Kim Huê Pagoda

Kim Huê Pagoda (commonly known as Bông Pagoda) is an ancient tổ đình (ancestral monastery), located at 73 Cái Sơn, Sa Đéc Ward, Đồng Tháp. The pagoda lies beside the poetic Cái Sơn canal, with rows of willows draping their curtains in the gentle breeze of the orchard region.

Kim Huê Pagoda, built in 1806, is also known by another name, Hội Khánh Pagoda. According to the monks at the pagoda, it is not known when the name Hội Khánh Tự first appeared, only that the three characters were engraved on the crossbeam of the old pagoda. Locals are accustomed to calling it Bông Pagoda, because in the past many flowers were planted in front of the pagoda. Thus, the pagoda was named Kim Hoa Tự, which was later pronounced as Kim Huê Pagoda.

From the 1920s to 1945, this sacred monastery was a centre for monastic education for monks from across the six provinces of the Western region, contributing to the training of many renowned monks who actively contributed to the Buddhist revival movement of the time, such as: Hòa thượng Hành Trụ, Thiện Tường, Thới An, Huệ Hưng, Từ Nhơn...

Since its establishment, the pagoda has gone through nine generations of abbots:

1. Hòa thượng Thích Từ Lâm (1806-1831)

2. Hòa thượng Thích Phổ Tường (1831-1855)

3. Hòa thượng Thích Pháp Huệ (1855-1886)

4. Hòa thượng Tổ Đức Nhuận (1886-1908)

5. Hòa thượng Tổ Chánh Tín (1908-1920)

6. Hòa thượng Tổ Kim Huê-Thích Chánh Quả (1920-1945)

7. Hòa thượng Thích Huệ Hòa (1945-1956)

8. Hòa thượng Thích Huệ Hưng (1956-1959)

9. Hòa thượng Thích Huệ Phát (1959-1990)

10. Hòa thượng Thích Thiện An (1991 - 2021)

Currently, the head of the ancestral monastery is Elder Hòa thượng Thích Thiện An, Member of the Central Council of Certification of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, and Certifying Member of the Executive Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Đồng Tháp Province. The abbot in charge of the ancestral monastery is Venerable Thích Thiện Lâm, Deputy Head of the Executive Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Sa Đéc City. On 2 June 2025, Elder Hòa thượng Thích Thiện An entered nirvana.

Bồ Đề Sa Đéc Private Secondary School, also known as Bồ Đề Secondary School, was established in 1968 on the land behind the pagoda. Hòa thượng Thích Trí Thủ was the person who laid the first stone to build the system of Bồ Đề private secondary schools in Central and Southern Vietnam in his capacity as a member of the propagation committee of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association (some documents record it as the Central Vietnam Sangha Association) in 1952.

At the Bồ Đề schools, a weekly Buddhist studies lesson was included in the curriculum, both at primary and secondary levels, making Bồ Đề School a new environment for propagation and education of children in the spirit of Buddhism.

Although some Buddhist doctrine classes were taught, the curriculum at Bồ Đề schools still followed the programme set by the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Vietnam, similar to other public and private educational institutions.

After the events of 1975, the school was dissolved and the pagoda donated the school to the Government of Vietnam; it is now the Sa Đéc City Centre for Continuing Education.