Mysterious That Son: Hang Pagoda and the story of the snake house

Sam Mountain has a monk

Master Dieu Thien's worldly name was Le Thi Tho, born in 1818 in Cho Lon. When she was still a laywoman, she worked as a tailor, so she was called Ba Tho. When she was middle-aged, she became a nun with a high monk in Cho Lon, belonging to the Van Mon Zen sect, with the dharma name Dieu Thien. After that, she went to visit the Chau Doc area and then stayed at Tay An pagoda in Sam Mountain to practice. Because she wanted to live in a quiet place, she went to the west of Sam Mountain, built a bamboo and leaf hut and lived alone in a deserted cave, with few people coming to focus on practicing.

It is not clear in which year Dieu Thien left Tay An pagoda to find a cave to establish a hermitage. According to history, Tay An pagoda was built by An Ha Governor Doan Uan (1795 - 1850) in 1847. So the year she established the hermitage must have been after this time. Tay An Buddhist monk Doan Minh Huyen was brought here in 1849 and it is possible that Dieu Thien left the pagoda that year.

She was the first woman to be ordained as a Bhikkhuni in the South, but chose a life of seclusion, focusing on her practice, not participating in any other activities. At that time, the Sam Mountain area was still deserted. In the preface to the book Giang Ba Tho (printed in 1967), Venerable Hue Thien described: "Talking about the scenery of Hang Pagoda in the past, it was a covered hill. Inside the cave was deep and cold, outside the temple door was extremely dark and hidden. Therefore, in the four seasons, few people came, in the eight festivals, no one visited...".

Thất Sơn huyền bí: Chùa Hang và câu chuyện ngôi nhà rắn- Ảnh 1. — Hang Pagoda, Sam Mountain

Regarding her merits, Giảng Bà Thôn recounted: "She practiced asceticism for several years. Sometimes she was hungry, sometimes she was full, and when she rested, she curled up in a stone cave. The winter was cold, the dew dripped down, the summer sun was hot as hell... During the day, she covered herself with a curtain of the sky and recited Bodhisattva rosary, at night she spread out a mat on the ground and chanted sutras, no matter how difficult or easy it was"...

The verses in the lecture collection written by later generations also recount the story of the nun's journey to the Western Paradise. Legend has it that near the end of her life, she once meditated for six days without coming out of her meditation and returning to her normal state . Her disciples were worried that she would "go away". Someone suggested ringing a bell to wake her up. After waking up, she told the story of going to a heavenly realm to meet the Jade Emperor, then asking for directions to the Western Paradise to meet Buddha.

These legends made the local residents admire and spread the story of the Venerable. In 1885, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Cang and the local people donated to rebuild the temple with tile roof and wooden pillars to be more spacious. According to the history of the temple, Venerable Dieu Thien passed away on June 15, Ky Hoi year (1899), at the age of 81.

Thất Sơn huyền bí: Chùa Hang và câu chuyện ngôi nhà rắn- Ảnh 2. — Altar of Venerable Dieu Thien

For a long time after the Venerable Master passed away, Phuoc Dien Pagoda had no abbot. It was not until 1937 that Venerable Thich Hue Thien, 40th generation of Lam Te lineage, returned to be the abbot and re-established the pagoda for the second time.

The Snake House Story

According to folklore, one night, while the nun was chanting and meditating in a cave, a pair of giant snakes, tens of meters long, crawled out and stuck their tongues out at the cave entrance. The nun was not afraid and calmly chanted and struck a wooden fish. From then on, every night, they came here to protect the nun's practice and lie still listening to the sutras. The green snake was named Thanh Xa by the nun, and the white snake was named Bach Xa.

After the nun passed away, the pair of snakes also left. The snake cave was filled in, leaving only a 10 meter entrance. Currently, the monks have restored the image of the green snake, white snake and altar in a cave that was filled in but very dark and mysterious.

Thất Sơn huyền bí: Chùa Hang và câu chuyện ngôi nhà rắn- Ảnh 3. — The way to Hang Pagoda

The story of snakes in the Sam Mountain area still existed until the 1960s. The author Tu Chau, in the magazine Pho Thong (March 1, 1969) told that in the Chua Hang hamlet there was a strange house like in a ghost story. On the rafters, pillars, tables, chairs, and corners of the house, everywhere you could see snakes, either hanging in the air or curled up motionless.

When the guests arrived, the hostess chased away a green snake that was coiled on a chair and invited the guests to sit down. The guests felt as if death was lurking, and the hostess seemed to have some terrible power. She scolded the snakes like adults scolding children. She ordered a pitch-black snake to crawl forward and raise its head to greet the guests. After a few polite greetings, the hostess introduced the guests to her father, the hostess who was also a traditional snake tamer.

The landlord said that in the past, his father was also a famous snake charmer but died because a king snake bit him right in the "tiger's mouth", the hollow between the thumb and index finger, and he fell down without making a sound. Seeing this, he rushed towards the pair of snakes and they quickly crawled into a deep hole. He carried his father back to the boat moored at the riverbank to pour out the medicine, but strangely enough, the bottles of medicine he had brought were all dry as if someone had secretly poured them out.

Thất Sơn huyền bí: Chùa Hang và câu chuyện ngôi nhà rắn- Ảnh 4. — Cave in Hang Pagoda

After that time, he was determined to quit his job, not continue killing snakes but instead do the opposite, raise snakes. He fondled a black snake that smelled of onions and told the story of how he saved it from a field fire. He caressed the animal for a while and then discovered that it had just caused disaster to someone before returning here. He explained that its tail was a little bit off. Every time this type of snake bites someone, it turns around and bites off the tip of its tail. The shorter the tail, the more it "committed murder". He scolded it. The animal seemed to know its mistake and lay still without moving. He told his daughter to go to the neighborhood to see who had just been bitten by a snake, to make medicine and apologize to the person. This snake's venom was not very poisonous. That afternoon, the girl returned and said that it had bitten a child near Hang Pagoda at dusk the previous night.

Two years later, the author Tu Chau returned to find the house of the snake breeder and his son, but they had moved away and no one knew their whereabouts. ( to be continued )