Phuoc Hung Pagoda Sa Dec

In Sa Đéc, people usually call this pagoda Chùa Hương, the Hương Pagoda. The name sounds simple. Behind it lies a whole layer of history, that of a Buddhist community and of the Minh Hương people in an old town of the delta.

Its official name is Chùa Phước Hưng, the Phước Hưng Pagoda. It stands on Hùng Vương Street, in the center of Sa Đéc, in Đồng Tháp province.

According to Buddhist sources in Đồng Tháp, the name Hương is tied to the Minh Hương Pagoda. In 1846, the Minh Hương Pagoda, built by the Venerable Như Diệu, was merged with Phước Hưng. So when a local says the Hương Pagoda of Sa Đéc, the old Phước Hưng Pagoda is the one meant.

Phước Hưng itself is older than that merger. The Venerable Thích Minh Phước, also known as Tư Trung, founded the pagoda in 1838. In 1872 it was moved to its present site on Hùng Vương Street, where it still stands today.

The roof has eight sections in two tiers. It is covered with yin-yang tiles and decorated with dragons, mythical lân, turtles and phoenixes, along with flowers, leaves, birds and animals. The effect is part southern village communal house and part old Buddhist pagoda. It carries the mark of Vietnamese and Chinese culture joined in harmony in a community pagoda.

Inside, the space opens layer by layer, as in the old pagodas of the south. From the east wing, past the ancestral hall with its horizontal board reading Bát Nhã Đường, a path leads to the middle courtyard. White lotus in a pond, orchids and ornamental plants stand there quietly. The courtyard is more than a place to rest. It is room to breathe between the buildings, where light and the scent of flowers become part of the architecture before anyone enters the main hall.

In the main hall, the statue of Amitabha Buddha is made of unfired clay and gilded. It is more than a hundred years old and still stands whole and sturdy. Beside it is a bronze statue of the guardian Hộ Pháp, weighing more than thirty kilograms. There is also a mõ for chanting sutras, shaped like two fish and dated 1888. It is a rare old ritual instrument. Each time it is struck, its deep sound carries through several layers of the pagoda.

The written treasures of Phước Hưng deserve just as much notice. A study of the Hán Nôm texts by Phan Nguyễn Kiến Nam records many sutras carved in wood, sixteen horizontal boards and nineteen pairs of couplets. Many of these texts are old, with dates such as the year Nhâm Ngọ, 1882, and the year Ất Dậu, 1885. The characters are Chinese and Nôm. Nôm is an old character script for writing Vietnamese. These carved lines hold memories into which people of an earlier time put their faith, their learning and their hopes.

Phước Hưng is still a Buddhist place in active daily life. In 2025, during the Vu Lan season, the pagoda held a memorial ceremony for its founding Venerable, with an offering of monastic robes. Vu Lan is a Buddhist festival when people show gratitude to their parents. The Government Committee for Religious Affairs once noted the work of the abbot, the Venerable Thích Chơn Trí. In the difficult period of 2020 he led many charity activities and community support. The story of the pagoda does not stop at history. It goes on living in the community today.

The Hương Pagoda of Sa Đéc is a place for stopping, looking closely and listening. Both the deep note of the twin-fish mõ and the carved lines of Chinese and Nôm characters, silent for ages, tell their own story. It is the story of a community that lived, believed and held on in this land for nearly two hundred years.