Keo Hanh Thien Pagoda

Almost a thousand years ago, a pagoda rose beside the Red River, on land that people of old called Giao Thủy. The Zen master Dương Không Lộ had it built in 1061, under Emperor Lý Thánh Tông. It was named Nghiêm Quang, and later renamed Thần Quang. People came to call it Keo Pagoda, because "Giao" is read as "Keo" in Nôm, an old character script for writing Vietnamese. The name of the village became the name of the pagoda, and the name of the pagoda followed the people for centuries afterward.

Then the floods came. Two great floods buried the old pagoda and forced the people to leave. The first came in 1588, the second in 1611. The people scattered to two places. One group crossed to the left bank of the Red River and founded the village of Dũng Nhuệ, in what is today Hưng Yên province. The other group founded the village of Hành Cung. It was later renamed Hành Thiện, under Emperor Minh Mệnh. Each group, on its own piece of land, built a new pagoda. Both worshipped the Zen master Dương Không Lộ, and both called their pagoda Keo Pagoda.

This is the Hành Thiện half, the Keo Pagoda on the Ninh Binh side. And it is not one pagoda but two. The inner Keo Pagoda has the formal name Thần Quang Tự. The outer Keo Pagoda has the formal name Đĩnh Lan Tự. Two pagodas, built at two different times, serve two different roles in worship.

The story begins with the inner Keo Pagoda.

This pagoda is laid out along a single axis. It runs from the entrance all the way to the Temple of the Saint at the back. In order, it passes the outer three-entrance gate, then the inner three-entrance gate, which doubles as a bell tower. Next comes the Buddha hall, and after that the Temple of the Saint. All around, a system of covered galleries links the rows of buildings together. This plan is called nội công, ngoại quốc. The inner buildings take the shape of the written character Công, and an outer frame shaped like the character Quốc encloses them. Along the main axis, the spaces open one after another, like the scenes of a play.

The most important stop in the inner Keo Pagoda is the inner gate with its bell tower. It is counted among the early bell tower gates of Vietnam, and among the beautiful ones. It has two stories and eight roofs. Its wooden parts are carved with dragons, lotus flowers, chrysanthemums in full bloom, and curling cloud patterns. The carving style is called bong kênh, which means the figures stand out boldly from the wood. This style is typical of the art of the 17th century. Every beam end and every carved panel has its own story. But what is hard to put into words is the feeling of standing beneath it and looking up. Hundreds of pieces of wood fit together with perfect precision.

Further along the sacred axis stands the Buddha hall. It is built in the shape of the character Công, with a front hall, an incense hall and an upper hall joined together. Its woodwork is decorated with dragons, unicorns and phoenixes, along with the four sacred creatures and the four plants of the seasons. This is the space for worshipping the Buddha. It is also the most important space at the front of the pagoda axis.

Just behind it, a little more than ten meters from the upper hall, is the Temple of the Saint. This is where the Zen master Dương Không Lộ is worshipped. The arrangement follows a pattern that is very common in the religious buildings of the northern delta: the Buddha in front, the Saint behind. The two spaces are separate, but they stand on the same axis.

The Temple of the Saint is special for its carving. The two facades of its front hall are carved in bong kênh style on both faces of the wood. Its doors are divided into ten panels, and each panel is carved with a different subject. Such care shows how much the Saint matters in the spiritual life of Hành Thiện village.

The Saint himself has a story that is partly history and partly legend. It is told that his personal name was Minh Nghiêm, and his religious name was Không Lộ. He did great service to the Lý dynasty, which ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225. A Lý emperor named him National Teacher and Great Master of the Dharma. The people of Hành Thiện worship him in several roles at once. He is their patriarch Saint, a guardian spirit of good fortune, and the tutelary god of the village. He is also honored as the founder of the village itself.

There is one more piece of historical evidence. The oldest stele in the complex bears the title Tu tạo Thần Quang tự bi ký. It was composed on the 25th day of the eighth month, in the 13th year of the Hoằng Định reign. That year was 1613. The stele confirms that Thần Quang Pagoda already stood before that time. This is the kind of source researchers value highly: not word of mouth, but writing carved in stone.

Next comes the outer Keo Pagoda, Đĩnh Lan Tự. It was built much later, in 1787. That was the year Đinh Mùi, the first year of the Chiêu Thống reign. The outer pagoda is dedicated to the Buddha and to Quan Âm Nam Hải, the bodhisattva of compassion. Unlike the inner pagoda, it does not worship the Saint. Its main buildings are the main hall and the bell tower. Both are judged to have architectural value.

In the ninth lunar month, the story of Keo Hành Thiện Pagoda gains one more very special layer, its festival. The festival runs each year from the 12th to the 15th day of the ninth lunar month. Besides the palanquin procession and the rite for the Saint's birthday, there is a standing boat race, called bơi trải đứng. In this race the rowers stand upright instead of sitting. Each boat carries ten people, who represent the hamlets of the village. The race starts from the Đồng Nê canal and passes the Bùi sluice. Then it reaches the Ninh Cơ River. The festival also reaches beyond village life. In 2019, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recognized it as national intangible cultural heritage.

The whole complex, the inner and the outer Keo Pagodas together, has the rank of a special national monument. The Prime Minister granted that rank on December 22, 2016.

Almost a thousand years lie behind a community that would not let its memory go. There were two floods, two departures, and two places where new pagodas rose. Yet the people kept the same name, worshipped the same Saint, and carried on the same festival. Keo Hành Thiện Pagoda is built of wood. But what the village kept is stronger than wood: a name, a Saint and a festival season, things no flood could carry away.