Buu Son Tu tourist spot (Church of Clay)

Soc Trang is known as the land of temples and festivals. That is why Soc Trang has many monuments and tourist attractions associated with worship facilities and religious beliefs bearing unique national cultural imprints such as: Bat Pagoda, Kh'leang Pagoda or Chua pagoda. In those unique relics, it is impossible not to mention Buu Son Tu that Buddhists and tourists near and far are used to calling Clay Pagoda.

Soc Trang is known as the land of temples and festivals. That is why Soc Trang has many monuments and tourist attractions associated with worship facilities and religious beliefs bearing unique national cultural imprints such as: Bat Pagoda, Kh'leang Pagoda or Chua pagoda. Kieu Cup... Among these unique relics, it is impossible not to mention Buu Son Tu, which Buddhists and tourists near and far are used to calling Clay Pagoda. But why do people call it Clay Pagoda? It is also this name that partly attracts a large number of tourists coming here to visit and study.

Former President Tran Duc Luong (middle man) visits Dat Set Pagoda; Photo: Nguyen Dung

Dat Set Pagoda is located at No. 286, Ton Duc Thang Street, in cluster 1, ward 5, Soc Trang city, Soc Trang province. The West Gate faces Ton Duc Thang Street, the front of the pagoda faces to the East, the total area of ​​​​Dat Set Pagoda is only about 2,000m2 wide, but cool. The main hall has a small space but is arranged in harmony. The inner palace is the convergence of many unique cultural and artistic features. In front of the pagoda is a statue of Quan The Am Buddha, a pedestal of Maitreya Buddha, a set of Buddha statues giving a sermon including 05 Kieu Tran Nhu, Bac De, Thap Luc, Mahanam and Evil Be, small shrines worshiping Mr. Ong Ta, the altar of Thien Phu, the Mother of God. To the left of the pagoda is the grave of artist Ngo Kim Tong and his family. Clay Pagoda was founded by the Ngo family (Mr. Ngo Kim Dinh 1844 - 1947 and his wife Do Thi Ngoc 1880 - 1975) more than 200 years ago to practice at home, so the pagoda has no teachings and no monks. Currently, the Clay Pagoda is guided and managed by the family.

Visitors listen to explanations at Buu Son Tu; Photo: Tan Trang

Clay Pagoda (Buu Son Tu) is one of the religious belief establishments belonging to the organizational system of Dao Buu Son Ky Huong, founded by Mr. Doan Minh Huyen (1807 - 1856) in 1849, at Ong Dao's temple. Kien, now Tay An Co Tu (Sam Chau Doc mountain), belongs to Long Kien commune, Cho Moi district, An Giang province today. The teaching of the Buu Son Ky Huong Dao is "Learning from Buddha and being a monk", taking the return of the "Four Great Trong An" as the root (kindness of ancestors, parents, favor of the country, grace of the three treasures, favor of fellow human beings), especially Special emphasis was placed on the country's grace to rally the patriotic force and the working people to stand up against the French colonialists' invasion.

The Lotus Court is recognized by Vietnamese discipline as a clay treasure

Dat Set Pagoda has a simple architecture, but this ancient temple contains many unique cultural and artistic values, created by the talented hands of artist Ngo Kim Tong. It is nearly 2,000 large and small Buddha statues, along with animals and objects of worship that were made of clay by artist Ngo Kim Tong for 42 years (from 1929 to 1970). His clay art works are a process of hard work and art, with a creative mind and boundless heart towards Buddha. He has left for posterity an extremely rare treasure of cultural heritage that future generations need to cherish, preserve and promote.

The birth of these primitive clay works was greatly influenced by the background of artist Ngo Kim Tong. According to Mr. Ngo Kim Quang, I call artisan Ngo Kim Tong by his uncle, current Deputy Manager of the Management Board of Dat Set Pagoda tourist attraction: Mr. Ngo Kim Tong was born in 1909, in a poor but filial family. The religion belongs to Nham Lang village, Nhieu Khanh canton (now within ward 5, Soc Trang city). Ngo Kim Tong's parents are lay monks, inheriting the third generation of the Ngo family in Soc Trang. Mr. Ngo Kim Tong has 08 siblings (04 boys, 04 girls), he is the fourth child, named after the Southerners as Uncle Nam Tong. From a young age, he had an inclination to be passionate about art from a very early age, but due to his poor family and constant illness, he only finished third grade and then quit. His father, Ngo Kim Dinh, saw that his son was sick and sick, so he brought him to live in the temple to take care of medicine and chant and recite Buddha's name. After a while, the condition improved and gradually stopped altogether. At the age of 18, seeing that his parents were old and weak, and his family had no land, he went to Phu Huu commune, Long Phu district, Soc Trang province, and rented 02 public lands for cultivation. During the day he plowed the ground to plant potatoes, at night he read sutras and recited Buddha's name.

Luc Long Dang made of clay

Every harvest season, he rowed a boat to carry potatoes to Soc Trang market to sell. Due to overwork, he fainted in a shack in Phu Huu. Or believe, parents brought back, because there was no money to buy medicine, so they set up an incense table at the temple, prayed to the Buddhas of the ten directions and Quan Am to protect and sustain them, for 3 days and 3 nights. At this time, his expression was gone, his eyes were wide. On the third day, he suddenly regained consciousness and was completely healthy. After that death, he vowed to live a vegetarian diet, recite the Buddha's name, do many good deeds, and contribute merit to repay the Buddha for saving his life.

In 1929, at that time, when Mr. Tong was 20 years old, his father fell seriously ill and died, leaving only his mother. Due to the poverty situation, the statues in the temple are only pictures, primitive wooden and paper Buddha statues, damaged, rotten but no money for new repairs. One night, he dreamed that the Buddha said: "Go to the west, about 1,000m from the temple, face to the east, dig for clay to make Buddha statues and worship." When he woke up from his dream, the very next day, he followed the Buddha's teachings. When he dug out the clay to carry, he first let it dry, put it in a mortar and pounded the rice until it was finely ground, then removed all the impurities. impurities such as rice roots, grass roots, using "O Duoc" glue and incense powder, 03 substances combined and then kneaded for many hours to make the soil very flexible, along with imagination and gifted hands, he just work while tinkering with self-study, studying from Buddhist scriptures, being persistent and meticulous in each work. After many years of perseverance and hard work, he created many Buddha statues, worshiping objects, decorations and famous animals like today.

The main hall of the Clay Pagoda is not very large, the roof of the pagoda is supported by 24 columns, each column is decorated with a dragon shape winding with clay from the base to the dome. Although the inner hall of the ancient temple is not wide, it is decorated with many Buddha statues, arranged in order. The most solemn space is dedicated to "Tac Phuong Buddha", crafted by artist Ngo Kim Tong from the beginning of 1929, these are his first works, including three floors of Buddhas, Buddhas and Confucius, Lao Tzu. The first floor includes the Buddhas Amitabha, Avalokitesvara and Dai The Chi. The second floor consists of the original masters Shakyamuni, Ananda, Kassapa, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Manjushri, and Master Loi. The third floor is Quan Yin, Chuan De, Ksitigarbha, Buddha's mother and Prince Siddhartha... This arrangement has expressed the thought of "Three teachings of the same origin", including: "Confucianism, Buddha, Laotian". "of the founder of the temple.

Among the thousands of Buddha statues, worshiping objects and famous animals in the pagoda, especially "Da Bao Tower and Bao Toa Lien Hoa", it can be said that these are two top art works created by artist Ngo Kim Tong. Built in early 1939. Da Bao Tower consists of 13 floors, about 04m high of clay material, but has passed for nearly a century without being tilted, each floor has 16 doors, each door has a seated Buddha, Thus, the tower has 208 gates and 208 Buddhas, 156 embossed dragons running along the tiled roof and supporting the foot of the tower. This Da Bao tower was completed in 6 months and 1 day, with thousands of details meticulously made of clay, further confirming the talented hands of artist Ngo Kim Tong.

Next to the Da Bao Tower is the Lotus Temple. This Bao Toa was built by artist Ngo Kim Tong in mid-1939, after the completion of Da Bao Tower, is a lotus, consisting of 1,000 lotus petals, each lotus petal has a small Buddha sitting in meditation. Below the lotus platform are the Ba Quai, the Four Dai Thien Vuong, and the Thien Tien, including 08 palaces: Can-Kham-Can-Chan-Ton-Ly Khon-Doai, each palace has 02 fairies standing in service.

In addition, artist Ngo Kim Tong also molded a number of other very elaborate and meticulous works, which are still intact and have many unique artistic values ​​such as: 03 large incense sticks, each 2m high, about 0.2m in diameter, about 50kg in weight, made of incense powder and O Duoc glue, decorated with a winding dragon and embossed with 04 Chinese characters; 03 large peaks, 2.5m high, the remaining 2 peaks are 1.5m high and 07 small incense burners; A giant "Luc Long Dang" lamp hangs from the ceiling in the center of the main hall. This lamp is the last work of artist Ngo Kim Tong. The Luc Long Dang lamp consists of 03 peaks with 06 large curved dragons, tails together, heads jutting out in all directions. The lampstand is a stylized lotus that supports six dragons. The Luc Long Dang lamp is made entirely of clay with thousands of thousands of delicate detailed patterns, and has a heavy weight, yet hanging for decades has not changed.

Besides, artist Ngo Kim Tong also molded 04 large diaphragms, each measuring about 02m x 04m, with many very sophisticated decorative motifs. The first horizontal phoenix is ​​hung on the shrine of "Ten Phuong Buddha", consisting of 03 large quadrilaterals assembled to form a stylized open book, surrounded by 02 large dragons winding "Song Long adoring Buddha". , 02 greeting boards in Chinese characters on both sides, decorated with 01 large lotus flower at the bottom, on the background of a mural decorated with bamboo, apricot blossom, peach blossom and stylized lotus flower, on 03 large pieces. The pagoda's name is well-known with 03 large Chinese characters "Buu Son Tu", which is beautifully painted with gilded lacquer; The second diaphragm is hung on the shrine of "Three Treasures", called "Nine Five Dragons adoring Buddha", on this painting there are 09 small dragons winding hidden in the clouds, forming the image of "Crescent Moon" ”, on the embossed background with 07 Chinese characters and decorated with stylized rattan, bamboo and lotus flowers, painted with gilded lipstick. The third and fourth diaphragms are hung on the shrine "Dieu Tri Kim Mau and Jade Emperor", decorated with the same decoration, including 02 large winding dragons "Song Long Adoring Buddha" embracing the word-shaped diaphragm. Japanese is decorated in a glass cage, inside embossed with 04 Chinese characters.

Seeing these works, most of the tourists who come to visit think that it is the product of a statue maker, a professional sculptor, not a person who just finished the third grade of the village school, without understanding. nothing about art and have never been to art school before, but can create Buddha statues, beasts with cubes, with extremely sophisticated textures. Because of his talented and unique sculpture of Buddha, he was praised by the world that he had "Buddha's advice".

In 1953, in order to make offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions, he began to work hard to build clay animals such as Kim Lan, Thanh Su, Bach Tuong, Bach Ho, Long Ma... Animal images are associated with the legend of the Buddha with many fascinating legends.

In the last years of his life, artist Ngo Kim Tong temporarily stopped making statues to proceed with casting candles that were erected at the shrines in the main hall. To mold the candles as he wanted, he went to Saigon to buy Bach Lac wax, a pure wax imported from France, and then cut it into small pieces, put it in a liquid cooking pan, and poured it into a mold. It is expected that these candles will be quite large in size, so artist Ngo Kim Tong could not find a suitable mold. After many days of thinking, he used corrugated iron to make a mold. To successfully cast a candle, artist Ngo Kim Tong must work hard. Because you want the candle to burn continuously and not go out, when pouring the mold, do not let the wax have a horizontal joint. Therefore, it must be poured continuously day and night for several days in a row. After a month, the wax cools and then opens the mold. In total, artisan Ngo Kim Tong has cast 06 large candles, each weighing 200 kg and 02 small candles weighing 100 kg each. The pair of small candles have been lit since 1970, on the day of artist Ngo Kim Tong's death, and have been burning for 46 years since then. According to calculations, although there is about 1/16th of the length, it will take about 3 years for these two candles to burn out. Another strange thing is that during the past 46 years, these two candles have never been extinguished. After the 2 small candles burn out, the big pair of candles will be lit. It is estimated that each tree burns for about 70 years before it goes out, so if you burn each tree in turn, it will take about 400 years to finish.

To praise his talent and creativity, a writer said about artisan Ngo Kim Tong: "As a man who lives for the land, during 42 years of hard work with each burden of land, cherishing each piece of land, he has created shape the land, release the sacred soul into the earth, create a heartbeat for the earth, so that a hundred years later the earth can speak for people".

With those unique artistic and cultural values, on December 19, 2001, Ms. Vo Thi Thang - Director General of the General Department of Tourism gave Dat Set Pagoda (Buu Son Tu) the Vietnam Tourism badge.

In order to preserve, preserve and promote the cultural and artistic values ​​of the Clay Pagoda (Buu Son Tu), on December 10, 2010, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Soc Trang province decided to rank the Clay Pagoda. Buu Son Tu)  is a provincial architectural and artistic relic.

To recognize the merits and talents of artisan Ngo Kim Tong, on July 18, 2013, the Vietnam Book of Records Center confirmed that Buu Son's record of Da Bao Tower and the largest Lotus Lotus Tower in Vietnam was 02. clay treasure.

Currently, on average every day, the Clay Pagoda welcomes thousands of domestic and foreign tourists and Buddhist relatives to visit. On the first day, the full moon day, public holidays and Tet holidays, many times more tourists come to visit and worship.

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Update day : 23/08/2023