Huong Tich Pagoda of Ha Tinh

On a peak of the Hồng Lĩnh mountains in Hà Tĩnh stands a pagoda named Hương Tích. Another pagoda with the same name lies in Hanoi, famous for the festival that fills it with crowds every spring.

The two share a name and a legend, but the one in Hà Tĩnh is said to be the older.

Its story begins in the 13th century, under the Trần dynasty, which ruled Vietnam from 1225 to 1400. Archaeologists have found a brick foundation and dragon patterns in the art style of the Trần period right at this pagoda. They show that a pagoda has stood here for more than 700 years. In 1885, a fire destroyed almost all of it. In 1901, Đào Tấn, the governor-general of An Tĩnh, led the effort to restore and rebuild it. That rebuilt pagoda is the one standing today.

Then comes a royal honor. In 1836, Emperor Minh Mạng had images of Vietnam's scenic places carved on the Nine Urns, the Cửu Đỉnh, in the Imperial City of Hue. Among them, Hương Tích Pagoda was chosen for the urn called Anh Đỉnh. This was the way the Nguyễn court recorded the pagoda's place among the finest sights of the whole country. The Nguyễn dynasty was Vietnam's last royal dynasty, which reigned from 1802 to 1945.

People call the pagoda the most beautiful in old Hoan Châu, a land that took in today's Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh.

Then there is the Perfume Pagoda at Mỹ Đức, in Hanoi. One Buddhist studies journal says it was built in 1686, under Lord Trịnh Căn, and took both its inspiration and its name from this pagoda in Hà Tĩnh. The Trịnh lords were a noble family who dominated northern Vietnam. Both pagodas are tied to the legend of Princess Diệu Thiện, who became Quan Âm. Quan Âm is the bodhisattva of compassion. By this account, the original stands here, on the Hồng Lĩnh peak.

The pagoda sits 650 meters above sea level. Clouds drift past at eye level, and the sound of its bell carries down into the valley. Below spreads the whole plain of Can Lộc, and the green patches of the Hồng Lĩnh forest run on as far as the eye can see.

First, the legend. It is not a historical event that can be checked. It is a spiritual story that has been told again and again for hundreds of years. According to the legend, Princess Diệu Thiện was the daughter of King Trang Vương. Forced to marry a cruel general, she fled into the mountains to live the Buddhist way. A White Tiger spirit led her to the Hương Tuyền stream and then up to the Hương Tích cave in the same range. When her father fell gravely ill, she gave up her own eyes and hands, offering them as medicine to save him. The Buddha, moved by her compassion, gave her countless eyes and hands. She became Quan Âm Thiên Thủ Thiên Nhãn, the Quan Âm of the many hands and many eyes.

A small hermitage on the mountain, called Am Thánh Mẫu or Am Diệu Thiện, is the place tied to this legend.

The Tam Bảo hall is the heart of the pagoda complex. It keeps old Buddha statues made of precious wood, dating from the Trần period to the Nguyễn period. Inside the hall are also a Cửu Long, which means Nine Dragons, and an old bronze bell, hundreds of years old. Some of the statues were here even before the fire of 1885.

Around the pagoda are scenic spots whose names are already a poem. There is the Fairy Cave, the Cloud-Spitting Hermitage, the Fairy Bathing Stream, the Waterfall of Wrongs Undone, and the Ghost-Weeping Ravine. Folk tradition describes the cave, Động Tiên Nữ, as having 36 entrances and exits, and an air of mystery. The number 36 is a folk way of speaking, not an exact measure. But it names the feeling of standing before this cave, as if space and light kept pouring in from every side.

In 2016, a 13-story tower was added within the pagoda grounds.

Hương Tích Pagoda in Hà Tĩnh holds a special standing. It is an ancient pagoda more than 700 years old, said to be the source of a devotion that spread across northern Vietnam, and a scenic site the Nguyễn court officially recorded. A royal court once wished to carve this place into bronze for all time.