Keo Pagoda Thai Binh

Keo Pagoda in Thái Bình is built of wood, and it has stood since 1632.

In Vietnamese the pagoda is called Chùa Keo, and its formal name is Thần Quang Tự. Today it belongs to Vũ Tiên commune, in Hưng Yên province. Many older writings give a different address: Duy Nhất commune, in Vũ Thư. That address was in Thái Bình province, before the administrative reorganization. The Prime Minister ranked the site a Special National Monument, under Decision 1419 of September 27, 2012.

The pagoda's story begins in 1061, under Emperor Lý Thánh Tông. The Lý dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225. A pagoda called Nghiêm Quang was built that year on the land of Giao Thủy. In 1167 it was renamed Thần Quang. Then, in 1611, a great flood came. The water carried the old pagoda away. The people of Keo hamlet had to move, and they split into two branches. One settled on the right bank of the Red River, in the old Nam Định province, now part of Ninh Binh. The other settled on the left bank, where Keo Pagoda in Thái Bình stands today. In 1632 the pagoda was built again. From then until now, for nearly 400 years, it has stood firm.

What makes Keo Pagoda the architectural site most worth studying in the Red River Delta is its layout along a sacred axis, called the trục Thần đạo. The way in is from the south. The whole walk passes through layers of space that open up and grow deeper.

The first layer is the outer gate, the Tam quan ngoại. In front of it lies a wide courtyard paved with stone. Behind it is a pond. The pond is not only for show. The pagoda's own records call this pattern "thượng gia hạ trì", which means a house above and a pond below. Two paths around the pond lead visitors from the space of the village into the space of worship.

The second layer is the inner gate, the Tam quan nội. It is a wooden building of three bays, with finely worked carving. The central door set in place today is a restoration. The original, from the 17th century, is kept at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

Beyond the inner gate lies the Buddha area, called Chùa Phật. It has three buildings. The first is the Ông Hộ Pagoda. Then come the Ống Muống hall and the Tam Bảo hall. This is the Buddha half of the layout known as "Buddha in front, Saint behind". The Department of Cultural Heritage names Keo Pagoda as a leading example of that layout, and of the "hundred-bay" pagoda in Vietnam.

After the Buddha area come the Giá Roi hall and the Saint's Temple. Here the Saint Dương Không Lộ is worshipped. He was a Zen master of the Lý era, linked with the Buddhist tradition and with the shared memory of Keo village. The Saint's Temple has three buildings. They are the Thiêu Hương hall, the Phụ Quốc hall and the upper hall.

The sacred axis ends at the bell tower. It is the building seen from farthest away, and remembered longest. The tower has three stories and 12 roofs, with a wooden frame, and it stands about 11.5 meters high. The same department calls it a large and fine bell tower among the old pagodas of Vietnam, and a cultural symbol of the land of Thái Bình. Its power is not in size but in proportion. Wood, roofs, curved eaves and stories are arranged in a harmony that only hundreds of years of craft could build up.

Two corridors, one east and one west, run around the Buddha area and the Saint's Temple. Each is 33 bays long. Together they give the ground plan the shape of the written character Quốc. They shelter the buildings and join them to one another.

Twice a year the pagoda holds a festival. The spring festival falls on the fourth day of the first lunar month. The autumn festival runs from the 10th to the 15th day of the ninth lunar month. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has listed the Keo Pagoda festival as national intangible cultural heritage, under Decision 217 of January 23, 2017. During the festival there are rites for the Buddha and the Saint. There are also folk games such as tug of war, têm trầu cánh phượng and blindfolded drumming.

Keo Pagoda shows that Vietnamese builders once raised wooden structures in the Red River Delta that have stood for nearly four centuries, through floods, wars and time. That is not only a matter of material. It is a matter of technique, of community, and of a spiritual life strong enough to keep such buildings alive.

This is a wooden monument nearly 400 years old. The grain of the wood, the joints and pegs, and the carving on every column and beam are proof of a time that cannot be made twice.