Huệ Nghiêm Pagoda

Huệ Nghiêm Buddhist Institute, also known as Huệ Nghiêm Pagoda, is located at 220/110/1 Đỗ Năng Tế Street, Quarter 2, An Lạc A Ward, Bình Tân District, Ho Chi Minh City. The pagoda is a renowned centre for the training of monastics in Buddhist precepts in the South as well as throughout Vietnam. Huệ Nghiêm Pagoda is the first monastic institution to establish a precept platform for the transmission of Buddhist precepts in the more than 2,000-year history of Vietnamese Buddhism.

The pagoda was founded by Most Venerable Thích Thiện Hòa and constructed on 11 November 1962, based on designs by architect Võ Đình Diệp. The Most Venerable was from Tân Nhựt village (Chợ Lớn). He was ordained under Master Khánh Hòa at the Lưỡng Xuyên Buddhist School (Lưỡng Xuyên Pagoda, Trà Vinh) in 1935. He studied at various Buddhist schools in Central and Northern Vietnam from 1936 to 1948. He was a distinguished monk of Vietnamese Buddhism, renowned for his work in precept transmission, construction, and authorship. The Most Venerable passed away on 7 February 1978.

The pagoda served as a place of study for monks from 1963 to 1985 under various names: Intermediate Buddhist School of Specialisation, Huệ Nghiêm Buddhist Institute with 400 monk students, and Huệ Nghiêm Higher Buddhist Institute (1963–1985).

Most Venerable Thích Bửu Huệ

Most Venerable Thích Chơn Lạc – dharma name Nhựt Thiện – dharma title Liên Độ (1991–2015);

The current abbot is Elder Most Venerable Thích Minh Thông, Deputy Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Central Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (GHPGVN).

The Cam Lồ Phương Đẳng Precept Platform Institute (abbreviated as Huệ Nghiêm Precept Platform Institute) is the first precept platform constructed in Vietnam. This is an inner sanctum reserved for monks to focus on studying and practising the Vinaya (Buddhist monastic code). Strict internal regulations include: lay Buddhists are not allowed to enter (except on three major festival days), resident monks are not permitted to leave the gate, use telephones, keep money, or eat after noon, etc.

With the guiding principle: “UPHOLD THE PRECEPTS – RECITE THE BUDDHA’S NAME”:

UPHOLD THE PRECEPTS to eradicate the Five Desires.

RECITE THE BUDDHA’S NAME for liberation from birth and death in this very life. This is a unique architectural complex in the shape of the character Sơn (mountain), comprising many elegant structures. The project blends three architectural traditions: Vietnamese, Japanese, and Chinese. Atop the triple-arched gate sits the Dharma Protector; on either side of the gate are two couplets of profound and mysterious meaning, directly carved into wooden pillars, with the characters gilded in gold.

Outside the precept platform are four stone statues of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Inside the platform, the three bodies of the Buddha are enshrined: the Dharma Body Vairocana Buddha, the Reward Body Locana Buddha, and the Transformation Body Shakyamuni Buddha. The three statues sit on a thousand-petalled lotus throne, designed according to the Brahma Net Sutra, with Locana Buddha residing in the Lotus Platform Treasury World. The Precept Platform is divided into three tiers and four sides, with 72 stone Guardian Deities, sculpted with great majesty and dynamism. Over 7,000 precept characters from the Bhikshu Vinaya are carved on the ceiling; on the four walls are 16,000 characters of the Bodhisattva Precepts from the Brahma Net Sutra, all gilded with 24k gold. Four columns bear couplets and a 13-metre-long wooden screen intricately carved with dragons from fragrant bơ mu wood. The three Buddha statues sit back-to-back, facing the three realms, each 2.1 metres high and weighing nearly 7 tonnes. All four Buddha statues are supported by a lotus pedestal 2.2 metres high, weighing 2 tonnes, with 1,000 lotus petals, each petal also embossed with an image of Shakyamuni Buddha. The Buddha statues and lotus pedestal are all crafted from solid blocks of African padauk wood.

Tịnh Nghiệp Hall, also known as the Repentance Hall, is where precept candidates perform repentance before being elevated to the rank of the ten senior preceptors. Daily, this hall is used by the resident monks for prostrating to the Lotus Sutra character by character, reciting the Buddha’s name, sitting meditation, and chanting the Vinaya. Tịnh Nghiệp Hall is a place for monks and sentient beings to repent for their misdeeds, thereby purifying body and mind, leaving the shore of delusion to return to the shore of enlightenment...

Inside Tịnh Nghiệp Hall is the Nine Manifestations of Amitābha, symbolising the nine grades of rebirth for Pure Land practitioners who are reborn in the Western Pure Land of Amitābha Buddha. The Nine Manifestations of Amitābha include eight statues, each 3.6 metres high and weighing 2 tonnes, placed along both sides of the hall, and one statue of Amitābha Buddha 8 metres high and weighing 16 tonnes, carved from a single block of wood with a diameter of 2.6 metres and a lifespan that may reach a thousand years.

This statue has been recognised by the Vietnam Guinness Book of Records as the largest wooden statue of Amitābha Buddha in Vietnam.