Thanh Am Pagoda

Thanh Am Pagoda, also known as Thanh Am Tự or Vật Pagoda, is an ancient pagoda located in Tiền hamlet, Hư Tả commune, Nam Chân district, Trấn Sơn Nam Hạ, now in Đoài Đông hamlet, Vị Khê ward, Ninh Bình province.

Thanh Am Pagoda still preserves many high-value artistic carvings from the Lê Trung Hưng period. The pagoda festival is held on the 14th and 15th days of the second lunar month. In addition to processions, ritual offerings, and recitation of Buddhist verses, there are also children's wrestling matches, and wrestlers from the region come to perform for the spirits and compete for prizes.

In the Cảnh Hưng era (1740), the royal army led by Lord Trịnh Doanh himself as general advanced to attack the insurgent forces of Vũ Đình Dung, with one detachment stationed in Tiền hamlet. The people of Tiền hamlet prayed to Đức Khổng Lộ for spiritual protection to avoid the calamity of war, caught between the royal army on one side and the insurgents on the other. Eventually, the insurgents' base, comprising 7 Cà villages and 3 Hóp villages, was destroyed. Tiền hamlet remained peaceful, suffering no losses in people or property. Grateful for this divine protection, the people prepared materials, and in the year Giáp Tý (1744), the 5th year of the Cảnh Hưng era, under King Lê Hiển Tông, they began construction of Thanh Am Pagoda.

Illustrative parallel sentence:

Cổ Cảnh Hưng, Giáp Tý ngũ niên tân sáng tạo.

Which means:

In the 5th year of the Cảnh Hưng era, the year Giáp Tý (1744), construction began.

The pagoda is built in the (J-shaped) Đinh architectural style. The front hall has 5 bays, 15 steps wide and 8 steps deep. The rear sanctuary (chuôi vồ) is 12 steps long and 7 steps wide. The pagoda was renovated and restored in the year Tân Dậu (1921), the 6th year of King Khải Định's reign.

Illustrative parallel sentence:

Hoàng Khải Định, Tân Dậu lục tải thủy trùng tu.

Which means:

King Khải Định, now in his 6th year, in the year Tân Dậu (1921), began restoration.

According to legend, during the Lý dynasty, Đức Không Lộ once built a thatched hut on a high mound, going out to set fish traps in the wide fields around the area. In his spare time, he often taught wrestling to the local herder children. After Đức Không Lộ passed away and became a saint, the children of Tiền hamlet built a pagoda on the site of the thatched hut, so that when they went to graze buffaloes and cows, they could light incense and gather to wrestle in remembrance of him.

A vast expanse of silvery water

Emerges a mound in the Khoi Ta field

A man from a distant land

Came here to set traps, at night to catch crabs

Shrimp and small fish for sale, not for buying

Saving the people, helping the world, building Thanh Am Pagoda

A vast expanse of sky and earth

Wildflowers and southern grass, impossible to find

and

Fame resounds in the southern sky, preserving sacred energy

The name echoes in the northern land, calling the golden buffalo

Resounding in the southern sky, preserving sacred energy

The name spreads in the northern land, calling the golden buffalo

Thanh Am Pagoda, commonly called Vật Pagoda, worships the second and third holy patriarchs among the Three Vietnamese Holy Patriarchs of the Lý dynasty.

The title of the deity is:

Nam Thiên Thánh Tổ Không Lộ, mysterious title, spiritually efficacious, manifesting as the great dharma Zen master honoured deity.

Additional titles:

Outstanding - Protector of the dynasty's revival - Supreme deity.

Nam Thiên Thánh Tổ Giác Hải, mysterious and spiritually efficacious, manifesting as the great dharma Zen master honoured deity.

Additional titles:

Outstanding - Protector of the dynasty's revival - Supreme deity.

Xuất quỷ nhập thần pháp diệu đằng vân giá vũ

Thông thiên đạt địa đạo cao phục hổ hàng long.

Tentative translation:

Appearing as ghosts or gods, marvellous magic, riding clouds and summoning rain

Connecting heaven and earth, high virtue, subduing tigers and taming dragons.

—

Danh chấn Nam bang lưu bảo khí

Thanh truyền Bắc quốc hoán kim ngưu.

Tentative translation:

Fame resounds in the southern land, sacred energy remains

The name spreads in the northern land, calling the golden buffalo.