Thanh Ha Pagoda

Thanh Hà Pagoda stands in the middle of Thanh Hóa city. It is in Trường Thi ward. It is a rare spiritual place to find in a city. The bell, the curved tile roofs and the quiet of the grounds still sit beside the busy daily life of the streets.

The pagoda was ranked as a provincial historical and cultural monument in 1998. Sources do not agree on how it began. One source mentions Emperor Trần Thái Tông of the Trần dynasty. The Trần dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1225 to 1400. Another says it was a village pagoda built at the start of the 20th century. The exact origin remains an open question, yet Thanh Hà Pagoda still stands there, calm among the streets.

What can be said with more certainty is how the pagoda is laid out today. The grounds hold all the parts of a traditional Vietnamese Buddhist pagoda. A visitor enters through the Tam quan gate, then comes to the Nghi môn, and then to the Buddha hall. Beside them stand the Patriarch house, the monks' hall, the Tứ Ân house and the nhà thờ Mẫu. This hall is for the worship of the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms, a traditional Vietnamese belief. At the far end of the grounds lies a garden of stupas.

What sets this place apart from many city pagodas is its system of couplets. The Thanh Hóa Tourism Portal describes the couplets at the Tam quan, the Nghi môn, the Buddha hall and the Mother Goddess hall. They are carved into stone, or set into the walls and pillars, and they speak of turning toward goodness and carry literary value.

This is a kind of Hán Nôm writing that visitors often overlook. Nôm is an old character script for writing Vietnamese. A visitor who stops to read each line can sense a whole layer of thought about virtue and moral principle, placed by people of old in a house of worship.

The garden of stupas at the far end is described as a place honoring the Venerable patriarchs who founded the pagoda. It feels quieter and more ancient than the worship halls in front.

Thanh Hà is one of the rare places where a bell still rings in the heart of a city. Standing in the garden of stupas, listening to the wind, a person can feel a stillness that the streets outside never have.