Đại Tòng Lâm Pagoda

Đại Tòng Lâm Pagoda, with its full name Vạn Phật Quang Đại Tòng Lâm Tự, is a major pagoda featuring many large-scale and modern structures. The pagoda is located on National Highway 51, Quảng Phú quarter, Phú Mỹ ward, Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam.

The pagoda was founded by Most Venerable Thích Thiện Hòa (1907–1978), who came from Ấn Quang Pagoda (Hồ Chí Minh City) to establish it in 1958 with the aim of building a large-scale đại tòng lâm (great monastic complex), progressing towards opening a Buddhist academy, gathering monks and nuns from everywhere to study and practice, and training a successor force to carry out the mission of propagating the Dharma and saving sentient beings. Đại Tòng Lâm is located at km 80–81, National Highway 51, Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu province. After his passing (1978), this aspiration continued to be realised by successive abbots.

The pagoda grounds occupy a vast area of nearly 100 hectares, and here are the following notable structures:

The main hall, Vạn Phật Quang âm Đại Tòng Lâm Tự, has two storeys, is 91 metres long and 46 metres wide, and was built under the organisation of Most Venerable Thích Quảng Hiển in 2002, following the design of architect Lê Quang Mẫn.

The upper floor of the Buddha Hall enshrines nine large granite statues, including: the Amitābha Trinity (comprising Buddha A-di-đà, Bodhisattva Quán Thế Âm, and Bodhisattva Đại Thế Chí), the Śākyamuni Trinity (comprising Buddha Thích-ca Mâu-ni and the two bodhisattvas Văn-thù-sư-lợi and Phổ Hiền), two Dharma Protectors, and the Patriarch Bodhidharma. The surrounding walls of the Buddha Hall are adorned with 10,000 small Buddha statues (each 0.25m wide at the knees, 0.30m high) according to the Sūtra of Ten Thousand Buddhas. The ground floor of the Buddha Hall venerates Buddha A-di-đà.

The Maitreya Buddha Platform is in front of the main hall. The Maitreya Buddha statue is carved from a single block of granite sourced from the Cam Ranh mountains (Khánh Hòa). The statue weighs 40 tonnes and is 5.1 metres high.

The Cửu phẩm Cực Lạc Statue Garden, next to the Maitreya Platform, consists of 48 granite statues of Buddha A-di-đà, including one statue 18 metres high made of concrete.

Other notable structures here include: Đa Bảo Stupa, Lâm Tì Ni Garden and Lộc Uyển Garden, the Reclining Buddha Thích-ca Mâu-ni statue on a lotus pedestal, the outdoor Bodhisattva Quán Thế Âm statue standing on a dragon's head, 17 metres high, and more.

In addition, within the pagoda grounds is the Đại Tòng Lâm Buddhist School, completed in 1995, with a capacity for a thousand people. The Thiện Hòa Grand Ordination Ceremony is regularly organised by the Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu Provincial Buddhist Sangha Executive Board on a large, solemn, and dignified scale here every three years.

Currently, the pagoda's management board is constructing the first Đại Tòng Lâm Buddhist General Hospital in Vietnamese Buddhism, with a scale of 500 beds on a total area of 14 hectares.

Currently, Vạn Phật Quang Đại Tòng Lâm Tự has been recognised by the Vietnam Records Book Centre for six records, which are:

1. The pagoda with "the largest main hall in Vietnam" on 2 January 2006.

2. The pagoda with "the most Buddha statues in Vietnam" on 31 May 2007.

3. The pagoda with "the largest monolithic granite Maitreya Buddha statue in Vietnam" on 21 March 2009.

4. The pagoda with "the Cửu phẩm Cực Lạc statue garden enshrining the most granite Buddha A-di-đà statues in Vietnam" in 2009.

5. The pagoda with "the highest number of monks and nuns attending the An cư kiết hạ retreat in Vietnam" on 30 November 2007.

6. The pagoda with "the largest granite Tam Thánh (Three Holy Ones) statue set in Vietnam" on 20 December 2010.