Buu Lam Pagoda in My Tho

In the heart of Mỹ Tho, on Nguyễn Văn Giác street, an old pagoda has stood for more than 200 years. Bửu Lâm Pagoda is one of three places in Mỹ Tho ranked as national heritage sites. The other two are the Điều Hòa communal house and Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda. But that title is only the outer shell. What stays with people is the way several layers of history lie quietly one on top of another in the stillness of this pagoda.

Mỹ Tho is now part of Đồng Tháp province in the Mekong Delta. Outside the gate the city keeps its own rhythm. Yet step through, and the sound of the streets seems to fall away behind you. Inside is a quiet that has held still for a very long time.

In the account the pagoda keeps, the earliest part of the story begins around 1742. A nun whose name is not known came to Xóm Dầu and built a small hermitage. Every day she prayed, and she grew medicinal herbs to treat the sick who lived nearby. It is a lovely picture: a small roof in a garden of healing plants, the sound of chanting mixed with the scent of leaves. The story is kept as a precious memory, though those first years left few traces to tell it in full.

The first firmer date is 1803. Phạm Thị Đạt was a devout Buddhist woman of the area. She invited the Venerable Tiên Thiện to come from Đức Lâm Pagoda and serve as abbot. His religious name was Từ Lâm. The pagoda was then rebuilt in precious wood, on a larger scale. The pagoda explains that the name Bửu Lâm means treasures as many as the trees in a forest. It recalls the precious herbs around the old hermitage. It also honors the person who founded the place.

Since then, the pagoda has passed through many generations of abbots and many restorations. The pagoda counts the restoration after the storm of the Giáp Thìn year, 1904, as an important milestone. It kept the architecture almost intact. In 1984, the Venerable Nhựt Chiếu, whose religious name was Huệ Thông, carried out a major restoration.

Inside the place of worship, the layout follows the style called nội Công ngoại Quốc. The front hall, the main hall and the hall of the patriarchs follow one another. In the middle lies an open-air courtyard that lets in air and light. The columns of căm xe wood, the roof of yin and yang tiles, and the floor raised about 1 meter are details kept from more than a century ago.

In the main hall, look up at the carved screens and the horizontal boards. The hall still keeps nine sets of carved wooden screens, called bao lam. The most striking is a carving called Cửu Long phún thủy, nine dragons spouting water. There is also a pair of dragon pillars called Cá hóa rồng, the fish that becomes a dragon. They are lacquered red and covered in bright gold. Around the hall hang 12 horizontal boards of wood, carved in many layers. Standing beneath those carvings, people find themselves speaking more softly. Every line and every figure carries the skill and the spirit of southern craftsmen from more than a century ago. Not every pagoda has kept so many of its original details.

The main hall is dedicated to Amitabha Buddha, along with many statues of Buddhas, bodhisattvas and arhats. Across the open courtyard, a statue of Quán Thế Âm stands under the sky. She is the bodhisattva of compassion. The hall of the patriarchs honors the bodhisattva Chuẩn Đề. It also keeps the memorial tablets of the venerable founding masters from every era. Behind it lies a quiet garden of memorial towers. There the abbots of many generations rest, the people who kept the lamp of meditation burning here.

Bửu Lâm Pagoda also carries another layer of history, quiet but deep. From 1926 to 1945, the pagoda was a meeting place for patriots. Among them were Nguyễn Sinh Sắc and Mai Bạch Ngọc. Nguyễn Văn Nguyễn came as well, and so did Xích Hồng. It was here that the Xóm Dầu party cell was founded, early in 1930. Then in 1945, the pagoda's great old bell was given to the revolution, to be cast into weapons. For years it had rung through many seasons of prayer.

The beauty of Bửu Lâm does not rest on any single highlight. In this old pagoda, several things meet at once. There is the memory of settling the southern lands, and the Lâm Tế Chánh Tông tradition of Buddhism. There is the fine woodcarving of southern craftsmen. And there are the quiet, sacred days in the life of the people of Mỹ Tho.

On a morning in the open courtyard, sunlight falls through the roof of yin and yang tiles. Overhead are the nine dragons spouting water. All around stand the căm xe columns, darkened by time, and the breeze still carries a trace of incense. More than two centuries have passed, and the old pagoda beside Xóm Dầu still quietly spreads its cool shade, waiting for those who find their way back.