The One Pillar Pagoda and Diên Hựu Pagoda
VGP - This unique pagoda is located in what is now Chùa Một Cột Street in Ba Đình District and is one of the historic relics associated with the Diên Hựu Pagoda (Lasting Blessing).
Legend has it that the One Pillar Pagoda was built in 1049 after
a dream of King Lý Thái Tông. The historians of the Đại
One
Pillar Pagoda in the past and at the present
The pagoda was built in a square, three meters long on each
side, and it has a curved roof. It was built on a stone pillar of 1.20m in
diameter and 4m high which is actually two overlapping posts skillfully joined
as one. The upper storey is a system of several pieces of wood which make up
the solid frame supporting the main part to resemble a lotus rising from a
small square lake with a brick handrail. Visitors can climb up the beautiful
stairs to see the statue of the Avalokitesvara and the words “Liên Hoa Đài”
(the Lotus Lamp) to remind them of the king’s dream that inspired the pagoda.
The pagoda was originally much bigger. On the Sùng Thiên Diên Linh bell tower in the Đọi
Pagoda in Nam Hà Province (built in 1121), there is a description of the One Pillar Pagoda: “…In the middle of the lake there rises a stone pillar with a
thousand–petal lotus on the top. On the lotus, there is a blue temple with a
golden statue inside symbolizing the talent and kindness of the Buddha.
Surrounding the lake there is a pond with a rainbow-shaped bridge on either
side. There are crystal towers at the bridge’s feet in the front and on both
sides…”
In May 1080, King Lý Nhân Tông (1072-1128) asked the people
to cast a big bell and built a temple of blue stone of 24m high to complement
the magnificence of the pagoda. Because the bell was too big to hang, it was
placed in a low rice field that had many tortoises so the bell was became known
as Quy Điền (Tortoise Field)
During its long history, the One Pillar Pagoda has
experienced a number of changes each time it was repaired, especially in 1249
in the Trần Dynasty when it was almost totally rebuilt. It was also repaired
many times in the Lê Dynasty, and its lotus lamp and stone pillar have been
made smaller.
In 1426,
when the Ming invaders in Đông Quan (an ancient name of Thăng Long) were
surrounded, they destroyed the bell along with the bronze parts of the
Diên Hựu Pagoda |
The pagoda holds three statues wearing flat hats rather like
mortarboards – “Brahmanism, they govern heaven, but today are transformed into
kings, one responsible for births, the order for deaths”, explains my friend.
Behind the three “kings” and those lining the walls – there are ten Kings of
Hell (a hell to fit each crime) – is a busily carved, open work gilt,
nine-dragon altar to Sakyanumi as a baby.
“The nine dragons supplied water at his birth, after which
he took seven steps, saying, “there is only one Buddha – Buddha is everywhere
around us, in heaven and in human beings.”