Before the Lady of the Temple in 1920, the person sitting on the chair was the founding master Tam Hoa.
The most famous figure on Mount Ba Den? First and foremost is the founding master Dao Trung, also known as Thien Hieu. Many historical books and studies on Southern Vietnamese Buddhism state that he was the first person to come to practice asceticism on Mount Ba Den. In the list of "founding masters who established the religion on Mount Dien Ba" (Phan Thuc Duy's book "The Torch of Zen," 1957), Master Dao Trung is ranked as the 36th generation of the Te Thuong Chanh Tong lineage.
Young author Phi Thanh Phat stated: “In the book 'Vietnamese Buddhist History Essays' (Nguyen Lang, Phuong Dong Publishing House, 2012), there is a passage that reads: “After 31 years of residing at Linh Son, Dao Trung handed over this monastic order to his disciple Tanh Thien and went to establish Long Hung Pagoda in Thu Dau Mot. That was in 1794…”.
Thus, Master Dao Trung arrived, beginning the Buddhist missionary work at Ba Mountain in 1763. He was also known by his colloquial name, "Ancestor of the Leech Swamp." This is due to a legend that during the years when migrants were settling in the South, there were areas of barren swamps teeming with leeches, making it impossible for farmers to cultivate them into rice fields. So, he came and chanted mantras until the white queen leech revealed herself. It left, taking with it the swarming leeches. Only then could the barren swamp be transformed into rice paddies.
The book "Ancient Tay Ninh" by Huynh Minh (Saigon, 1973) recounts two legends about the story of Linh Son Holy Mother on Ba Mountain. The first legend tells of Ly Thi Thien Huong, from Trang Bang, who fell in love with Le Si Triet, also from the same village, but was targeted by a local official's son who wanted to abduct her as his concubine.
After Le Si Triet joined Vo Thanh, a general of Lord Nguyen Gia Long, she was surrounded and captured by the servants of the official's son while she was worshipping Buddha on the mountain: "She threw herself into a pit and committed suicide without anyone knowing. Three days later, Ly Thi Thien Huong appeared in a dream to the abbot of Tay Ninh mountain... The abbot followed her instructions, found her body, and buried it..."
That monk was none other than the founding master Dao Trung - Thien Hieu. Several monks who have practiced for many years on the mountain, such as Venerable Thich Niem Thoi, Senior Venerable Thich Niem Thang, etc., believe that, although separated by the realms of the living and the dead, it was the founding master Dao Trung who helped Thien Huong cultivate herself to achieve "enlightenment," becoming the Holy Mother of Linh Son Mountain.
The next two patriarchs were Tánh Thiền, also known as Quảng Thông, in the 39th generation, and Hải Hiệp - Từ Tạng in the 40th generation. However, there are no records of their lives. It was only with the 41st patriarch, Thanh Thọ - Phước Chí, who served as abbot from 1871 to 1880, that many events were recorded. For example, he once served as the "Head Abbot of Phước Lâm Pagoda (Vĩnh Xuân)..."
On February 8, 1871 (Year of the Monkey), Phuoc Lam Pagoda was inaugurated, and the Dien Cave was built at Dien Ba in 1872…” (The Torch of Zen, 1957). Thanh Tho - Phuoc Chi was undoubtedly a highly virtuous and accomplished practitioner, which is why he was honored as the Chief Monk and held the position of Yết Ma in the Ordination Ceremony (now the Great Ordination Ceremony) in May 1875, when Zen Master Tien Giac Hai Tinh - considered the “pioneer in the reform of ceremonial practices in Southern Vietnam at that time” - ascended Mount Ba and held the ordination ceremony at Linh Son Tien Thach Pagoda (Buddhist Culture Magazine, April 15, 2021).
However, the most important achievement of the Thanh Tho lineage was the training of outstanding disciples. These included the monks: Truong Tung, also known as Chon Thoai, who succeeded his teacher as abbot of Linh Son mountain pagoda from 1880 to 1910; two other disciples, Truong Luc, who went to Trang Bang to build Phuoc Luu pagoda, and Truong Long, who went to Go Dau to build Thanh Lam pagoda in the early 20th century; and the third, Truong Tam, who performed the miracle at Ba Den mountain.
After chanting the Diamond Sutra for exactly 100 days, the large rock split in two, creating a path from Ba Pagoda to Hang Pagoda, which the locals commonly call "The Cracked Rock." According to a stone stele on his tomb, carved into the rock with Chinese characters, it reads: "The Supreme Patriarch, forty-second generation, given name Trừng Tâm - Thượng Phước Hạ Kỳ, title Huệ Mạng Kim Tiên - Patriarch."
This means that he is also revered as the 42nd patriarch of the Tế Thượng Chánh Tông lineage of Buddhism on Bà Đen Mountain. Patriarch Trừng Tùng was the first to build a solid Buddhist temple (Linh Sơn Tiên Thạch) and a lecture hall made of teak wood.
Another renowned abbot of the main mountain was Abbot Tam Hoa, also known as Chanh Kham, the 43rd abbot who served from 1919 to 1937. He was instrumental in laying stones to build a road from Trung Pagoda up the mountain during his two years of monastic life there, with the help of a Chinese immigrant named Huynh Tay, who lived in Long An . He was also instrumental in constructing the main temple and ancestral hall entirely from mountain stone between 1922 and 1937.
During the war, those buildings collapsed, but some of the remaining stone pillars were utilized by Venerable Nun Thich Nu Dieu Nghia when rebuilding Ba Pagoda, the ancestral pagoda, between 1996 and 2000. It was also the Venerable Nun who built a magnificent lecture hall next to Linh Son Phuoc Trung Pagoda, named after her teacher and founder Tam Hoa.
In 2004, the abbess erected a stone stele in front of the ancestral hall, listing the names of 11 patriarchs, from the first, Thiet Dieu - Lieu Quan, to the last, Quang Hang - Hue Phuong. The later patriarchs are well-known; however, the first three, the 35th, 36th, and 37th patriarchs, are not clearly recorded in any historical texts in Tay Ninh. A recent study by Phi Thanh Phat indicates that the 35th patriarch listed on the stele is Thiet Dieu - Lieu Quan.
His exact birth date is unknown, but he died in 1743. He was the founder of Thien Thai Pagoda, a Zen Buddhist temple in Hue : "Most of the monks and followers in Central and Southern Vietnam today belong to the Lam Te lineage, and the one who contributed most to its development was Venerable Thiet Dieu…".
However, the author concludes that he was not the founding master of Linh Son Tien Thach Pagoda. According to the author, the 37th patriarch inscribed on the stele, Dai Quang - Chi Thien, was only the teacher of Patriarch Dao Trung, and not one of the founding masters of Ba Den Mountain Pagoda.
What about the 36th patriarch: Tế Giác - Quảng Châu? According to the research (cited above) by Venerable Thích Tâm Giác, his Dharma name was Hải Tịnh, his given name was Tiên Giác… He also had the Dharma title Tế Giác - Quảng Châu, belonging to the 36th generation of the Lâm Tế Zen school.
He was born in 1788 in Binh Hoa village, Binh Thuan Dao commune, Kien An district, Tan Binh prefecture, Gia Dinh province. In 1822, the Zen master was appointed Abbot of Thien Mu Pagoda (Hue). He returned to Southern Vietnam in 1844, and in 1850, Nguyen Tri Phuong took office as Governor-General of the six southern provinces, implementing a policy of establishing more plantations and villages, especially in Tay Ninh prefecture and the two provinces of An Giang and Ha Tien.
The Governor-General invited the abbot of Khai Tuong Pagoda to "go there and use compassion to help people abandon evil and do good." In response, "Zen Master Tien Giac - Hai Tinh went to Tay Ninh province to repair Linh Son Mountain Pagoda, Thai Binh Pagoda, and An Cu Pagoda, then went to An Giang and Ha Tien to propagate the Dharma" (article cited). In 1875, he returned to Linh Son Tien Thach to open a ordination ceremony, with himself as the head monk.
Although Patriarch Tien Giac - Hai Tinh made significant contributions to Southern Vietnamese Buddhism - as Venerable Thich Le Trang said, "90% of the people in the six provinces today are disciples of the Patriarch" - it is unclear why, in the list of founding patriarchs of Ba Mountain, Te Giac - Quang Chau is listed as the 36th generation; and Patriarch Dao Trung - Thien Hieu is listed as the 38th generation, even though Dao Trung had been practicing on the mountain for over a hundred years before Te Giac arrived.
Tran Vu
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