Vinh Hung Floating Pagoda, a spiritual tourist destination with great potential

About 3 years ago, the Standing Deputy Secretary of Vinh Hung District Party Committee, Long An Province - Phan Van Bang said that the district would open a spiritual tourism route, starting at Co Son Pagoda (commonly known as Floating Pagoda, Ca Ban Hamlet, Tuyen Binh Commune), ending at the National Historical Site of Long Khot Fort Area (Thai Binh Trung Commune). Floating Pagoda will be upgraded, expanded, landscaped, and additional works built. Last April, when I visited Floating Pagoda, I saw that the above project was constructing roads, bridges, filling in soil, and expanding the area behind the pagoda.

Floating Pagoda is quite familiar to me. In the past, almost every flood season, I went to the pagoda with the people "flooding". The historic flood in 2000 covered Dong Thap Muoi with white water like a sea, but Floating Pagoda still "floated" high above; local people took boats to safely take shelter from the flood. So does Floating Pagoda have any "miracle"?

Floating Pagoda seen from the iron bridge across the Vam Co Tay River (Photo courtesy)

Floating Pagoda is very beautiful if you look from this side of the Vam Co Tay River, or from the top of the semicircular curved iron bridge across the two banks of the river, looking down at the whole view of the pagoda mixed with the shadows of ancient trees printed on the water like a shimmering, magical ink painting.

Entering the temple gate to visit the "old" Trom Mo and 5 ancient Dipterocarpus trees next to it, all of which are also named Vietnam Heritage Trees. Today, meeting them again, it feels like the original Dong Thap Muoi spirit is still present through this hundreds of years old forest. Visitors "bathe" under the green canopy of the towering ancient trees, and their spirits will feel the many wonders of nature. In the temple yard, a stone stele is engraved with calligraphy: "This place has long been famous for its mystery, a place where the sacred energy of heaven and earth converges and harmonizes, a place where Buddha resides, a famous scenic spot - spiritual culture, and also a large archaeological site, belonging to the culture of prehistoric people dating back about 2,500-2,800 years ago; an object for historical - cultural researchers who want to learn about the land and people here through the ages".

Laughing Buddha statue (Maitreya Buddha) under the shade of an ancient tree

The abbot of Floating Pagoda recalled that in the past, there were 11 mounds of land in this area with tall trees like the mound of Floating Pagoda. Then, free migrants came to cut down trees for wood, level the mounds to build houses, make gardens, and farm all 10 mounds. Only Floating mound remained, where the lay Buddhist To Cat, on his journey through the mountains and rivers, saw that the mound had a lot of spiritual energy, so he built a pagoda to practice in 1748 (exactly 275 years ago). At first, the pagoda was built simply. Later, generations of abbots gradually restored it to what it is today.

Listening to the monk, I suddenly remembered the documents of researchers stating that millions of years ago, the entire Dong Thap Muoi region was a deep sea bay. Then the Mekong River diligently deposited alluvium from millennium to millennium, creating a vast, boundless alluvial plain, with many mounds emerging for all kinds of plants and animals to reproduce. Could it be that the Floating Pagoda Mound is one of those mounds? There are also archaeological documents proving that the entire Southern region once experienced a process of sea level rise that created a great flood that submerged the developing kingdom of Phu Nam, which could not be overcome to survive; in addition, it was gradually annexed by the country of Chenla, forcing the Phu Nam people to abandon their brilliant civilization and culture and retreat to the Eastern and Central Highlands provinces to live. When excavating the relic, archaeologists followed the traces of the site, discovered the Oc Eo cultural treasure of the Phu Nam people at the Cat Tien sanctuary (Lam Dong province), and collected numerous Oc Eo cultural relics demonstrating the amazing civilization of the Phu Nam people (Thanh Nien, July 29, 2022).

In the late 80s of the last century, I came here and saw some secret underground tunnels, traces of the pagoda hiding revolutionary cadres during the resistance against the French and the Americans to save the country. Many ancient trees were hit by American bombs and artillery shells and could not be saved, and had to dry up and die on the ground. Co Son Pagoda - Floating Pagoda was recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as a Provincial Monument in 2004.

In the article by Professor, Doctor of Science, People's Teacher Vu Minh Giang with the title Spiritual culture - heritage of Vietnamese cultural resources, emphasizes the point of view that "Religion and belief are both an important part of a culture and create the nuances of that culture. Spiritual culture is a special heritage of each nation, containing many unique traditions and values"... The professor further emphasized: "Spiritual culture is a special heritage of each nation, containing many unique traditions and values that need to be studied, preserved and promoted"... So Floating Pagoda is worth choosing as a spiritual and cultural tourism destination!

The Ca Ban hamlet, Tuyen Binh commune, Vinh Hung district is low-lying, but the place where the Floating Pagoda is located is a "Floating mound" - nearly 3.5m higher than the surrounding rice fields, and floods in this area have never reached that height, so the pagoda still "floats" even during extreme floods like in 2000.

Walking around the temple grounds, you will see the Mother Goddess Temple, the Lady of the Land Temple, the Shennong Temple, the Tien Hien - Hau Hien Temple, the heroic martyrs temple, etc. The abbot said that this is the way the temple shows the morality of "When drinking water, remember the source" - a spiritual culture that looks back to the source, always knowing how to cherish the past is the filial piety of Vietnamese people. The abbot advised visitors that they can take the waterway from Ca Ro bridge, Kien Tuong town, turn to Bac Chan canal, then turn to Vam Co Tay river to the temple gate. This shortcut both shortens the distance and allows you to enjoy the scenery on both sides of Bac Chan canal, which was originally the traffic route of the Thien Ho Vo Duy Duong insurgent army (stationed at Ta station on the bank of the canal) and later became the resistance channel of the Liberation Army of Zone 8, commanded by General Tran Van Tra, with the headquarters in Binh Tay hamlet on the bank of Bac Chan canal.

With the attention of the province and district and the efforts of the pagoda to become a spiritual tourism destination, Floating Pagoda still has much promise to attract cultural and spiritual tourists, a trendy type of tourism today./.

Quang Hao

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