The final instalment in my Vietnamese Buddhist pilgrimage this year, was to Bái Đính Pagoda (Chùa Bái Đính, 沛嵿寺) a complex of Buddhist temples on Bái Đính Mountain in Ninh Bình Province, Vietnam. The compound consists of the original old temple and a newly created larger temple. It is considered the largest complex of Buddhist temples in Vietnam and has become a popular site for Buddhist pilgrimages from across Vietnam. It is famous for its 500 Arhat statue corridor, massive Shakyamuni Buddha, thousand-armed and -eyed Mother of Compassion and biggest bell-tower in SE Asia, more on that below!
After that, a two hour boat trip around Trang An, with magnificent craggy mountains, temples, and Vietnamese boat women powering the tourist around the caves and riverways. Followed by a trip up tot he Mua Cave and lake of lotuses for sunset. Even though it was an organised daytrip, it was well worth the visit, and will hopefully return again, as an independent traveller next time to spend more time at the Bai Dinh temple. In this article, I share some experiences and photos of the main sites there, and share the blessings! With special thanks again to the kind and generous support of D, without whom this trip would not have been possible!
Music? Mantra of Great Compassion (Namo Valo) in Vietnamese.
Getting There: On the ‘tourist’ track
Getting to Ninh Binh is quite easy from Hanoi. One can go by road, by bus (cheapest option) or take a train (they all take about 2 and half hours). Although, I normally do not join tour groups to such places, this time due to lack of time and also transport options etc. I decided it would be prudent and easier to go on an organised daytrip that can be easily booked in advance online (with getmyguide.com).
Starting around 7.30am, I was picked up at my hotel in a mini-van carrying about twenty other people, and our first stop, about two and a half hours drive away was the famous Bai Dinh pagoda complex. The Vietnamese English-speaking guide was a lot of fun indeed, but frankly he did not seem to know hardly anything about Buddhism, and even proudly declared he was not a Buddhist! He also mentioned that if people wanted meat options for their lunch (included in the trip) they could have goat, those cute animals the villagers keep. That said, the buffet lunch they provided for everyone was excellent lots of vegan, veg salads, fruits, curries, rice and more! A relief for someone like me who is used to going hungry due to meat-with everything options only.
As we approached towards the temple complex, amazing craggy mountainous silhouettes could be seen against the sky, of all different sizes. It was magical indeed. My photos do not really do it justice and has to be seen and experience in person!
Bai Dinh (Mountain Worshipping) Pagoda and the 500 Arhat corridor
First stop was the Bai Dinh Pagoda, renowned for its 500 Arhat corridor. More than 1000 years ago, there existed 3 feudal dynasties Dinh, pre-Le and Ly in Ninh Binh. All three dynasties were interested in Buddhism and considered Buddhism as the national religion. Therefore, these dynasties built many pagodas in Vietnam, including Bai Dinh pagoda. Bai means worship, prostrate, Dinh is the top of the mountain. Bai Dinh means the place where the worshipping takes place at the top of a high mountain. The pagoda is located in the Trang An scenic complex which has been recognized by UNESCO as a world natural and cultural heritage, the first dual heritage of Southeast Asia.
As we descended the mini-van, the guide gave us all Vietnamese hats, with pink lotus flowers on them, hence my wearing it in some of the photos below!
The 500 Arhat 3km long corridor
The first sight was the stunning 500 Arhat corridor, designed entirely of wood with the amount of about 3,500m3 of round wood. Along the left and right corridors, there are 500 Arhat statues, each about 2.5m high and weighing about 4 tons, made of stone, crafted by artisans of Ninh Van stone village (Hoa Lu). Therefore, the corridor is also called Arhat Duong/road. It consists of two rows, each row 117 compartments, 1700m/3km long. set a record as the longest arhat corridor in Asia. Each statue has a unique facial expression and posture that conveys philosophical ideas about human emotions.
The guide told us that the reason the knees and hands of the statues had become ‘black and shiny’ was because Vietnamese pilgrims touched them to get blessings, even though they were not supposed to! I could have spent hours here but as we had limited time on the day trip we moved through the corridor quite quickly.
The Biggest Bronze Bell-Tower in Vietnam
The Bell Tower has a height of 18.25m, a diameter of 17m, built in the architectural style of an ancient 3-storey octagonal bell tower with 24 roofs, shaped like a giant stylized lotus flower. On the steeple hangs a 36-ton bell cast by Hue artisans. In 2007, the bell was certified by the Vietnam Record Book Center as “”the largest Dai Hong Chung in Vietnam”” – the biggest bronze bell in Vietnam.
To ring this bell, an ironwood tree must be used as a bell stick weighing 5 quintals, 4.5m long and 0.32m in diameter. Below the bell is a bronze drum, a replica of the Dong Son bronze drum. The diameter of the drum’s surface is 5.5m, weight is 70 tons, cast by artisans of Kien Xuong district, Thai Binh province.
Mother of Compassion (Quan Am) temple and largest bronze statue of Thousand Armed- and Eyes Mother Compassion in Vietnam
The next stop within the Bai Dinh complex is also the Mother of Compassion (Quan Am) Palace, another stunning main hall in which the architecture is made entirely of wood with 900m of wooden blocks, the height of the main hall is about 14m and 16m wide.
Placed in the center of the main hall is a statue that has been certified by the Vietnam Record Book Center as the largest bronze statue of Quan The Am in Vietnam. The statue is about 10m high; weighing 90 tons made of copper inlaid with gold. The statue here is the image of Quan Am Thien Thu Thien Nhan (ie Quan Yin thousand hands and thousand eyes). According to legend, she was the daughter of King Dieu Trang Vuong, leaving wealth and wealth to practice Buddhism, she sacrificed both her hands and eyes to cure her father’s illness. Therefore, the Buddha gave her a thousand eyes and a thousand hands so that she could do more public works and see and understand the sufferings of sentient beings a thousand times more.
The statue of Guanyin here is shown with 3 overlapping faces. Legend has it that she thinks about sentient beings too much, so her head is broken into 3. It is also explained as the three religions: Confucianism – Taoism – Buddha. The statue has 5 pairs of large hands, each hand shows a different seal, there are hands with the hand seal of Meditation, there are hands with the seal of Lotus flower, but no matter how the seal is, it shows compassion. the love of Bodhisattva Guanyin and Buddhism towards sentient beings.
Another feature is that the Quan Am statue is carved sitting on a lotus, with a demon team, and is also seen as the statue of Guanyin Nam Hai. The reason why it is called Quan Am Nam Hai is because it is in the Southern Sea. And the demon wearing the lotus is called Obananda dragon king (referred to as Nanda dragon king).
In particular, looking to the two sides of the main hall, you can see that there are two Mother of Compassion (Quan Am) statues said to be made from monolithic wooden trees, with both tree roots and tree tops. The origin of the two trees was found by sand miners. Initially, they wanted to cut the wood to sell but could not. In the process of sawing wood, unexpected things happened, then a businessman bought these two trees and offered them to the Bai Dinh pagoda. With the ingenuity and skill of the artisans, from 1 tree they have carved into 2 statues, 2 priceless art masterpieces. With a height of 9m and weighing about 4 tons, wood experts identified this precious wood as Hoi wood, which was about 1000 years old.
Walking via the Buddhist or Taoist route to the Buddha Shakyamuni Temple
The English-speaking guide then told us we would walk to the Buddha Shakyamuni temple, and there were two routes to go, the Taoist (easier one) and the Buddhist (more difficult one). I decided to take the Buddhist one, which involved ascending some steps. Here are some photos of that route:
The largest bronze statue of Buddha Shakyamuni in Asia
The next stop was the Shakyamuni Buddha main hall. With a height of about 34m and a width of about 2000m, the main hall is the place where the statue of “Shakyamuni Buddha – Ca Diep Vi Tieu” is placed in the middle of the main hall with a height of 10m and a weight of 100 tons. Made of bronze inlaid with wine, the pagoda has set a record for having the largest bronze statue of Buddha Shakyamuni in Asia.
In addition to the Buddha image worshiped in the middle, you also see his two disciples on either side, on the great disciple Ananda, in his hand, he holds the famous Buddhist Tripitaka. The other side is the great disciple Mahakassapa. They are all made of bronze and inlaid with gold, about 7.2 m high and weighing 30 tons.
On the two sides of the main hall there are 8 upper phoenixes, they are diamond bowls. They are placed to worship and protect Buddhist scriptures and teachings. Looking up around the main hall, there are 1616 square blocks with 1616 small Buddha statues inside.
Trang An -two-hour boat trip around UNESCO world heritage landscape site
We then left the temple complex to have a spectacular buffet lunch (lots of vegetarian/vegan options!) to go to the Trang An area to have a two hour sampan boat trip around the UNESCO world heritage landscape site there. The UNESCO heritage site describes it as:
“a spectacular landscape of limestone karst peaks permeated with valleys, many of them partly submerged and surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs some almost 200m high. Exploration of caves at different altitudes has revealed archaeological traces of human activity over a continuous period of more than 30,000 years. They illustrate the occupation of these mountains by seasonal hunter-gatherers and how they adapted to major climatic and environmental changes, especially the repeated inundation of the landscape by the sea after the last ice age. The story of human occupation continues through the Neolithic and Bronze Ages to the historical era. Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Viet Nam, was strategically established here in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. The property also contains temples, pagodas, paddy-fields and small villages.”
“Visitors, conveyed in traditional sampans rowed by local guides, experience an intimate connection with the natural environment and a relaxing sense of serenity and security. The dramatic mountains, secretive caves and sacred places in Trang An have inspired people through countless generations.”
One tourist page even says: “Tourists can be imagined as kings [and queens!] from ancient times who use the mountains as walls, the rivers as roads and the caves as palaces!” There were masses of boats lined up will with female rowers, ready to transport the many tourists arriving for the serene and scenic cruise. Even though it was very touristy, it was still a very serene and relaxing experience. All the rowers of the boats were Vietnamese women of all ages, who were very graceful and strong rowing boats for two hours with three to four adult people in them!
Mua Caves Mountain peak and Lotus Lake
Next stop after the boat trip, was the Mua Cave brings you one of the best panoramic view of Ninh Binh- which is known as a wonder of the world. One has to go up 486 stone steps to see beautiful sceneries on the top of Mua mountain. The road to Mua cave was imitated as Great wall of China. The guide told us that it was tiring, and it looked a lot more difficult than it was. One can go up in about fifteen minutes, and half an hour if walking very slowly. The main thing was the humidity of the heat, even around 5.30pm, so by the time one gets up there, one is sweating buckets ha ha ha
Located on the right hand side of the entrance is the valley of colorful flowers and a large lotus lake. However, if you come here in the summer, you will have the opportunity to take photos and enjoy the lotus. The guide told us that the lotuses opened in the morning, so again another visit perhaps!
hey sweaty &hot on top
i sure hope yu’ve given the Vietnam cooffee a chance , as it can really set u soaring.
drip drip,drip…
keep up the good fite
and allow bodhicitta to alite!