Dat Set Clay Pagoda

In 1928, a 19-year-old named Ngô Kim Tòng fell gravely ill. His family followed the Buddhist path, and he came to believe that his faith had carried him through. So he made a vow. For the rest of his life he would give himself to the Buddha's teaching, in his own way.

His way was to shape statues by hand.

Not one statue, or a few, but nearly 2,000 of them, over 42 years without a break. He worked from 1928 until he died in 1970, at the age of 61. He worked alone. He had no assistants and no training at an art school. He had clay, incense powder, rubber sap and lacquer, and 42 years of patience.

That is the story of Chùa Đất Sét, the Clay Pagoda. Its formal name is Bửu Sơn Tự. It is a family pagoda in Sóc Trăng, where the Ngô clan practices Buddhism at home.

The pagoda was founded in the early 19th century by Ngô Kim Tây, the ancestor of the clan, as a place to practice and to worship the Buddha. Over many generations it passed down through the family. In the time of Ngô Kim Tòng it became something else entirely, a huge collection of religious art that nowhere else in Vietnam can match.

Inside, it feels like walking into a museum of clay. Statues cover the walls, the pillars, the ceiling and every other surface. There are Buddhas, Immortals, Saints and Deities, and dragons, unicorns, tortoises and phoenixes, along with countless other supernatural beings. Nearly 2,000 statues fill a space of only about 400 square meters. Each one is the product of days and months of shaping and drying, then a coat of lacquer and varnish.

The secret was a recipe of his own. Local clay is the base. Incense powder is mixed in to help it bind, and to add something sacred. Rubber sap, from a tree typical of the southwest under French rule, keeps the clay from cracking as it dries. Then comes lacquer, the traditional Vietnamese technique that uses the sap of the sơn ta tree. It forms an outer coat against damp and gives the shine. The oldest statues are nearly 100 years old and still whole.

The second striking feature is a tower of 13 stories, the tháp đa bảo. It is built of wood and covered in clay figures, with hundreds of small Buddhas arranged story by story. The 13 stories stand for the 13 realms of Mahayana Buddhism.

The third, and perhaps the most famous, is the eight giant candles. In 1940, Ngô Kim Tòng had eight candles cast from pure beeswax. Six are large. Each weighs 200 kilograms and stands 2.6 meters tall, and each is one meter wide, as thick as a house pillar. The other two are smaller, at 100 kilograms each. Together they come to 1.4 metric tons of candle.

The family tradition is to keep the two largest candles burning without a break, ever since he died in 1970. It is not the same flame all that time. The wax is replaced from time to time, and the fire is carried from the old candle to the new one. The flame stands for the idea that the wisdom of the Buddha never goes out. It also stands for his lifetime of devotion, a spirit handed down through the family.

Chùa Đất Sét was recognized as a provincial historic site on December 10, 2010. Khléang Pagoda and the Bat Pagoda, by contrast, are national historic sites. But the story of Ngô Kim Tòng needs no title to be remembered. He was an ordinary man, with 42 years, nearly 2,000 statues and a single vow.