Mot Cot Pagoda (One Pillar Pagoda), a symbol of national character

Mot Cot Pagoda is one of the most important and typical symbols of Hanoi capital, a place that attracts tens of thousands of tourists to visit every year. Hãy nghe Thái Thùy Trâm (Hà Tĩnh) một travel blogger nổi tiếng bật mí .

Mot Cot or Mat Pagoda, Nhat Tru Tower, Dien Huu Temple. The pagoda is also known as Lien Hoa Dai because it has a clear architecture like a lotus flower blooming in the middle of the lake. Mot Cot Pagoda is located in the heart of Hanoi capital, belonging to the complex of relics of President Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. This is the temple with the most unique architecture in Vietnam.

Mot Cot Pagoda was started by King Ly Thai Tong in 1049. The Dai Viet Chronicle of the Encyclopedia records that one night King Ly Thai Tong dreamed of seeing the Buddha Quan Am on the lotus tower stretching out his hand to lead the king to the court. When he woke up, the king told the officials, some thought it was a bad omen.

                                                         Mot Cot pagoda (collection)

The monk Thien Tue advised the king to build a pagoda, erect a stone pillar in the middle of the lake, and make the lotus tower of Guanyin Buddha as seen in a dream to suppress evil. The pagoda is finished, the thousand-pointed lotus supports the pink Buddha building, and the glittering golden Buddha statue is placed in it. The monks came to perform the ceremony, walked around the pagoda chanting Buddha to pray for the king to live a long time, so he named it Dien Huu Pagoda.

From the time it was built until now, after more than a thousand years of existence, the pagoda has been restored many times to be damaged by time and the destruction of foreign invaders. Still following the old principle, the Pagoda is located on a stone pillar, located in the middle of the lake, unchanged.

                                              The view behind the pagoda (collection)

In terms of architecture, Mot Cot Pagoda reached the peak of architecture at that time. Many researchers have also found that the proportions of the temple's parts comply with the golden ratio, a standard ratio of architecture to perfection. Mot Cot Pagoda is built in the middle of the lotus lake, each side of the lake is 20m, surrounded by a low wall.The pagoda has a unique architecture with a square structure, located on a stone pillar, above which a system of wooden bars forms a solid frame to support the pagoda built above, like a lotus flower rising straight from the surface of the lake.

Although the scale of the pagoda is not large, it brings a very unique beauty, erected with only one pillar but can still stand firmly, nothing can be knocked down over time. Visitors from far and far every time they have the opportunity to visit the pagoda are amazed by its unique architecture.

                                                                    (Collection)

The bold combination of poetic imagination and romance through the image of the lotus flower and the perfect solutions of wooden and stone architectural structures supported by the landscape, ponds, and trees have created closeness, purity but still purity. The square pond at the bottom symbolizes the earth (the sky is round, the earth is square), the pagoda rises as a noble meaning, compassion to illuminate the world. The image of the lotus is a symbol of wisdom, of eternity, liberation through intellectual awareness to go to nirvana.

Mot Cot Pagoda has become one of the national symbols, a famous tourist attraction of Hanoi capital. The pagoda is not only famous in the country but also sought out by many international visitors and tourists to visit and enjoy the unique beauty imbued with national identity culture.

Thái Thùy Trâm (Hà Tĩnh)