Cai Bau Zen Monastery

Mountains rise behind the monastery, and the sea spreads out in front of it. Between them lies a calm space for meditation, all within a single view. The official name is Trúc Lâm Giác Tâm Zen Monastery, but most people call it Cái Bầu Pagoda, after the island where it stands.

It is a monastery for nuns, and it belongs to the Trúc Lâm school of Zen. Zen is a school of Buddhism that puts meditation at its heart.

Vân Đồn has a long history. In the Lý and Trần dynasties, it was the busiest trading port in the northeast. According to the Quảng Ninh newspaper, the monastery stands on the site of Phúc Linh Pagoda. That pagoda dated from the Trần dynasty, about 700 years ago. Over time it fell into serious disrepair, and only a modest restoration was done in the 1990s.

The Quảng Ninh Provincial People's Committee approved the plan to rebuild the pagoda in 2007. Work began on December 7 of that year, on a site of 20 hectares. The total investment was more than 24 billion dong, from both state funds and money raised from the public. After two years of building, the monastery was formally inaugurated in 2009.

The first phase of the project included the main buildings. They are a two-story main hall of 6,000 square meters, a three-entrance gate, a hall for the patriarchs, a bell tower, a drum tower and a statue of Quan Âm. Quan Âm is the bodhisattva of compassion.

From the main hall, it is easy to see why people say the monastery has its back to the mountain and its face to the sea. Green mountains stand behind it. In front, Bái Tử Long Bay opens out with islands near and far. This is more than scenery. By the traditions of feng shui and monastery planning, such a position creates a space of special character: quiet, open and joined to nature.

For many visitors, the most striking sight is the statue of Quan Âm near the water. It is described as having one face turned toward the monastery and another toward the bay. The bodhisattva looking out to sea, as if protecting the water ahead, is one of the images visitors mention most often after they leave.

According to a scholarly work on Vietnam's Buddhist pagodas, the hall for the patriarchs honors the Master Bodhidharma and the Three Patriarchs of Trúc Lâm. It shows the line of transmission of the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử school of Zen. That school grew up in Vietnam. Emperor Trần Nhân Tông founded it on Mount Yên Tử in the 13th century.

This is not only a place to look around. The main hall is a real place of study and practice. The student nuns of the monastery still chant, meditate and live the monastic life there every day. The morning bell and the afternoon wooden fish drum blend with the sound of waves at the foot of the mountain, and a visitor's heart slows without trying.

The story of Cái Bầu Pagoda is not the story of one large building. It is the story of a place, and of the link between the old Phúc Linh foundations of 700 years ago and the monastery of today. It is also the story of Buddhist faith joined to the sea and islands of Quảng Ninh. For anyone exploring Vân Đồn, the monastery is a place to stop, settle the mind and look far ahead.

A visitor does not need to be Buddhist to feel it. It is enough to stand there for a while, with green mountains at the back, the glittering bay spread out ahead and the sea wind all around.