Ancient temple nostalgia

Vat Hong Pagoda (also known as Chien Vien Pagoda), located in Moc Chau ward (Son La province), is an ancient temple dating from the 13th - 14th century, ranked as a provincial relic.

The ravages of time and historical changes have reduced the ancient temple to laterite ruins. The desire to restore this spiritual cultural heritage is becoming the earnest voice of the people here.

Vat Hong Pagoda once owned a large number of Buddha statues, including: 1 Great Buddha statue (Ong Tu), 8 medium statues and about 50 small statues, cast from precious materials such as bronze, tin, ivory, reflecting the material and spiritual wealth of the Thai community in the Northwest at that time. The old name Ban Vat (Ban Chua), now Vat residential group (Moc Chau ward), comes from the name of Vat Hong Pagoda, in which "Vat" (Wat) in Thai/Lao means pagoda. Evidence such as bilingual stone stele and Pali scriptures on the altar reveal a stream of Theravada Buddhism of the Thai people.

The bilingual stone stele engraved in ancient Thai script (recording the flow of regional culture) and Han Nom script (affirming the position of the royal court) records in detail the important restoration of the pagoda in 1908 - 1909 (during the reign of King Duy Tan), with the patronage of the Thai Muong chiefs in the Northwest region and local officials. This shows that the role of the pagoda is not only limited to the Thai community but is also respected by the royal court and neighboring ethnic groups. More notably, Vat Hong pagoda used to be the center of community activities and spiritual culture, the place where important traditional festivals were held in the past such as the "Chach Vat Chach Va" festival and the statue bathing ceremony, praying for rain associated with the spiritual life, agriculture and beliefs of the Vat people.

The remaining Buddha statues of Vat Hong Pagoda.

However, historical upheavals caused the Sangha to disband and the pagoda's precious treasures to be lost. Memories of the loss are still haunting: Many local people pass on stories of greedy people who took advantage of the chaos to steal Buddha statues and many other treasures such as relics, pearls... Currently, only a part of the statue is kept and preserved at Son La Provincial Museum, the rest has been lost.

But the people's respect for Vat Hong Pagoda remains intact. On the full moon and the first day of every lunar month, local Thai people still come to the pagoda (now just ruins) to burn incense, pray for a peaceful life and hope for the pagoda to be restored.

That feeling is clearly expressed through the remorse of teacher Lo Van Thang (63 years old), a son of Vat village. He shared: "It is the magnificent pagodas of the Phu Thay ethnic group (Thai ethnic group) in neighboring countries (Thailand, Laos) that helped me imagine the image of Vat Hong pagoda in the stories told by my father. I wish that Vat Hong pagoda would be restored so that the cultural flow of our ancestors can be continued and inherited completely."

The Great Buddha Statue (Ong Tu) of Vat Hong Pagoda.

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

If Southern Buddhism has become the traditional cultural heritage of the Khmer people in the South, the evidence at Vat Hong Pagoda proves that this spiritual cultural flow has also taken deep root in the Thai community in the Northwest.

Currently, Vat Hong Pagoda relic has been ranked at the provincial level and assigned to the local government for management and protection. However, the earnest wish of the local people is to restore this pagoda. Restoring Vat Hong Pagoda is not only to recreate a spiritual symbol, a festival space, a part of the historical and cultural identity of Ban Chua but also to create a unique cultural highlight, enriching the tourism resources of Moc Chau land.

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