Bac Ninh, a land with a long history and rich cultural traditions. The homeland has many historical and cultural relics, the most prominent of which is But Thap Pagoda.
Legend has it that in 1876, when Emperor Tu Duc passed by the pagoda and saw a giant pen-tower, he named it But Thap (Vietnamese: Bút Tháp, Bút means pen; Tháp means tower), and the pagoda has been named But Thap since then.
Overview about Thap But pagoda
Located in But Thap village, Dinh To commune, Thuan Thanh district, Bac Ninh province, But Thap pagoda is one of the ancient pagodas with the most complete architecture remaining in Vietnam. The pagoda is also known by other names such as Nhan Thap, Thieu Lam, Hoang Cung.
According to the history, But Thap pagoda dates back to the reign of Emperor Tran Thanh Tong (1258-1278). By the 17th century, the pagoda became famous with the abbot, Venerable Chuyet Chuyet (1590-1644) from China. In 1644, the Venerable passed away, and his successor was Zen master Minh Hanh.
During this time, Queen Mother Trinh Thi Ngoc Truc left the royal palace and came here to practice Buddhism. Seeing that the pagoda was in disrepair, she and her daughter, Princess Le Thi Ngoc Duyen, asked for permission from Lord Trinh Trang, then donated money and land to restore the pagoda. It was not until 1647 that the pagoda was completed. Basically, the scale and structure of But Thap Pagoda today were built from that time.
Over the centuries, the pagoda was restored in 1739, 1903, 1915, 1921 and most recently in 1992-1996. The architectural complex of the pagoda still retains many relics of the 17th century.
Architecture of the pagoda
Like many other ancient pagodas in the North, But Thap Pagoda was built with architectural works arranged symmetrically and tightly in the central area.
The outermost structure is the three-door gate, with a relatively simple architecture. Next is the 2-storey, 8-roofed bell tower.
After the bell tower are 7 buildings connected together: Tien Duong, Thieu Huong, Thuong Dien, Tich Thien Am, Trung House, Phu Tho, Hau Duong, total length of more than 100 meters.
Among these works, the most impressive is Tich Thien Am, a three-room, two-wing building, in the middle there are two high attics with curved ends.
The structure of the works of But Thap Pagoda uses a load-bearing wooden frame, the base and railing are made of stone.
Decorative art is expressed on most of the wood, stone and worship objects of the pagoda, in which the art of stone sculpture reaches its peak with lively and cheerful images, containing Buddhist meanings and especially bearing the art of Zen.
A typical stone sculpture of But Thap Pagoda is the bridge connecting Thuong Dien and Tich Thien. The bridge spans a small pond with lotus and water lilies, 4 meters long, including 3 curved spans, and paved with green stone.
On both sides of the bridge, there are 12 elaborate and sophisticated stone reliefs of birds, flowers, leaves, and mascots, connecting with the stone reliefs on the railing of the Thuong Dien.
At the head of the bridge are two stone lions.
Another stone structure considered a symbol of But Thap Pagoda is Bao Nghiem Tower. The tower looks like a pen with 5 floors, 13.05 meters high, the bottom floor is wide with a protruding porch; the four upper floors are almost the same, each side is 2 meters wide.
The bottom floor of the tower has 13 stone carvings with animal themes. The tower demonstrates the stone-matching and sculpting skills of ancient Vietnamese craftsmen.
The towers in the pagoda’s tower garden.
The main structures of But Thap Pagoda are surrounded by corridors running along both sides, each side has 26 rooms.
There are many types of Buddhist statues here, such as statues of Bodhisattvas, statues of Dharma protectors, statues of Arhats… among which there are very precious statues, famous throughout the country and considered by researchers to be the model of Vietnamese Buddhist statues.
The most prominent in the pagoda is the statue of the Guanyin with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes created by artisan Truong Tho Nam and completed in 1656 which is described as a sculptural masterpiece of Vietnam, and recognized as a National Treasure since 2012.
The statue is placed in the Thuong Dien, 3.7m high, 2.1m wide, 1.15m thick, the longest arm is 200cm, placed on a lotus throne with a dragon, a relaxed expression, and generous eyes.
The special feature of the statue is that it has 42 large hands and 958 small hands, of different lengths. In particular, each hand has a jet-black eye, and the rhythm of each arm is also different. Thousands of hands and eyes look like halos radiating from the whole.
Another precious relic of But Thap Pagoda is the Nine-story Lotus Tower located inside Tich Thien Am, one of three ancient Lotus Towers still preserved in Vietnam.
This is a 9-storey, 8-sided rotating tower. The 9 floors are 9 lotus platforms symbolizing the 9 levels of Buddhist practice. The 8 sides are the 8 directions of Buddhism, carved with reliefs related to Buddhist stories, encouraging good and eliminating evil, and the journey of ancestors and great masters.
Each rotation of the tower corresponds to 3,542,400 Buddha recitations. Although it was made several centuries ago, the Nine-story Lotus Tower can still rotate and does not make any noise.
Every year, the But Thap Pagoda Festival is held on the 23rd and 24th of the third lunar month with traditional cultural activities attracting a large number of local people and tourists from all over the world. With its outstanding historical and artistic values, But Thap Pagoda has been ranked as a national monument since 1962. In 2013, the pagoda was recognized as a special national monument of Vietnam.
Source: collected by An
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