture as a National Historical and Cultural Relic in 1962 (in the same batch as Ngọc Sơn Temple, ...).

After ascending the throne (1802), Emperor Gia Long of the Nguyễn dynasty carried out a series of brutal reprisals against the Tây Sơn generals, their descendants, and even the remains of King Quang Trung himself. All worship activities related to the Tây Sơn dynasty were strictly prohibited. However, at Bộc Pagoda, the statue of Quang Trung continued to be worshipped in secret, under the guise of Đức Ông (the Venerable Lord).

The statue of Đức Ông sits on high, with two other statues on either side below. The three statues together give the impression of a king discussing important affairs with two close courtiers. The posture of the Đức Ông statue is also unusual. He sits on a vermilion-lacquered pedestal, with one foot inside his shoe and the other naturally resting outside, very lifelike. He wears a yellow imperial robe embroidered with dragons hidden in clouds, a belt inlaid with gems, and a xung thiên hat with two golden tassels hanging down, looking very majestic. All these garments are those of an emperor.

Right behind the statue, above the head, is a large Chinese character "tâm" (心, meaning "heart"). Above, in front of the altar, is a horizontal board inscribed with four characters: "Uy phong lẫm liệt" (Majestic and awe-inspiring).

Most notable is the pair of parallel sentences hanging on either side of the altar to Đức Chúa Ông:

" 洞裡無塵大地山河留棟宇

　光中化佛小天世界轉風雲"

(Động lý vô trần đại địa sơn hà lưu đống vũ.

Quang trung hoá Phật tiểu thiên thế giới chuyển phong vân.)

(In the cave, free from dusty filth, the vast land and rivers preserve the great pillars;

In the light, becoming Buddha, the small world stirs with wind and clouds.)

If read in full, the sentence should be: "Quang trung hoá Phật vô số ức", meaning: In the light (quang trung) there are countless manifestations of Buddha. But the second line of this couplet can also be interpreted differently: "King Quang Trung transforms into Buddha...". This second meaning is entirely acceptable in the Chinese text.

At the beginning of 1962, staff from the Department of Preservation and Museums under the Ministry of Culture and the Hanoi Department of Culture came to Bộc Pagoda to conduct an on-site investigation, confirming the value of the Bộc Pagoda site. On the afternoon of 20 April 1962, Lê Thước, an official from the Department of Preservation and Museums, together with several colleagues, visited Bộc Pagoda for another investigation. On 22 April 1962, Mr. Trần Huy Bá examined the statue and discovered, behind the wooden pedestal pressed against the wall, an inscription reading: "Bính Ngọ tạo Quang Trung tượng" (Statue of King Quang Trung made in the year Bính Ngọ). Comparing this with the inscription on the couplet above, it was determined to be the year Bính Ngọ, 1846.

In Nhân Dân newspaper, issue dated 6 May 1962, Mr. Trần Huy Liệu published an article entitled "The strange statue at Bộc Pagoda or the people's love for their hero".

In Cứu Quốc newspaper, issue 3577, dated 20 February 1972, author Đạm Duy wrote: "It was Mr. Nguyễn Kiên, a military general in charge of the Tây Sơn elephant corps, who later became a monk at Bộc Pagoda, who had the statue of King Quang Trung made. Mr. Nguyễn Kiên was a close friend of the poet and peasant uprising leader Cao Bá Quát. The couplet praising King Quang Trung quoted above is said to be by the poet Cao."