By drawing on its rich heritage of Buddhist pagodas and ancient sites,this picturesque northern province of Ninh Binh hopes to attract moretourists from both Vietnam and around the world. Viet Nam News report.
Nguyen Thi Gia, a retired woman living in Hanoi, saysone of her greatest joys this year was to see Bai Dinh pagoda in thenorthern province of Ninh Binh.
"I was reallyimpressed to see the great buildings and the huge bronze Buddha statuesthere. The pagoda, with its unique architecture, is a harmoniouscombination of old and new," she says.
But Bai Dinh is not the only wonder that the province offers.
Located in the southern part of the Red River Delta, Ninh Binh, 80kmfrom Hanoi, is rich in tourist potential. Not only has nature endowedthe land with many wonderful landscapes, such as the Tam Coc-Bich Dongriver-cave complex and Trang An landscapes, but cultural and historicalsites also abound. These include the former royal capital of Hoa Lu, thePhat Diem stone cathedral, and the spiritual tourism complex of BaiDinh pagoda.
All these places of historical,religious and scenic interests have been drawing tourists, both localand foreign, in increasing numbers. Built to celebrate the 1,000thanniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi (1010-2010), the Bai Dinh pagoda, thelargest in Viet Nam, is located in a vast valley with many lakes andmountains.
King Ly Thai To moved the capital city from Hoa Lu in Ninh Binh to Thang Long (now Hanoi) in 1010.
The new pagoda is near the ancient Bai Dinh pagoda, which was built byZen Buddhist priest Nguyen Minh Khong (1066-1141) in the 11th century.
The ancient pagoda is situated on top of a smallmountain peak in Gia Sinh commune in Gia Vien district. To reach it,visitors have to climb up 300 stone steps. As an ancient descriptionexplains, Bai Dinh means the worship of heaven and earth, Buddha andcelestial angels.
The air around the pagoda is freshand cool. The quiet mountains and forests are conducive to meditation.According to Vietnamese folk tales, this countryside region is sacredland as it has given birth to kings and saints. Ly Cong Uan, birth nameof King Ly Thai To, meditated in the pagoda before moving the capital toThang Long.
Visitor Nguyen Quang Thi from Hanoisays: "The old pagoda and the new one have their own interestingpositions. The old one is in an isolated place on a mountain, but itlooks traditional, especially as it has Gieng Ngoc, a water well thatnever runs dry. The new one is situated in an open and vast space, with ariver in front and a mountain on either side that resemble a crouchingdragon and a kneeling tiger."
On the way to the oldpagoda, tourists visit Sang (light) Cave where Sakyamuni Buddha isworshipped, Toi (dark) Cave where the nation's Mother Goddess (Mau) ishonoured. The Light Cave is 25m long and 15m wide. Both ceiling andfloor are strangely flat. Above the entrance gate, there are carvedscripts saying "Minh dinh danh lam" (Famous landscape on mountain top)by King Le Thanh Tong, a poet and one of the greatest rulers inVietnamese history. The Dark Cave has a pond named Tien (Fairy), withstrange stalactites reflected in water, creating a fanciful scene.
The new Bai Dinh pagoda, also known as Bai Dinh Buddhism SpiritualCentre, covers 700ha, and is the largest in Vietnam in terms of size.Its three-door gate is again the biggest in the nation at 16.5m high and13.5m wide. The building has four main columns made of ironwood. Eachis 13.8m tall. There are four smaller pillars, each 11m high.
At the entrance gate, there are two bronze statues of Ho Phap(Protective Deities), each 5.5m high and weighing 12 tonnes, and eightbronze statues of Kim Cuong (angels who protect Buddhism), weighing 8tonnes each.
The bell-tower has three roofs, 22mhigh and covering 49 lineal metres of floor space. The tower has the36-tonne bell, the biggest of its kind in the country, which was cast inHue. The bell striker is made from an ironwood tree. It is 4.2m longand weighs 500kg. The bell, which is bronze mixed with gold, hangs highin a region of mountains and rivers.
People can hear its sonorous vibrations from 10km away.
From the bell-tower, visitors pass a lawn to arrive in a sanctumdevoted to Kwan Yin. Built of columns and carved timbers, it is 14.8mhigh, 41.8m long and 17.4m wide, and has five main chambers and two sidechambers. In the middle of the sanctum is a 1,000-hand Kwan Yin bronzestatue, 9.57m high and weighing 80 tonnes. Once again, it claims to bethe biggest bronze Kwan Yin statue in Vietnam.
FromKwan Yin Sanctum, visitors arrive in the Phap Chu Sanctum to worshipLord Buddha Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. The building is 30mhigh, 47.6m long and 43.3m wide, and has two main roofs and eightsmaller roofs facing the four directions.The building is high, light andairy and has five chambers. The central chamber is 13.5m long and hasfour side chambers each about 8m long. On a high platform in the centralchamber, a great bronze statue of Lord Buddha sits on a lotus throne.
Of course, the statue, which is 10m high and weighs100 tonnes, is said to be the highest and heaviest bronze Lord Buddha inthe country. Apart from size, the statue is a tribute to the bronzecasting artists in Y Yen district, Nam Dinh province. At the rear of thestatue, there are 1,284 small boxes, each containing a small bronzeBuddha image.
Behind the sanctum is the Tam The(past, present and future) Sanctum. Located on the highest hill in theregion, it is the biggest building in the new Bai Dinh complex. It is34m high, 59m long and 40m wide, with an inside area of 3,000sq.m. Onceagain, a record is claimed. The sanctum has three roofs and sevenchambers. In the main chamber, there are 66 pillars, including two rows24.8m high.
The sanctum is reserved for worshippingBuddha Past, Present and Future. Each of the three bronze statues is7.2m high and weighs 50 tonnes. Another record is claimed for thistrinity. Behind each of the three statues is a giant leaf covered withhundreds of small bronze Buddha statues.
The pagoda's corridors run for a total of 1km. In them are housed 500 Arhat stone statues of high artistic value.
Bai Dinh pagoda's records include being the largest pagoda in Vietnam(107ha); having the largest gilded bronze Buddha statue in SoutheastAsia (100 tonnes) and three Tam The statues each weighing 50 tonnes. Thepagoda has the two biggest bells in Southeast Asia (36 and 27 tonnes).
Bai Dinh also claims the record for the biggestnumber of Bodhi trees in one place in Vietnam. One hundred werepropagated from the orginal tree where Buddha enlightened in India.
Sacred land of heroes
Promoting its claim to be a sacred land once home to the capitals ofthree imperial dynasties Dinh, Tien Le and Ly, the region is linked tomajor changes in the nation's history. According to Associate ProfessorPham Mai Hung, vice chairman of Vietnam's Cultural Heritage Association,nature has bestowed Ninh Binh with hills and mountains in thenorthwest, and plains and coastal areas in the southeast - all rich infauna and flora.
"Moreover, its intricate riversystems created an important geo-political barrier throughout history.The existence of dynasties Dinh Tien Hoang (968-980), Le Dai Hanh(980-1009) and Ly Thai To (1009-1226) were lively evidence."
Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and TourismLam Quang Nghia says the first international conference on spiritualtourism will be held from November 21-22 by the Ministry of Culture,Sports and Tourism, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation andthe Ninh Binh People's Committee. It will be held at the spiritualtourism complex at Bai Dinh Pagoda.
The conferencewas an initiative of the Secretary General of the UN World TourismOrganisation, Taleb Rifai, after visiting Vietnam. According to theorganisation, spiritual tourism has much potential for development inAsia and the Pacific. "Introducing the tourism potential of Vietnam -and Ninh Binh province in particular - will create a forum for thedevelopment of this type of tourism," he says.
Theancient capital of Hoa Lu attracts large numbers of tourists from aroundVietnam and overseas. In Ninh Binh, tourists explore many popularspiritual tourism sites. These include the One-Pillar Pagoda (Nhat Tru),an ancient pagoda in Truong Yen commune, Hoa Lu district. It has beenranked a national monument along with a temple for King Le Dai Hanh.
Researcher Ha Manh Khoa from the Institute of History says of specialinterest in the temple is a stone column carved with Buddhist prayerserected by King Le Dai Hanh in 995. The column is 4.16m high. Its eightfaces have about 2,500 ancient Han characters praising Buddhism.
The Trang An landscape complex, one of the most attractivedestinations in Ninh Binh, is now being submitted to the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) forrecognition as a World Heritage Site.
Among thewell-known historical sites in Ninh Binh, Phat Diem stone cathedral inKim Son district is an architectural masterpiece. Its unique feature isthat while it is a Catholic church, it was built in the style of atraditional Buddhist pagoda.
Nhat Tru Pagoda, theancient capital of Hoa Lu, the spiritual complex at Bai Dinh pagoda,Trang An landscapes, and Phat Diem stone cathedral lure many visitors,especially Buddhists and Catholics. Dinh The Thap, director of theprovincial Statistics Department says, the province had received morethan 4.18 million visitors by the end of October 2013, an increase of20.8 percent over the same period last year.
Venerable Thich Duc Thien, Deputy General Secretary of the VietnamBuddhist Sangha's Excecutive Council, says the Sangha recently conducteda survey on the facilities of Bai Dinh Pagoda to prepare for the UnitedNations Vesak 2014, a very important event of international Buddhism,to be held at the pagoda. The Government has already approved theSangha's plan to celebrate the Vesak festival at Bai Dinh pagoda.
"We believe that the UN Vesak 2014 festival will be solemn and abundant with activities," he says.
The provincial People's Committee vice chairman, Tran Huu Binh,recommends Ninh Binh focus on two types of tourism: eco-tourism andcultural tourism, which includes spiritual sites such as these Buddhistpagodas.
"The successful organisation of theconference will confirm the advantages Vietnam's tourism sites have forregional and international tourists and contribute to the freedom ofbelief and religion in the country," he says.-VNA
Nguyen Thi Gia, a retired woman living in Hanoi, saysone of her greatest joys this year was to see Bai Dinh pagoda in thenorthern province of Ninh Binh.
"I was reallyimpressed to see the great buildings and the huge bronze Buddha statuesthere. The pagoda, with its unique architecture, is a harmoniouscombination of old and new," she says.
But Bai Dinh is not the only wonder that the province offers.
Located in the southern part of the Red River Delta, Ninh Binh, 80kmfrom Hanoi, is rich in tourist potential. Not only has nature endowedthe land with many wonderful landscapes, such as the Tam Coc-Bich Dongriver-cave complex and Trang An landscapes, but cultural and historicalsites also abound. These include the former royal capital of Hoa Lu, thePhat Diem stone cathedral, and the spiritual tourism complex of BaiDinh pagoda.
All these places of historical,religious and scenic interests have been drawing tourists, both localand foreign, in increasing numbers. Built to celebrate the 1,000thanniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi (1010-2010), the Bai Dinh pagoda, thelargest in Viet Nam, is located in a vast valley with many lakes andmountains.
King Ly Thai To moved the capital city from Hoa Lu in Ninh Binh to Thang Long (now Hanoi) in 1010.
The new pagoda is near the ancient Bai Dinh pagoda, which was built byZen Buddhist priest Nguyen Minh Khong (1066-1141) in the 11th century.
The ancient pagoda is situated on top of a smallmountain peak in Gia Sinh commune in Gia Vien district. To reach it,visitors have to climb up 300 stone steps. As an ancient descriptionexplains, Bai Dinh means the worship of heaven and earth, Buddha andcelestial angels.
The air around the pagoda is freshand cool. The quiet mountains and forests are conducive to meditation.According to Vietnamese folk tales, this countryside region is sacredland as it has given birth to kings and saints. Ly Cong Uan, birth nameof King Ly Thai To, meditated in the pagoda before moving the capital toThang Long.
Visitor Nguyen Quang Thi from Hanoisays: "The old pagoda and the new one have their own interestingpositions. The old one is in an isolated place on a mountain, but itlooks traditional, especially as it has Gieng Ngoc, a water well thatnever runs dry. The new one is situated in an open and vast space, with ariver in front and a mountain on either side that resemble a crouchingdragon and a kneeling tiger."
On the way to the oldpagoda, tourists visit Sang (light) Cave where Sakyamuni Buddha isworshipped, Toi (dark) Cave where the nation's Mother Goddess (Mau) ishonoured. The Light Cave is 25m long and 15m wide. Both ceiling andfloor are strangely flat. Above the entrance gate, there are carvedscripts saying "Minh dinh danh lam" (Famous landscape on mountain top)by King Le Thanh Tong, a poet and one of the greatest rulers inVietnamese history. The Dark Cave has a pond named Tien (Fairy), withstrange stalactites reflected in water, creating a fanciful scene.
The new Bai Dinh pagoda, also known as Bai Dinh Buddhism SpiritualCentre, covers 700ha, and is the largest in Vietnam in terms of size.Its three-door gate is again the biggest in the nation at 16.5m high and13.5m wide. The building has four main columns made of ironwood. Eachis 13.8m tall. There are four smaller pillars, each 11m high.
At the entrance gate, there are two bronze statues of Ho Phap(Protective Deities), each 5.5m high and weighing 12 tonnes, and eightbronze statues of Kim Cuong (angels who protect Buddhism), weighing 8tonnes each.
The bell-tower has three roofs, 22mhigh and covering 49 lineal metres of floor space. The tower has the36-tonne bell, the biggest of its kind in the country, which was cast inHue. The bell striker is made from an ironwood tree. It is 4.2m longand weighs 500kg. The bell, which is bronze mixed with gold, hangs highin a region of mountains and rivers.
People can hear its sonorous vibrations from 10km away.
From the bell-tower, visitors pass a lawn to arrive in a sanctumdevoted to Kwan Yin. Built of columns and carved timbers, it is 14.8mhigh, 41.8m long and 17.4m wide, and has five main chambers and two sidechambers. In the middle of the sanctum is a 1,000-hand Kwan Yin bronzestatue, 9.57m high and weighing 80 tonnes. Once again, it claims to bethe biggest bronze Kwan Yin statue in Vietnam.
FromKwan Yin Sanctum, visitors arrive in the Phap Chu Sanctum to worshipLord Buddha Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. The building is 30mhigh, 47.6m long and 43.3m wide, and has two main roofs and eightsmaller roofs facing the four directions.The building is high, light andairy and has five chambers. The central chamber is 13.5m long and hasfour side chambers each about 8m long. On a high platform in the centralchamber, a great bronze statue of Lord Buddha sits on a lotus throne.
Of course, the statue, which is 10m high and weighs100 tonnes, is said to be the highest and heaviest bronze Lord Buddha inthe country. Apart from size, the statue is a tribute to the bronzecasting artists in Y Yen district, Nam Dinh province. At the rear of thestatue, there are 1,284 small boxes, each containing a small bronzeBuddha image.
Behind the sanctum is the Tam The(past, present and future) Sanctum. Located on the highest hill in theregion, it is the biggest building in the new Bai Dinh complex. It is34m high, 59m long and 40m wide, with an inside area of 3,000sq.m. Onceagain, a record is claimed. The sanctum has three roofs and sevenchambers. In the main chamber, there are 66 pillars, including two rows24.8m high.
The sanctum is reserved for worshippingBuddha Past, Present and Future. Each of the three bronze statues is7.2m high and weighs 50 tonnes. Another record is claimed for thistrinity. Behind each of the three statues is a giant leaf covered withhundreds of small bronze Buddha statues.
The pagoda's corridors run for a total of 1km. In them are housed 500 Arhat stone statues of high artistic value.
Bai Dinh pagoda's records include being the largest pagoda in Vietnam(107ha); having the largest gilded bronze Buddha statue in SoutheastAsia (100 tonnes) and three Tam The statues each weighing 50 tonnes. Thepagoda has the two biggest bells in Southeast Asia (36 and 27 tonnes).
Bai Dinh also claims the record for the biggestnumber of Bodhi trees in one place in Vietnam. One hundred werepropagated from the orginal tree where Buddha enlightened in India.
Sacred land of heroes
Promoting its claim to be a sacred land once home to the capitals ofthree imperial dynasties Dinh, Tien Le and Ly, the region is linked tomajor changes in the nation's history. According to Associate ProfessorPham Mai Hung, vice chairman of Vietnam's Cultural Heritage Association,nature has bestowed Ninh Binh with hills and mountains in thenorthwest, and plains and coastal areas in the southeast - all rich infauna and flora.
"Moreover, its intricate riversystems created an important geo-political barrier throughout history.The existence of dynasties Dinh Tien Hoang (968-980), Le Dai Hanh(980-1009) and Ly Thai To (1009-1226) were lively evidence."
Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and TourismLam Quang Nghia says the first international conference on spiritualtourism will be held from November 21-22 by the Ministry of Culture,Sports and Tourism, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation andthe Ninh Binh People's Committee. It will be held at the spiritualtourism complex at Bai Dinh Pagoda.
The conferencewas an initiative of the Secretary General of the UN World TourismOrganisation, Taleb Rifai, after visiting Vietnam. According to theorganisation, spiritual tourism has much potential for development inAsia and the Pacific. "Introducing the tourism potential of Vietnam -and Ninh Binh province in particular - will create a forum for thedevelopment of this type of tourism," he says.
Theancient capital of Hoa Lu attracts large numbers of tourists from aroundVietnam and overseas. In Ninh Binh, tourists explore many popularspiritual tourism sites. These include the One-Pillar Pagoda (Nhat Tru),an ancient pagoda in Truong Yen commune, Hoa Lu district. It has beenranked a national monument along with a temple for King Le Dai Hanh.
Researcher Ha Manh Khoa from the Institute of History says of specialinterest in the temple is a stone column carved with Buddhist prayerserected by King Le Dai Hanh in 995. The column is 4.16m high. Its eightfaces have about 2,500 ancient Han characters praising Buddhism.
The Trang An landscape complex, one of the most attractivedestinations in Ninh Binh, is now being submitted to the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) forrecognition as a World Heritage Site.
Among thewell-known historical sites in Ninh Binh, Phat Diem stone cathedral inKim Son district is an architectural masterpiece. Its unique feature isthat while it is a Catholic church, it was built in the style of atraditional Buddhist pagoda.
Nhat Tru Pagoda, theancient capital of Hoa Lu, the spiritual complex at Bai Dinh pagoda,Trang An landscapes, and Phat Diem stone cathedral lure many visitors,especially Buddhists and Catholics. Dinh The Thap, director of theprovincial Statistics Department says, the province had received morethan 4.18 million visitors by the end of October 2013, an increase of20.8 percent over the same period last year.
Venerable Thich Duc Thien, Deputy General Secretary of the VietnamBuddhist Sangha's Excecutive Council, says the Sangha recently conducteda survey on the facilities of Bai Dinh Pagoda to prepare for the UnitedNations Vesak 2014, a very important event of international Buddhism,to be held at the pagoda. The Government has already approved theSangha's plan to celebrate the Vesak festival at Bai Dinh pagoda.
"We believe that the UN Vesak 2014 festival will be solemn and abundant with activities," he says.
The provincial People's Committee vice chairman, Tran Huu Binh,recommends Ninh Binh focus on two types of tourism: eco-tourism andcultural tourism, which includes spiritual sites such as these Buddhistpagodas.
"The successful organisation of theconference will confirm the advantages Vietnam's tourism sites have forregional and international tourists and contribute to the freedom ofbelief and religion in the country," he says.-VNA
