Unique bell and wooden fish set at Vesak 2025 Buddhist exhibition
On the morning of May 5, the opening ceremony of the Buddhist Culture Exhibition took place solemnly at the Vietnam Buddhist Academy (Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City).
Báo Gia Lai•06/05/2025
The exhibition "Vietnamese Buddhist Culture" is an activity within the framework of the United Nations Vesak Festival 2025, displaying many unique bells and wooden fish, appearing to the public for the first time.
The exhibition "Vietnamese Buddhist Culture" is an activity within the framework of the United Nations Vesak 2025. The exhibition introduces an overview of Vietnamese Buddhist culture in terms of language, robes, architecture, and heritage, thereby demonstrating the richness and diversity of Vietnamese Buddhist culture. In particular, this is the first time information and models of 87 national treasures of Vietnamese Buddhism have been announced to the public. Tourists enjoy the experience of ringing the stone bell. Frog-shaped clappers. The frogs' spines can make a sound when struck with a mallet. Strange with the stone gong. Although made of stone, it still retains the "quality" of the gong sound in a sacred place. A layman is performing the Buddha bathing ritual in the exhibition space.
There are 87 national treasures decorated in the exhibition areas including: language, robes, architecture, Vietnamese Buddhist cultural heritage, historical maps of Buddha and the process of creating statues according to national traditions; tea meditation space, gold paintings, Vietnamese temple paintings, scriptures, woodblocks, dharma instruments, musical instruments... The Ly Dynasty tower version was reconstructed based on archaeological and historical documents, inheriting the works of predecessors, expanding new interpretations, and applying 3D technology in the research and restoration process. The tower was built by the third emperor of the Ly Dynasty (Ly Thanh Tong) in the years 1057-1066 at Van Phuc Pagoda on Tien Du Mountain (now Phat Tich Pagoda, Tien Du District, Bac Ninh Province). Inside the tower is a "6-meter-high golden statue". On all four sides, there are eight sets of diamonds guarding and protecting Buddhism. Around the tower, the sacred birds Ca Lang Tan Gia gather, singing from the Pure Land. The dragon and flower sculptures demonstrate the excellent craftsmanship of the artisans, expressing the generous and aesthetic thinking of an entire era. The dragon of Phat Tich Pagoda raises its head high, its mouth wide open to receive a flying pearl. That pearl in Indian Buddhism is the Ruyi pearl, a symbol of wisdom, altruism, and spiritual wealth gained through meditation and Buddhist practice. The most prominent feature of the Ly Dynasty dragon in general is that it has a round, slender, long body, with many curves like water waves. Ly Dynasty worship tower set, origin Bac Ninh. The base of the tower is engraved with the Chinese characters "The tower master opens the heavens and establishes the dynasty of emperors". Some details are missing from the tower.
The custom of worshipping Anh Vu (parrot) is a unique belief of the Vietnamese people, associated with legends related to the Later Le dynasty and the Trinh lords, recorded in history books. 19th century Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks on display at the exhibition. Nguyen Dynasty cassock and shirt. A cabinet containing sutras. Thousand Hands and Eyes Statue at But Thap Pagoda. Statue of Thousand Hands and Eyes Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva at Bao An Pagoda, 19th century. In the context of the war between the Nguyen Dynasty and French colonialists, the statue was brought to France and returned in 1889.
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