Địch Lộng Pagoda

Địch Lộng Cave - Pagoda is located in the land of Địch Lộng hamlet, Gia Trấn commune, Ninh Bình province, Vietnam.

The cave is less than 1 km from National Highway 1, accessible from Khuất Bridge along the southern bank of the Đáy River heading west.

Địch Lộng Cave - Pagoda was classified as a national historical and cultural site of Vietnam in 1990. Địch Lộng Cave - Pagoda is so beautiful that in the past, royalty and nobility ranked it among the "First Caves of the Southern Heavens". If King Tự Đức bestowed upon Hương Tích the title of "Nam thiên đệ nhất động" (the most beautiful cave under the southern sky), and Lord Trịnh Sâm bestowed upon Bích Động the title of "Nam thiên đệ nhị động" (the second most beautiful cave under the southern sky), then Địch Lộng was also granted by King Minh Mạng the title of "Nam thiên đệ tam động", meaning the third most beautiful cave under the southern sky.

Địch Lộng Cave lies in a wild, dense forested mountain area. Standing at the cave entrance, when the wind blows in, it sounds like the whistling of a flute, hence the name Địch Lộng ("Flute Echo"). Seeing that the cave contained many strangely shaped stalactites, the people of Gia Thanh commune opened a path and established a pagoda to worship the Buddha in the year Canh Thân, during the reign of King Lê Hiển Tông, the first year of the Cảnh Hưng era, that is, in 1740, with the formal name Nham Sơn động Cổ Am Tự (meaning Cổ Am Pagoda in Nham Sơn Cave). At the same time, they also built a đình (communal house) here, forming an architectural complex of pagoda and đình as seen today.

Địch Lộng Cave - Pagoda is a complex of scenic relics including a stone đình (communal house, with 16 monolithic stone columns); a temple dedicated to Lý Quốc Sư; a semicircular lake, five three-storey stupas, and the three-bay Lower Pagoda (Chùa Hạ), as well as the Buddha garden and stupa garden on either side.

The pagoda inside Địch Lộng Cave consists of two areas divided by the entrance: the Bright Cave (Hang Sáng) and the Dark Cave (Hang Tối).

From the Lower Pagoda, passing through the Đức Ông Shrine, and climbing another 105 stone steps, one reaches the cave, above whose entrance are inscribed six characters: "Nham Sơn động, Cổ Am tự". On either side of the cave entrance are two Dharma Guardian statues, and from the 8-metre-high stone vault hangs a bell weighing nearly one ton, cast during the Nguyễn dynasty. In front of the cave is a shrine to the Lady of the Upper Forest (Bà Chúa Thượng Ngàn), a shrine to the Holy Mother (Đức Thánh Mẫu); two jade wells that year-round receive cool drops of water continuously dripping from the stalactites, and statues of the Good and Evil Deities (Ông Thiện, Ông Ác) riding lions. Standing in this courtyard, on the right is the pagoda, whose roof is the cave vault about 20 metres high and 30–40 metres deep, with many statues arranged from outside to inside, from low to high, especially the three lacquered and gilded statues of the Three Buddhas (Tam Thế Phật) bestowed during the reign of King Thiệu Trị, and the statues of Avalokiteśvara (Phật Bà Quan Âm) and Amitābha (A Di Đà) carved from monolithic blue stone.

Legend has it that once, on his way back to the imperial capital Huế, King Minh Mạng decided to visit this place. As his boat was about to pass through Kẽm Trống, the king's attendant read to him the poem "Kẽm Trống" by the poetess Hồ Xuân Hương. Considering it too vulgar, the king ordered the local people to dig another river so that boats would not have to "pass through" Kẽm Trống.

Địch Lộng Pagoda, which worships the Buddha, was also a revolutionary base throughout the nine-year resistance war against the French colonialists. The pagoda and cave were also places for storing weapons, later becoming a weapons production workshop of the Ministry of Defence, and the garrison of Division 320 during the campaign to break the enemy's Đáy River defensive line. Like Soi Mountain, the summit of the pagoda's mountain was also an outpost for our army and people.

Every year, on the 6th and 7th days of the third lunar month, the people of Gia Thanh commune organise the Địch Lộng Pagoda festival, praying for national peace and prosperity, abundant harvests, and a prosperous, happy life for all.