The sorrow of ancient temples

Vat Hong Pagoda (also known as Chien Vien Pagoda), located in Moc Chau ward (Son La province), is an ancient temple dating back to the 13th-14th centuries and has been classified as a provincial-level historical site.

The ravages of time and historical upheavals have left the ancient temple in ruins, now reduced to laterite stone. The fervent desire to restore this spiritual and cultural heritage is becoming a heartfelt sentiment among the local people.

Vat Hong Pagoda once possessed a large number of Buddha statues, including: 1 large Buddha statue (Ông Tự), 8 medium-sized statues, and about 50 small statues, cast from precious materials such as black bronze, tin, and ivory, reflecting the material and spiritual wealth of the Thai community in the Northwest region at that time. The old name of Bản Vặt (Ban Chùa), now known as Vặt residential area (Mộc Châu ward), originates from the name of Vat Hong Pagoda itself, where "Vặt" (Wat) in Thai/Lao means pagoda. Evidence such as bilingual stone steles and Pali scriptures on the altar reveal a Theravada Buddhist tradition among the Thai people.

The bilingual stone stele, inscribed in ancient Thai script (recording the cultural flow of the region) and Han Nom script (affirming the position of the royal court), details the important restoration of the temple in 1908-1909 (during the reign of Emperor Duy Tan), with the patronage of the chieftains of the Thai villages in the Northwest region and local officials. This shows that the temple's role was not limited to the Thai community but was also respected by the royal court and neighboring ethnic groups. More notably, Vat Hong Temple was once a center of community life and spiritual culture, hosting important traditional festivals in the past such as the "Chach Vat Chach Va" festival and the ritual of bathing the statue and praying for rain, closely linked to the spiritual, agricultural , and religious life of the people of Vat village.

These are the Buddha statues that remain from Vat Hong Pagoda.

However, historical upheavals led to the disintegration of the monastic order and the loss of the temple's precious treasures. The memory of this loss remains haunting: many locals recount stories of greedy individuals who took advantage of the turmoil to steal Buddha statues and other treasures such as relics and precious pearls. Currently, only a portion of the statues are preserved at the Son La Provincial Museum; the rest have been lost.

But the people's reverence for Vat Hong Pagoda remains intact. On the 15th and 1st of each lunar month, local Thai people still come to the pagoda (now just ruins) to light incense, pray for a peaceful life, and hope that the pagoda will be restored.

This sentiment is clearly expressed through the anguish of teacher Lo Van Thang (63 years old), a native of Vat village. He shared: "It was the magnificent temples of the Phu Thay (Thai) ethnic group in neighboring countries (Thailand, Laos) that helped me visualize the image of Vat Hong Temple in my father's stories. I long for Vat Hong Temple to be restored so that the cultural flow of our ancestors can be continued and inherited in its entirety."

The Great Buddha statue (Ông Tự) of Vặt Hồng Pagoda.

When our Thai friends visited the temple ruins and paid their respects by lighting incense and chanting in Pali (the classical language of Theravada Buddhism), Mrs. Sa Thi Lan, a resident of Vat village, was deeply moved. She affirmed, "I recognize those scriptures! When I was a child, I used to hear the elders in the village recite them exactly like that; the intonation and language are still deeply imprinted in my memory!"

While Theravada Buddhism has become a traditional cultural heritage of the Khmer people in Southern Vietnam, the evidence at Vat Hong Pagoda proves that this spiritual and cultural flow also took deep root in the Thai community of Northwest Vietnam.

Currently, the Vat Hong Pagoda relic has been classified at the provincial level and entrusted to the local government for management and protection. However, the heartfelt wish of the local people is to restore this pagoda. Restoring the Vat Hong Pagoda is not only about recreating a spiritual symbol, a festival space, and a part of the historical and cultural identity of Ban Chua, but also about creating a unique cultural highlight, enriching the tourism resources of the Moc Chau region.

Kham Keo Tha Na Sun Thon

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202511/noi-niem-co-tu-c572a03/