Hien Pagoda

Hien Pagoda has a name in Chinese script of Thien Ung Tu. The pagoda is located in Pho Hien (Pho Hien street, Hong Chau ward, Hung Yen city at present). It is said that the pagoda was built in the Tran dynasty (In the reign of Tran Thai Tong 1232-1250), by To Hien Thanh – a mandarin of the Ly dynasty. The pagoda was restored in 1625 and 1709.

Hien Pagoda has noi cong ngoai quoc architectural style (One of the pagoda’s main architectual styles in Vietnam), including tien duong (Ancestor-worshipping house), thien huong (Incense burning house), thuong dien (Main worshipping house) and corridors surrounding the pagoda. The Nam Hai Bodhisattva statue with eight pairs of hands is placed in the middle of thuong dien. The statue has a hat carved with chrysanthemum, lotus and hibiscus mutabilis shapes. In front of it, there are four other bodhisattvas solemnly sitting on lotus - shaped thrones. These statues date back to the 19^th century. The worship of bodhisattvas expresses the local people’s adoration to deities who have much miracle and always help people living on the river and sea. This is due to the fact that Pho Hien is an international commercial port – a destination of domestic and foreign merchant ships. This is a difference in the worship of Hien Pagoda as compared with the one in other pagodas.

In Hien Pagoda's front yard, there are two stone stelae inscribing Pho Hien commercial port's establishment process. "Thien ung tu – Tan tu trung tu thach bi ky" stele, dating back to the 7^th year of King Vinh To (1625), records the pagoda's restoration process and ranks Hien Pagoda after the four most outstanding pagodas of the Ly dynasty. The stele records that Pho Hien was a bustling centre and the second most famous just after Trang An – the former capital of Vietnam. The other stele, dating back to the 5^th year of King Vinh Thinh (1709) records the contribution to the pagoda's restoration. There were 481 people from different places making contribution to the restoration, 56 of whom were Chinese. The stele proves that Pho Hien used to be a bustling place gathering people from everywhere to come to settle and do business.

Hien Pagoda is also well known for an ancient longan tree in front of its main gate. The fruit of this tree is big, with thick and fragrant pulp. Its fruit was offered to Buddha and Thanh Hoang (Tutelary God of the village) and in the feudal time, the fruit was reserved for the King and the Royal Court. When a longan tree in Hung Yen becomes old and its core is rotten, its last fresh branch will be cared for and developed into a "descendant", symbolizing a specialty of Pho Hien – Hung Yen.