Chua Quan Su

The Quan Su Pagoda is a Buddhist pagoda located at 73 Quan Su Street, Tran Hung Dao Ward, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi. This area was formerly a part of An Tap village, Co Vu ward, Tien Nghiem canton (later changed to Vinh Xuong canton), and Tho Xuong district.

Quan Su Pagoda was constructed in the fifteenth century. In the past, there was no pagoda in Co Vu ward; just a few houses in the south served as a site for residents to worship the gods of peace and were known as the An Tap hamlet. According to the book Hoang Le Nhat Thong Chi, during the reign of King Le The Tong, the countries of Champa and Ai Lao frequently dispatched tribute messengers to Vietnam. To welcome envoys to Thang Long, the king erected a structure called Quan Su. Because the envoys of these nations are all devoted Buddhists, another temple was constructed on the Quan Su campus so that they could execute the ritual. The house of Quan Su has been erased by time, but the shrine still stands.

According to Dr. Le Duy Trung’s inscription on the 1855 stele, the pagoda was located near Hau Quan fort at the beginning of Gia Long’s reign (1802-1819). The pagoda was refurbished in 1822 to serve as a place of worship for the fort’s soldiers. The temple was returned to the people when the fort’s garrison departed. The abbot of the temple at the time, monk Thanh Phuong, constructed more corridors, painted statues, and cast bells. During the Ly Dynasty, the front hall of the temple venerates Buddha, while the back hall venerates the national monk Minh Khong.

Quan Su Pagoda was chosen as the primary headquarters of the Buddhist Association of Tonkin, which was founded in 1934. In 1942, the pagoda was reconstructed based on the plans of two architects, Nguyen Ngoc Ngoan and Nguyen Xuan Tung, which were accepted by Vinh Nghiem.

The pagoda Tam Quan has three roofs, with the bell tower in the middle. Through the three gates is a vast tiled courtyard, and 11 stairs lead up to the lofty, square, corridor-surrounded main hall. The Buddha hall is adorned with a dignified design, and the sculptures are enormous and gilded. Worship the three Buddhas on the topmost step within. In the center of the second level is a statue of Amitabha Buddha, flanked by statues of Avalokitesvara and Dai The Chi. Shakyamuni Buddha, flanked by Ananda and Kassapa, is venerated on the lowest, central tier. The Cuu Long tower is situated between the statues of Quan Am and Jizong on the outermost and lowest step. The right compartment of the main hall venerates Ly Quoc Su (Zen Master Minh Khong) with two attendants, while the left compartment venerates the statues of Duc Ong and Chau Suong and Quan Binh.

On the side of Dai Hung Bao Dien sits the Ancestral Church, the location of the Vietnamese Buddhist Great Patriarch Calendar. This is a rare temple in northern Vietnam, and although having been constructed for a long time, it has always preserved the Dharma and “does not worship the mother of the three palaces” because this is a non-Buddhist local belief.

There are rows of houses serving as libraries, lecture halls, guest rooms, and expansion rooms on both sides and behind the yard.

Quan Su Pagoda is likely one of the few temples in Vietnam where the temple’s name and numerous parallel sentences are inscribed in the national language script. Is it because the temple was reconstructed in the middle of the 20th century and became the central headquarters of the North Vietnamese Buddhist Association, which is now the Buddhist Church of Vietnam, that it is the common national temple of the honorable men in Vietnam? Also housed here are the Buddhist Studies Sub-Institute of the Church and the office of the Asian Buddhist Organization for Peace (in Vietnam).

Over the past half century, Quan Su Pagoda has witnessed numerous significant events of Vietnamese Buddhism, such as the unity of Buddhist groups in the country and the incorporation of Vietnamese Buddhism into global Buddhism. Here, on May 13, 1951 (April 8 of the New Year of the Rabbit), the world Buddhist flag, which had been brought back from Colombo by Venerable Thich To Lien, first appeared in the skies of Hanoi.