Chuong Pagoda of Pho Hien

A golden bell, the old story says, once drifted along the water to the land of Nhân Dục, where this pagoda stands today. Folk tradition ties the pagoda's name in Chinese characters, Kim Chung tự, to that tale. Its everyday name, Chuông, is simply the Vietnamese word for bell. The tale is a legend, a way the people of old expressed their feeling for a sacred place through the picture of a golden bell and flowing water.

But what remains today is more than a legend. The pagoda has a real bronze bell, a real stone chime and a real stone stele. It also has an old architectural setting that has come down to us over more than 300 years.

Chuông Pagoda is a national monument of architecture and art. The Ministry of Culture, Information and Sports recognized it on January 21, 1992. It is one of the 16 component sites of the Phố Hiến heritage complex, a Special National Monument. According to the Cultural Heritage Department, the pagoda was restored in the 23rd year of the Chính Hòa reign, which was 1702. It was restored again in the seventh year of the Vĩnh Thịnh reign, which was 1711.

Beyond the Tam Quan gate, a blue stone bridge with three spans crosses a pond straight ahead. The pond is called the "dragon's eye," and the bridge was built in 1702. It is a way into the pagoda and also a symbolic boundary between the outside world and sacred space.

From the bridge, a path paved with blue stone leads straight to the front hall. People call this path "Nhất chính đạo." It is a Buddhist reading of the road, a path that turns a person toward goodness.

At the front hall, the layout of the pagoda follows two linked patterns, "Nội công ngoại quốc" and "Tứ thủy quy đường." They are two ways of describing the same space. "Nội công ngoại quốc" means that, seen from above, the buildings join in the shape of the character Công on the inside and the character Quốc on the outside. "Tứ thủy quy đường" means that roofs slope on all four sides and pour their water into the central courtyard. This form is typical of many old pagodas of the northern delta.

From the courtyard, the eye passes through the front hall to the Upper Hall, the galleries, the bell tower, the chime tower, the Tổ house and the Mẫu house. This is the main axis of the pagoda, running lengthwise. Standing before the front hall and looking in, you can feel the balance of a place of worship that was planned with great care.

The two galleries on either side of the courtyard hold the most striking art. There stand the Eighteen Arhats, the Ten Kings of Hell, the Four Guardians and the Eight Vajra Guardians. The arhats are disciples of the Buddha who reached enlightenment. Each statue has its own face, its own way of sitting and its own gesture. The craftsmen of old spent great effort and skill to make that variety. In one small space, art, belief and story meet.

Among the objects the pagoda keeps, the most notable is the stele "Kim Chung tự thạch bi ký." The Nhân Dân newspaper describes it as raised in the seventh year of the Vĩnh Thịnh reign, which was 1711. Both faces are carved with Chinese characters mixed with Nôm. Nôm is an old character script for writing Vietnamese. The stele is a record that helps later readers understand Phố Hiến and the pagoda in the days when the trading port flourished. Beside it stand stone incense pillars, a bronze bell and a stone chime, each carrying the marks of several hundred years of people coming to burn incense and pray.

Chuông Pagoda is one of the most representative sites of Phố Hiến. Here a visitor sees more than a pagoda. It is a page of memory from the old trading port, when people traded and also studied and practiced their faith, and handed all of it on to the generations after them.