Recently, on my continuing Buddhist pilgrimage travels, I also visited the Vietnamese city of Ho Chih Minh. I have never been here before, and like my recent trip to Hanoi, and so was interested to see what the city was like, but also visit the Buddhist temples there. This article is about my experience there and visits to two of the main Buddhist temples in the city, the Relics (Xa Loi) Temple, a lovely temple that had witnessed horrific violence and murder of monastics and laypeople by Vietnamese army soldiers in 1963, and the stunning Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas (Chua Van Phat), whose upper floor of masses of Buddhas, was divine and heavenly indeed. The temple also contained one of the most amazing statues of Manjushri on a lion, a person yidam deity favourite (I felt like Saraswati taking photos in front of it! ha ha, For more on Manjushri seated on a lion with Saraswati as consort, see my translation of ‘Gushing Flood of Melodious, Laughing Praise: Explanation of the Root Mantra of Lion of Speech, Mañjuśrī’ here).
I also visited one of the oldest Chinese temples in the city, Thien Hau pagoda, constructed to worship an 11th Century Chinese lady, Thien Hau, said to be amazingly intelligent and known for her celestial observations, weather predictions, and assistance to local fishermen in times of need.
Ho Chi Minh City is also known as Saigon (Sài Gòn), is the most populous city in Vietnam, with a population of around 10 million in 2023. The city’s geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigon River. After the fall of the Citadel of Saigon, the city became the capital of French Indochina from 1887 to 1902, and again from 1945 until its cessation in 1954. Following the partition of French Indochina, it became the capital of South Vietnam until it was captured by North Vietnam, who renamed the city after their former leader Hồ Chí Minh, though the former name is still widely used in informal usages.
In terms of my personal experience of HCM city, like Hanoi, there was a lot of traffic but the Vietnamese people I met were friendly and helpful and it felt like a safe, clean and vibrant city too. Watch out for those many numbered Vietnamese dong notes though, a few times I almost gave 500 000 VND, when I meant to give 50 000! For a coffee-lover like myself, there were plenty of lovely (and inexpensive) cafes to sit and watch the world (or traffic) go by and have Vietnamese coffee, egg coffee and classic cappuccinos and espressos, open until at least 10pm , for the coffee ‘fans’, of which I am one. Throw into the mix Buddhist temples, French colonial buildings, patisseries and bakeries, Vietnamese cooking, vegetarian restaurants, warm weather and friendly people, it is a great city to visit.
My favourite area to stay was in the central district area near a lovely vegetarian restaurant Rau Ơi Vegetarian – Le Thi Hong Gam, managed and set up by a friendly, intelligent Canadian based Chinese man, married to a Vietnamese woman. There were several vegan and vegetarian places in Ho Chih Minh though. Everything was easily walkable or Grab app car bookable. Definitely worth visiting for a few days if not more, before heading into the quieter and natural beauty of Vietnam! Here are some photos, observations and tips for visiting some of the Buddhist temples there and night-time scenes by the river.
Music? For Manjushri’s wise and melodious consort, Saraswati mantra, Vietnamese Buddhist chanting and Good Night Saigon by Billy Joel.
Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 15th November 2024.
Night-time scenes of the Saigon river
I arrived at Ho Chih Min/Saigon in the evening and went for a walk along the river. The weather was quite humid, like Taiwan and Thailand, but the river was a lovely place to walk along and not that busy either. Generally, it felt safe walking around and the areas were clean and well-maintained. The multi coloured changing lights of the Mong bridge over the river and the buildings were stunning and lively to behold.
Xa Loi Buddhist temple: House of the Buddha’s relics, raided and vandalised by Vietnamese army forces in 1963
The Xá Lợi Pagoda (Chùa Xá Lợi 舍利寺) is the largest pagoda in Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam. The name Xá Lợi is the Vietnamese translation for śarīra, a term used for relics of Buddhists. The pagoda was built to enshrine a sample of the relics of Gautama Buddha, giving its name The construction of Xa Loi Buddhist Temple started in 1956 and was completed in 1958. It was the headquarters of the South Vietnamese Buddhist Association until 1981. From 1981 to May 1993, this famous temple in Vietnam was the headquarters of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. From 1999 to 2001, the temple underwent a large restoration. Still, it has retained its original design and preserved its distinctive architectural values.
The pagoda became well-known for the extremely violent and murderous raids against monastics and laypeople, in which the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, the brother of the Roman Catholic President Ngô Đình Diệm, raided and vandalised Buddhist monasteries and pagodas on 21 August 1963 [1]. During the raids, Thich Tinh Khiet, the 80-year-old Buddhist patriarch of Vietnam, was seized and taken to a military hospital on the outskirts of Saigon. The commander of the Army, General Tôn Thất Đính, soon announced military control over Saigon, canceling all commercial flights into the city and instituting press censorship. Across the country, hundreds were estimated to have died or vanished, and more than one thousand monks were incarcerated.
As one walks through the main gate of the temple, there is a lovely Chinese-style statue of Quan Âm holding a vial of elixir in one hand and making the gesture of removing obstacles with the other.
The main hall of the pagoda is located on the upper level. Men ascend by the stairs on the left hand side, women by those on the right. Facing the entrance is the shrine, which is dominated by a large statue of Gautama Buddha, one of the most stunning I have seen in terms of its facial expression.
This statue is said to have been crafted by sculptors from Biên Hòa, a city just north of Hồ Chí Minh City. In front of the statue of Gautama Buddha is the shrine dedicated to the relics of the Buddha, with the relics being held in a small stupa. Towards the front of the shrine is a small porcelain image of the “Laughing Buddha” Maitreya, the Buddha of the future.
Between the small statue of Maitreya and the large statue of Gautama is a golden image of multi-armed Cundi (Chuan De) bodhisattva sitting in meditation on a lotus blossom. The bodhisattva’s many hands grasp familiar attributes such as the sword, the wheel, and the trident. Elegant Chinese-style vases on either side of the shrine hold flowers of various colors.
The Tallest Bell Tower in Vietnam
As I left the main entrance gate filled with the peace and serenity of the statues and Vietnamese Buddhist chanting for the evening session, I was shocked and heartbroken to see a cage full of small birds right outside in front of the Mother of Compassion Buddha statue (see photo). The bizarre and cruel irony was obvious. I asked the young teenager girl who was selling snacks next to the cage whose it was and she said her sister.With Google translate I asked the girl not to do that to the birds as it was very cruel and also right in front of a Buddhist temple and statue. She did not answer. Then her sister turned up on a moped, I requested the same to her and asked her to release all the birds and not to make money from the torture and suffering of other sentient beings [2].
Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas Pagoda (Chua Van Phat)
Nestled in an alley in the Chinatown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Van Phat Pagoda attracts a large number of Buddhists and visitors to worship every day. The pagoda, built in 1959, is not in a private, tree-lined green space like many other ancient temples but it still attracts visitors because of its unique architecture and the Buddha statues that are ranked as a record in Vietnam. Currently, the abbot of Van Phat Temple is Venerable Thich Truyen Cuong, originally from Guangdong province, China. Van Phat Pagoda has high ceilings and 4 floors. A Vietnamese guide there told me that the floors represent different levels of reality. The first floor being hell, the second the earthly realm, the third nothing is there (a bardo realm perhaps!), and the fourth, which is most magnificent, as it is decorated with ten thousand Buddha statues.
The fourth floor Buddha realm of ten thousand buddhas
The fourth floor is the magnificent centre-piece at the top of the pagoda with stunning huge statues and thousands of Buddha statues in the walls. In the middle is a large and beautifully crafted statue of the Buddha, with a majestic appearance, sitting on a thousand-petaled lotus. Hidden behind the lotus petals are small ivory-white Buddha statues. The detail in each Buddha idol on the fourth floor, covering the entire room from the roof to the floor, is an amazing and inspiring sight to behold and be present within. All kleshas remained outside the door so to speak!
The Buddha statue is flanked on both sides by statues of Bodhisattva Manjushri riding a lion and Bodhisattva Universal Worthy riding a white elephant with six tusks. The four walls of the main hall are covered with 10,000 Buddha statues from the roof to the floor. These statues are various sizes, arranged in wooden boxes that are neatly mounted on the wall. To prevent visual monotony, the pagoda was designed and decorated with a number of squares with larger Buddha statues than the rest.
Thien Hau temple dedicated to the goddess: oldest Chinese temple in the city
Ba Hien Thau pagoda is one of the oldest Chinese temples in Ho Chi Minh City. The pagoda was built in 1760 by the Chinese community donated money to build the temple of lady Thien Hau to show their gratitude for the blessings. After 256 years of existence, Thien Hau pagoda still retains the unique architecture despite restoration. The temple is said to have great influence on the cultural life of the Chinese community living in HCM city. The pagoda is said to have hundreds of antiques dating from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, including wooden statues, stone statues, stone stele, bronze statues, parallel sentences, bas reliefs.
The pagoda is dedicated to Thien Hau Thanh Mau, believed to be born in Fujian, China, in 1044. Legends surround Thien Hau, portraying her as an exceptionally intelligent individual who attained enlightenment through ancient secret principles she discovered in books. She was known for her celestial observations, weather predictions, and her assistance to local fishermen in times of need. I was unable to take a photo of the statue of her, so have used a photo I found online.
Endnotes
[1] According to online sources: “A series of raids in response to Vietnamese Buddhists’ protests for civil rights in the face of religious persecution from the government of the Roman Catholic President Ngô Đình Diệm. Squads of Special Forces, led by Lê Quang Tung and combat police flattened the gates and smashed their way into the pagoda at around 00:20 on 21 August 1963, as Xá Lợi’s brass gong was clanged as a warning signal of the attack. Nhu’s men were armed with pistols, submachine guns, carbines, shotguns, grenades and tear gas. The Special Forces were joined by truckloads of combat police in army camouflage uniforms. Monks and nuns who barricaded themselves behind wooden shields were attacked with rifle butts and bayonets. The gong of the pagoda was drowned out by the burst of automatic weapons fire, the sound of exploding grenades, shattering glass and human screaming. One monk was thrown from the balcony down to the courtyard six meters below. Nhu’s men vandalized the main altar and managed to confiscate the intact charred heart of Thích Quảng Đức, the monk who had self-immolated in protest against the policies of the regime. Two monks jumped the back wall of the pagoda into the grounds of the adjoining US Aid Mission, where they were granted asylum.”
[2] This is not the first time I have seen such cruelty towards animals right outside Buddhist monasteries. I have seen butchers selling freshly killed animals outside Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India, with their most popular customers being Tibetan monastics and laypeople. I have also seen people selling gambling cards sitting right outside Buddhist temples (even within the grounds of the temple). It is strange days indeed that such activities, contrary to the Buddha’s teachings are happening in such close vicinity to the temples themselves, and suggests a lack of real knowledge and practice of the Buddha’s teachings. That is the difference between Buddhist culture and Buddhist practice. However, if people are eating slaughtered animals daily, this is an obvious result, a total lack of care and compassion.
Thaks for the Travels , Lovely Loner
Welcome 🙂