Hang Pagoda (Quảng Ngãi)

Hang Pagoda (its formal name is Thiên Khổng Thạch Tự, also known as the Heaven-born Stone Pagoda) is located in the Lý Sơn special zone, Quảng Ngãi province. It was established during the reign of King Lê Kính Tông by Trần Công Thành, one of the people who settled here, reclaiming land and founding the ancient villages of An Hải and An Vĩnh. It is called Hang Pagoda because it is situated inside the largest cave in the cave system of Lý Sơn, formed from the Thới Lới mountain range, with basaltic rock and cliffs rising nearly 20 metres high. Hang Pagoda was recognised as a national scenic site by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism under Decision No. 921 dated 20 July 1994.

The pagoda is located about 25 km southeast from Sa Kỳ port.

According to the book "Đại Nam nhất thống chí" by the National History Office of the Nguyễn Dynasty, there is a description of Hang Pagoda: "... on the east side of the island there is a cave, above the cave is a pagoda with several compartments, with stone beds and stone tables; on both sides of the cave there are wells with clear, sweet water, lush trees all around, and when there were sea bandits, the villagers would hide here".

Hang Pagoda originated as a temple of the Champa people worshipping Brahmin deities. Later, when the Vietnamese came to reclaim the land of Lý Sơn in the early 17th century, the pagoda became a place for Daoist cultivation and later a place for Buddhist worship.

The pagoda courtyard in front of the cave entrance faces the sea. In the middle of the courtyard is a lotus pond with a Buddha statue. Around the courtyard are ancient sea almond trees, some hundreds of years old. The cave is 24 metres deep, 20 metres wide, with a ceiling height of 3.2 metres, covering an area of 480 m².

Inside the cave are altars to Amitābha Buddha, Tathāgata, and Maitreya Buddha in the centre; an altar to Patriarch Bodhidharma on the left; an altar to the 12 Yama Kings, the three ancestral founders who succeeded each other in serving the pagoda (Trần Công Thành, Trần Công Hiền, Trần Công Quân), and the seven founding elders of An Hải village. The altars are crafted from natural stalactites on the cave floor, then further shaped into shrines.

Major annual events held at the pagoda include Tết Nguyên Đán (Lunar New Year), Vu Lan Festival, Buddha's Birthday, and the death anniversaries of the founding elders. On these occasions, local people come to perform rituals, recite Buddhist scriptures, and pay homage.

Lý Sơn Island consists of five mountains rising from the sea, curving like giant extinguished charcoal stoves. Locals say that only four of these have ever erupted, leaving wide mouths filled with basalt.

One of these mountains, Thới Lới, has a funnel-shaped mouth as wide as one square kilometre. The local authorities plan to build a reservoir here to provide water for the entire island during the four dry months each year.

First-time visitors may feel a shiver standing right inside the mouth of a volcano. Large basalt blocks hurled out towards the sea still lie scattered. Higher up, pagodas nestle deep in mountain crevices, among sparse vegetation.

The people of Lý Sơn cherish and carefully preserve their spiritual world. Every dinh (ancestral hall), miếu (spirit shrine), and sacred site is decorated and worshipped according to extremely strict rules. Every morning, one might see a fisherman stopping his boat before the path leading up to the Âm hồn biển dinh (Sea Spirits Hall) to offer a boiled chicken and a plate of fresh fruit, to comfort wandering souls at sea and pray for a safe voyage that night.

The path to Hang Pagoda, a scenic site recognised by the Ministry of Culture and Information as a cultural monument, is paved with small round stones, winding through lush green cornfields. In the fields, village girls laugh and chat noisily. But whenever visitors approach and raise a camera, they shyly run away or pull up their sun-shading scarves to hide their faces under their conical hats.

Hang Pagoda lies deep within a massive basalt block shaped as if it were erupting. The pagoda covers 480 square metres and is only 3.2 metres high. Its predecessor was an ancient Cham temple. The Cham statues were taken away by the French in the early 20th century, and the islanders replaced them with Buddhist altars and shrines to the founding elders of the island's three largest clans.

Every afternoon, the sound of prayers chanted by the wives of fishermen whose husbands are out at sea rises and lingers until dusk, filled with poignant sadness. Inside the pagoda, occasionally a cool drop of water falls from the cave ceiling, dissolving amid the chanting.

Lý Sơn also attracts visitors with its simple eateries serving dishes made from seafood, especially 14 different types of sea snails with strange names such as jumping snail, dune snail, hammer snail, fragrant snail, elephant snail, and more.

Visiting the pagoda, gazing at the dormant volcanoes in the midst of the ocean, then stopping at a local eatery to enjoy a plate of freshly caught squid, sipping a small glass of garlic wine, and watching the sunset drift towards the mainland 20 nautical miles away—at that moment, Lý Sơn may feel different in the hearts of visitors, even as the sound of prayers from the pagoda still echoes with lingering sadness.