Located majestically on Bo Da mountain range in Tien Son commune, Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province, Bo Da Pagoda is not only one of the largest Buddhist centers in Vietnam but also a complex of relics with extremely valuable historical, architectural and artistic values, honored as a special national relic since 2016.
In particular, this ancient temple also contains unparalleled treasures, most notably the world's oldest Buddhist woodblocks and the most unique giant tower garden in Vietnam.
With its special and typical value, the historical and architectural relic of Bo Da Pagoda (Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province) was ranked as a special national relic by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 2499 dated December 22, 2016. Currently, Bo Da Pagoda still has many valuable documents, artifacts, and antiques of great value in terms of culture, history, architecture, and fine arts.
Built during the reign of King Le Hien Tong, Canh Hung era (1740-1786) by the founder monk Ngo, whose given name is Tinh Anh, and local people, the difference between Bo Da pagoda and many other traditional pagodas in the North is the "inner open, outer closed" architecture, which not only creates a quiet, deserted and sacred look but also demonstrates the wisdom in the spatial layout, helping people to move between buildings without being affected by the weather.
The harmonious architectural layout system is built with unique materials: baked bricks, tiles, and ceramic urns.
The walls, gates and some other structures were built entirely of rammed earth in the rammed earth style.
One of the most impressive highlights at Bo Da Pagoda is the Tower Garden, considered the largest ancient, mossy tower garden in Vietnam. With an area of nearly 8,000m², the garden includes 110 large and small towers and tombs, including 97 ancient towers hundreds of years old, which are where the ashes of more than 1,200 Buddhist monks and nuns of the Lam Te Zen sect are kept throughout history.
Each tower is built according to strict Zen regulations, with the monk tower shaped like a vase of nectar and the nun tower with a lotus bud on top, creating a quiet, peaceful and sacred space.
Each tower holds 4-26 bodies; most of the towers in the garden are 3-4 stories high, 3-5 m high, the towers of the ancestors are taller and wider.
The most prominent among the treasure trove of artifacts at Bo Da Pagoda is the oldest Buddhist woodblock in Vietnam, carved on fig wood around 1741. This is an extremely valuable Buddhist document, carrying the thoughts of two major Buddhist sects, India and China, with more than 2,000 woodblocks of sutras such as the main stream of the Lankavatara Sutra, the Yet Ma Hoi Ban, the Nam Hai Ky Quy...
The sutras are arranged on 8 shelves, each shelf has 4 volumes of sutras consisting of 240 wooden planks, a total of about 2,000 planks. Each wooden plank used to carve the sutras is on average 50 cm long, 25 cm wide and about 2.5 cm thick. If you want to see the entire collection of ancient sutras here, you need a land area of 250-300 m² to spread out the planks. On December 25, 2017, the Bo Pagoda Woodblocks were recognized as a national treasure.
After nearly 300 years, the sutras are still quite intact. In particular, the wood blocks used to engrave the sutras are very durable, beautiful, and termite-free, even without using any preservatives. On May 7, 2016, the Vietnam Record Organization confirmed the record of the Buddhist Sutra Woodblocks at Bo Da Pagoda of the Lam Te Zen sect carved on the oldest Vietnamese woodblocks. On April 30, 2017, in San Diego, USA; The World Records Union (Worldkings) confirms the record of the Buddhist Sutra Woodblocks at Bo Da Pagoda as the oldest Buddhist Sutra Woodblocks carved on the oldest Lam Te Zen sect in the world.
Besides the tower garden and Buddhist scriptures, Bo Da Pagoda also preserves many other valuable artifacts such as 39 wooden statues from the Le Trung Hung period with high historical and artistic value, a fairly complete system of wooden Buddha statues from the Le dynasty, stone steles, bronze bells, horizontal lacquered boards, and parallel sentences gilded with splendid gold.
The Buddha statues of Bo Da Pagoda not only have historical value in the development of Buddhism and the Truc Lam Zen sect, but are also rich works of sculptural art.
Precious Buddha statues in Bo Da Pagoda.
The temple garden is planted with traditional fruit trees and seasonal crops. A moat (2 m wide x 1.5 m deep) is dug around it to both drain water and protect it. In addition to the material value of the relic, the Bo Da temple garden has long been a center for religious activities of the people. In the garden, there is also an ancient myrtle tree that has been recognized as a Vietnamese Heritage Tree.
With all its special values in history, architecture, art and culture, Bo Da Pagoda is not only an important spiritual destination but also a treasure of national and world heritage, contributing to the glory of Vietnamese Buddhist culture.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/ngoi-chua-so-huu-nhung-di-san-co-nhat-lon-nhat-doc-dao-nhat-viet-nam-2411938.html
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