Phat Tich Pagoda

A stone statue has sat in silence for nearly a thousand years on the slope of a mountain in Bắc Ninh. People call that mountain Non Tiên, the fairy mountain. Its formal name is Lạn Kha, or Phật Tích mountain. People call it Non Tiên because of the tale of Từ Thức meeting a fairy. It is one of the most beautiful legends of the Kinh Bắc region. Yet what made Non Tiên a truly important place was not the legend. It was that statue.

This is Phật Tích Pagoda, whose formal name is Vạn Phúc, meaning countless blessings. At the end of 2014, the Prime Minister recognized it as a special national monument of history, architecture and art.

The pagoda's story begins very far back. Old records and objects found here show that Vạn Phúc has traces dating from about the 7th to the 10th century, more than a thousand years ago. The pagoda became a national pagoda under the Lý dynasty, which ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225. The Lý emperors held it in special regard. Between about 1057 and 1066, Emperor Lý Thánh Tông had the Thiên Phúc pagoda built here and a tower raised, and Phật Tích began to flourish. In that same period, the statue of Amitabha Buddha, called A Di Đà in Vietnamese, was carved. It still sits in the main hall today.

Inside, that thousand-year-old statue can be seen up close.

Before the main hall, the way passes through the three-entrance gate and the bell tower. Today the halls are arranged in a traditional enclosed plan. There are 11 bays in the front hall, three in the incense hall, and five in the upper sanctuary. Two long corridors run alongside. It is a complete space, solemn and quiet, like layers of sediment laid down over hundreds of years.

Now comes the main hall.

Here sits the Amitabha Buddha. It asks for no loud voices, no pointing, no comparison with anything else. Only looking.

The statue is carved from a single block of blue stone. Together, the statue and its pedestal stand nearly 3 meters tall. The pedestal is decorated with lotus petals, waves, dragons and flame-like clouds, Buddhist symbols typical of the Lý era. The statue has been recognized as a national treasure. It is counted among the finest Buddhist sculptures in the Lý-era art of Đại Việt, an old name for Vietnam.

A thousand years is the time between the carving of this statue and today, when visitors stand before it. Ten centuries have passed, and dynasties have followed one another. The pagoda was destroyed and rebuilt, yet the stone figure has endured, as quiet as on its first day. During the war with France, from 1949 to 1952, the pagoda was largely destroyed. In 1959, the state had it rebuilt to protect the relics that remained. And the Amitabha Buddha is still here.

Outside the main hall, a row of sacred stone animals stands in front of the Tam Bảo hall. The set has ten animals. There are lions, elephants, rhinoceroses, buffaloes and horses, two of each, placed in matching pairs. These stones were not placed for decoration alone. Each animal lies on a lotus pedestal. In Buddhist thought, each kind carries its own meaning. The lion, for one, stands for the strength that protects the Buddha's teaching. Standing between those two rows means standing inside a ritual space that the people of the Lý era built a thousand years ago.

Beyond lies the stupa garden.

Phật Tích Pagoda still has 34 stupas. Nine are made of blue stone and 25 of brick. Most of them were raised in the Lê Trung Hưng period. In the middle of the garden lies a rectangular dragon pond. Its stone banks are carved with dragons and waves. The stupa garden holds the memory of the monks who served here as abbots, practiced here and were finally laid to rest here. Each stupa tells a story of teaching handed down. This part asks for a slower step, because it is a space of stillness.

Phật Tích also has its stories, told aloud from one generation to the next. There is the tale of Vương Chất, and the tale of Từ Thức meeting a fairy. There is Cao Biền building a tower to bind the land with a charm. And there is a festival all its own: on the fourth day of the first lunar month, people come to the pagoda for the peony-viewing festival. At Phật Tích, legend and recorded history live side by side and enrich each other.

Higher up, on Phật Tích mountain, is the site of a new Buddha statue, begun in 2008. From the mountain, the view opens over a whole stretch of villages and fields, with the Đuống River far off.

At Phật Tích, there is no need to hurry. Sit still for a while, and feel the weight of time on every block of stone, every brick, and every roof that has passed through fire and smoke and risen again. Before leaving, look back at the main hall once more. The blue stone Buddha is still sitting there, as silent as it has been for nearly a thousand years.