19. Long Ban Pagoda Cultural and Historical Relic

Long Ban Co Tu, also known as Lang pagoda or by the familiar name Long Dien village pagoda, formerly belonged to Tong An Phu Thuong, Long Dien district, is built by Long Dien villagers. Currently, the pagoda is located in Long Phuong neighborhood, Long Dien town, Long Dien district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province.

Legend has it that in the past, the land of Long Dien had nine dragons. The land where the pagoda is built is the last part of the Thuy Van mountain range; there are many natural rocks that are as flat as a stone table top, so the villagers name it Long Ban. Remains of flat natural rocks are still layered behind the pagoda. Long Ban Co Tu, as its name suggests, is an ancient architectural pagoda with unique artistic decoration. Long Ban Pagoda is located in the center of Long Dien town, which is the first land of the Vietnamese community to explore the South of Vietnam and is also the starting place of the spread of Buddhism in Mo Xoai – Ba Ria region. Evidence is that the pagoda still retains 8 wooden printing molds engraved by the first two initiators of the pagoda, used to print ancient scriptures such as: Commentary Diamond sutra in sanskrit , Expository Diamond sutra in sanskrit…

It is possible that the pagoda was built earlier, but according to the era engraved on the beam of the lecture hall, Long Ban Pagoda was built in the fifth year of Thieu Tri (year of At Ty 1845). The pagoda was built by two monks, Hai Chanh and Bao Thanh (1752-1859), who were disciples of Venerable Giac Ngo, the abbot of Bat Nha pagoda on Long Son mountain – Phu Yen province, and the first abbot, who was honored by the villagers as the founder of the pagoda.

Long Ban Pagoda is located on a relatively flat high land of over 3,000m². There is a stone gate. The main face faces Northeast. After more than 150 years, the pagoda is still preserved almost in its original state. Long Ban Pagoda is built in the Tam-Chinese letter style like the ancient pagoda style in the South, but the facade has a new architecture with two bell towers and drum tower raised on both sides bearing the mark of the Hue pagoda style. The pagoda roof is roofed with yin and yang tiles; the tile head has a green enamel ceramic edge. Inside the pagoda, the architecture of columns, rafters… is completely made of Tu Thiet wood. The structure of Long Ban Pagoda includes: front hall, main hall and bridge house connecting to the back hall. The most unique is that in front of the main hall, there is a wooden stilt house, inside there is a statue of Tieu Dien Dai Si – the Duc Quan Am Nam Hai winning forsaken spirits. This is the place where the pagoda annually organizes Vu Lan festival, on the full moon of July, to worship the forsanken spirits. This is a rare and unique architectural element for pagodas in the South.

Front lecture hall: with an area of 233.09m² including two layers of yin and yang roof tiles, the roof endge has a dragon adorned with blue enamel ceramic. On both sides are the sun and moon, and on the outside are two ceramic lions. The Front lecture hall is the place for sermons and the place for fasting and almsgiving, divided into 5 spaces. Between each row of columns on the crossbeam are decorated with squares shaped like mountain and water, stilt houses, boatmen on the wharf… reflecting the lives of the people in the village mainly associated with the sea and fishing.

Main hall: Next to the Front lecture hall is the main hall with many horizontal lacquered boards elaborately carved and painted with golden color. The middle space worships Amitabha Buddha, Sakya Muni Buddha, Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, Jade Emperor, Maitreya, and Bodhisattva. The left space is dedicated to the Bodhidharma, the right space is dedicated to Quan Thanh. In addition, there is also the altar of Arhat and the Ten kings of Hell. From the Front lecture hall to the main hall through the three doors (the door is usually only opened on holidays and large ceremonies); the surface of the door is carved with images of dragon, clouds, patterns, leaves…and is very sophisticated. Especially, in front of the main hall, there is a horizontal lacquered board on the middle crossbeam, which is a dual dragon image adorning the day with two dragons with golden scales with winding iridescent; there is a picture of the sun painted in red divided into 4 equal parts, which according to the seniors may be indicative of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, winter… with subtle clouds.

Worshiping house: Behind the main hall is the wooden worshiping house, above is used to worship Bodhidharma and the two tablets of the founding members of the pagoda, Venerable Hai Chanh and Bao Thanh.

Bridge house: two bridge houses connecting the main hall and the back of the lecture hall on both sides. The space in the middle is Thien Tinh (skylight) which takes in air and wind.

Besides, there is also the back lecture hall – a place to worship Mr. Giam Trai in the middle, and the left and right is used to worship the souls of the deceased. Behind the altar of Mr. Giam is the back room – the abbot’s residence; there is a kitchen right next to the pagoda, but it is now degraded.

Long Ban is a pagoda belonging to the Zen sect, lin-chi lineage. Annual pagoda ceremonies based on the lunar calendar include the full moon day of the first month (ceremony to worship Thuong Nguon), April 8 the Buddha bathing ceremony and April 15 Buddha’s birthday ceremony. April 28 and 29 (Huy ky). Full moon day of the 7^th month (Trung Nguon worshiping ceremony), Vu Lan Festival. Full moon day of October (Ha Nguon).

Long Ban Co Tu, as its name suggests, is an ancient architectural pagoda with unique artistic decoration. With the talented hands of ancient artisans, they have created sophisticated sculptural and engraved works of art such as a system of panels carved in the shape of phoenixes, altars carved with dragons and phoenixes, horizontal lacquered board, parallel sentences of high aesthetic values. In the pagoda, there are still many Buddha statues: Jade Emperor, Quan Thanh, 18 Arhat bronze and jackfruit wood statues, 8 scripture printing molds engraved on wood, 1 bronze bell which is 1.2 meters high with the same date over 150 years ago. In addition to the unique architectural features of sculpture, the pagoda is located in a beautiful and harmonious natural landscape.

Currently, Long Ban Pagoda is overseen by the Worship Committee annually elected by the people to take care of the organization of pagoda worship.