Thien An and Tra Khuc River

When people from Quảng Ngãi speak of home, they often say four words: núi Ấn, sông Trà. They mean Ấn Mountain and Trà River, and those four words carry a whole province inside them.

Thiên Ấn Mountain stands on the left bank of the Trà Khúc River. It is about 4 kilometers east of the center of Quảng Ngãi city. It rises about 100 meters, and its four slopes have the shape of an isosceles trapezoid. From a distance it looks like a seal set down beside a green river. That is why the landscape is called Thiên Ấn Niêm Hà, which means a seal of heaven stamped on the river. The name is not a geological category. It is how local culture and poetry describe the beauty of the place.

On top of the mountain stands Thiên Ấn Pagoda, one of the best-known old pagodas of Quảng Ngãi. Work began in 1694 and finished at the end of 1695. At first it was only a thatched hermitage. Its founding patriarch was the Zen master Pháp Hóa. His lay name was Lê Diệt, and his title was Minh Hải Phật Bảo. He belonged to the Lâm Tế Zen school. Over many abbots and many enlargements, the hermitage grew into a famous old pagoda. In the early 18th century, Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu gave it a royal plaque. The plaque reads Sắc tứ Thiên Ấn tự, and with it the pagoda was officially named.

Just inside the grounds, an old well lies right in front of the courtyard. Folk tradition says the patriarch Pháp Hóa dug it when he founded the pagoda, and that he found underground water in the middle of the rocky summit. The water is clear all year round, and local people see it as a wonder of the sacred mountain.

The great bell has a history of its own. It was cast in the village of Chí Tượng. The village is now Đức Hiệp commune, in Mộ Đức. The bell was brought up the mountain in 1845, in the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Thiệu Trị. It stands 2 meters tall, and its mouth measures 70 centimeters across. People also say that on still early mornings, its ringing can be heard from very far away.

East of the pagoda lies a garden of stupas. Here rest the Zen masters who served as abbots over many generations. The stupas rise in an odd number of tiers, and they stand among shady trees, quiet but not cold. In that garden, a Buddhist community's bond with the mountain feels deep, unbroken for more than 300 years.

Southwest of the pagoda lies the tomb of Huỳnh Thúc Kháng. In 1947 the people buried him there. He was a patriot who served as Minister of the Interior, and as Acting President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam while President Hồ Chí Minh was in France. With his tomb on Thiên Ấn Mountain, the place is a spiritual site and also a place of remembrance for the modern history of Quảng Ngãi.

On March 2, 1990, the pagoda and the tomb were recognized together as a national historic and cultural site. On one mountain, Quảng Ngãi keeps both centuries of Zen learning and the memory of people who dared to stand up for their country.

From the summit, the Trà Khúc River can be seen winding across the Quảng Ngãi plain. In the early morning, when the water lies still, the great stone seal casts its reflection on the river, as if heaven and earth had just stamped the land. The people of Quảng Ngãi rank Thiên Ấn Niêm Hà first among the 12 scenic spots of their province. And the four words núi Ấn, sông Trà go with them all their lives, wherever they go.