Buu Phong Pagoda

The climb to Bửu Phong Pagoda takes 99 steps.

The stairway is neither very long nor very steep. But the slow climb matters. The noise of traffic fades behind, and the trees and the mountain rock draw closer. That feeling is an important part of the visit. Bửu Phong does not stand down on the plain. It sits on Bình Điện Mountain, within the Bửu Long scenic area. Today that area belongs to Trấn Biên ward, in Đồng Nai.

The pagoda is a Mahayana monastery that keeps to the traditional lineage. Its founding year is usually given as 1616, and its founder as the Patriarch Bửu Phong. But the dates of an old pagoda like this one are not so simple. Researchers say that the year 1616, written on a wooden column, still leaves open questions. So the original founding date of the pagoda needs further checking. The earliest building date that can be confirmed is the year Kỷ Sửu, which is 1829. It comes from an inscription carved on a stone column of the front hall.

This is the honest way to talk about an old pagoda, and also the more interesting one. It does not pin down one number as an absolute truth. Instead, it accepts that the history of the pagoda is made of layers that people are still reading and explaining.

Over the centuries, the pagoda went through many restorations. After that work of the Kỷ Sửu year, repairs followed in 1896, and the next came in 1944. More followed in 1963 and in 1964. Later came the work of 1986, and then of 1989. Each restoration left its own mark. What stands here today is the work of many generations.

On September 16, 2013, the Đồng Nai Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a ceremony. It presented the certificate that ranked the Bửu Long Scenic Area and Bửu Phong Pagoda as a national heritage site. So this is not only a working place of worship. It is a heritage site whose value the state has formally recognized.

The first view at the top is the front of the pagoda. It faces northeast. It stands out with carved reliefs and with mosaics of broken pottery and porcelain. The motifs include a scroll-shaped panel and mythical lân beasts holding pearls in their mouths. There are also the sun and the moon, dragons turned toward the sun, and stylized vines and leaves. They are not there only for decoration. In traditional religious architecture, each image carries a wish for peace and prosperity. Each one also expresses the solemn dignity of a Buddhist monastery.

Inside, the buildings are laid out in three parts: the main hall, the lecture hall and the hall for the founding patriarchs. The central bay of the main hall is given to the Tam Thế Buddhas, the Buddhas of the past, the present and the future. On both sides stand the Ten Kings of the Underworld. Around them stand many more groups of statues. There are three triads of sacred figures. One is the Di Đà Tam Tôn, and another is the Hoa Nghiêm Tam Thánh. The third is the Tuyết Sơn Tam Thánh. There are statues of the Nine Dragons and of Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. There is a thousand-armed, thousand-eyed Quan Âm, the bodhisattva of compassion. Địa Tạng is here too. Standing in that forest of statues, in the incense smoke and the soft hum of chanting, a visitor falls quiet. It feels like being held inside an ancient world.

The pagoda also keeps some remarkable antiques. There is an old statue of the Buddha Di Đà, and an old stone statue in the style of the Phù Nam culture. Phù Nam was an early kingdom of Southeast Asia strongly influenced by Indian culture. There is old pottery from the Qing dynasty, and there are sacred relics. Each piece is like a fragment of time, quietly telling of the centuries that have passed over this pagoda.

Outside the grounds, the Bửu Long scenic area is worth getting to know as well. The rock mountain of Bửu Long is thought to have formed about 100 to 150 million years ago. Rain and wind have worn it down into lovely natural shapes. Trịnh Hoài Đức once described the place in his book, the Gia Định thành thông chí. He wrote that Bửu Phong Mountain looks down on Đại Giang, the great river. On its left lies a dragon-head rock, and on its right a meditation-bed rock. Read those lines, look out at the river, and the depth of history in this landscape comes into view.

At Bửu Phong, three layers of time touch in a single moment. Underfoot is the rock of Bửu Long, which has stood there for hundreds of millions of years. All around is the old pagoda that so many generations have built up. And in the air drift the chanting and the incense of a faith that goes on every day.

From the top of the 99 stone steps, the waters of Đại Giang glitter far off below. Standing there, it is easy to see why people long ago chose this mountain for a pagoda. A cool wind moves through the trees, a bell rings out, and a whole ancient land seems to open up ahead.