Voi Phuc Temple

Two stone elephants kneel on either side of the path that leads to the temple gate. They do not stand and they do not lie down. They kneel, front legs folded under them, heads bowed a little. It is a posture of deference and respect. This is where the name Voi Phục Temple comes from. And the story of these two elephants begins more than 900 years ago.

In 1065, in the reign of Emperor Lý Thánh Tông, a temple was built on a high mound in Thị Trại. The Lý dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225. Thị Trại was one of the old hamlets west of the royal citadel of Thăng Long. Thăng Long is the city now called Hanoi.

The temple honors a spirit called Linh Lang Đại Vương. According to the temple's spirit chronicle, Linh Lang was Prince Hoàng Lang, son of Emperor Lý Thánh Tông and a royal consort from Đồng Đoàn village, in Đan Phượng district. Legend says the prince led an army and defeated the invading Song armies at the end of the 11th century. The Song were the dynasty then ruling China.

After the victory, the prince refused every rank and title, and went home to Thị Trại to live in seclusion. The Lý emperor gave him the honor of Linh Lang Đại Vương after his death, and had the villagers build a temple to him.

He belongs to legend and the spirit chronicle, and Hanoi people have told his story for nearly a thousand years. To them he stands for a hero who had no hunger for power.

As for the pair of stone elephants, legend says the Lý emperor had two kneeling elephants carved before the temple gate. In life, the prince had elephants to assist him in his battles. That is how the name Voi Phục came about.

Voi Phục Temple does not stand alone. It belongs to a system called Thăng Long Tứ Trấn, four temples that guarded the four directions of the capital since Lý times. In the north is Quán Thánh Temple, which honors Huyền Thiên Trấn Vũ. In the east is Bạch Mã Temple, in the middle of the Old Quarter, which honors the spirit Long Đỗ. In the south is Kim Liên Temple, which honors Cao Sơn Đại Vương. In the west is Voi Phục Temple. Four temples, four directions, four spirits guarding the capital.

In the feng shui thinking of the old days, these four spirits formed an invisible circle of protection around the capital. No wall stood higher than that.

On January 18, 2022, the Prime Minister signed Decision 93, ranking the whole Thăng Long Tứ Trấn group as a Special National Monument. The ceremony to receive the certificate of ranking was held on May 29, 2022, in the courtyard of this temple, Voi Phục.

Inside, the noise of Kim Mã Street fades away. Old trees grow thick, the brick courtyard is quiet, and the three-door gateway and rear sanctuary date from the Nguyễn dynasty. That dynasty reigned from 1802 to 1945 and was Vietnam's last royal dynasty. Right next door is Thủ Lệ Park, the Hanoi Zoo.

The main festival falls on the ninth and tenth days of the second lunar month every year. There is a procession carrying the palanquin of Linh Lang Đại Vương, quan họ singing, and folk games. Quan họ is call-and-response folk singing from Bắc Ninh. Most striking is the ritual of carrying the palanquin from the temple to Thủ Lệ communal house. It shows the bond between the spirit and the old village, a bond that has lasted more than 900 years.

The two stone elephants kneel there in silence. The people of old Hanoi believed that for 900 years an invisible circle of protection had held this capital in its arms from all four sides.