Vĩnh Xuân Pagoda

Vĩnh Xuân Pagoda, also known as Phước Lâm Tự, is a pagoda located on Phan Châu Trinh Street, Tân Ninh Ward. The pagoda faces the Tây Ninh canal and is oriented towards Bà Đen Mountain. The pagoda is situated next to the Quan Tây Ninh bridge area. It has also served as the centre of the Buddhist Sangha of Tây Ninh Province during many periods.

Around the end of the 18th century, there was already a pagoda on Bà Đen Mountain dedicated to Linh Sơn Thánh Mẫu. People from the southern provinces often made offerings, visited Bà Pagoda, and worshipped the Buddha on Bà Đen Mountain every first lunar month. At that time, most pilgrims travelled from the Vàm Cỏ Đông River, following the Tây Ninh canal, then moored their boats at Tây Ninh town (now Tây Ninh City) to walk to Bà Đen Mountain. It usually took a whole day to reach Bà Pagoda. Because the pilgrimage route to Bà Pagoda on Bà Đen Mountain was so long, Vĩnh Xuân Pagoda was built as a resting place for monks, nuns, and Buddhists on their way to Bà Đen Mountain, and it was considered a branch of Bà Pagoda.

When Vĩnh Xuân Pagoda was built, it was located in Thái Hiệp Thạnh commune, Châu Thành district, Tây Ninh province. The pagoda was completed in the year Nhâm Thân (1872). The pagoda was constructed with the purpose of providing a resting place for travellers and as a place to store food supplies to be transported up the mountain to supply Bà Pagoda. The founder of the pagoda was Thanh Thọ Phước Chí – the abbot of Linh Sơn Tiên Thạch Tự Pagoda.

Around 1945–1946, the French army returned to the South and the Foreign Legion was stationed in Tây Ninh province. Many Buddha statues in Bà Pagoda were taken down, cut open at the belly and back, supposedly to search for gold and silver, but when nothing was found, the French army abandoned the statues in the pagoda courtyard. The statue of Linh Sơn Thánh Mẫu was also taken away and sold at Tây Ninh market to a liquor shop owner. However, since the statue was not made of gold, it was returned to the shop owner. Afterwards, the shop owner donated the statue to a pagoda belonging to Mrs. Tô Văn Qua, a member of parliament. In 1957, after Mrs. Qua gave her consent, the management board of Bà Đen Mountain organised a ceremony to bring the relics of Linh Sơn Thánh Mẫu back to the mountain.

According to "Tây Ninh Past and Present" recorded by Huỳnh Minh in 1972, around 1951–1952, Bà Pagoda was considered to have "lost security" and no one went on pilgrimage there anymore. Some monks and nuns from Bà Pagoda also moved down to Vĩnh Xuân Pagoda to continue their activities. A refugee monk named Thích Giáng Ngọc (Dharma name Di-na) was also arrested at 8 p.m. and disappeared.

The main hall of the pagoda houses a Buddha statue lacquered in red and gold leaf; behind the ancestral altar is the statue of Linh Sơn Thánh Mẫu. Further behind are the guest house, lecture hall, the house of Mr. Giám, and the kitchen, where visitors can rest. On the left side is a row of houses for the nuns of the pagoda to live and practise. In front of the courtyard stands a statue of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát). The statue is built in white and surrounded by a crescent-shaped pond planted with white lotuses.