Description of the attraction
Zak Vien Pagoda is a unique architectural ensemble of the mid-18th century. Located in a quiet outskirts area of Ho Chi Minh City, near the dam of Lake Sen.
It was founded by Hai Tin Zak Vien to worship the goddess Bodhisattva. The definition of a Bodhisattva includes Buddhist deities who come into the world to help believers find the truth and find the path to salvation. The pagoda is named after the founder, who built it from auxiliary materials. The thatched hut was converted only a century later into the pagoda that has survived to this day.
Inside the pagoda is equipped with one large hall for honoring the Buddha. Two corridors indicate directions - east and west. The Great Hall is decorated with sculptures of Buddha and unique engravings. Their creators, Vietnamese artists of the 19th - 20th centuries, depicted the symbols of the culture and everyday life of the country.
Currently, the operating pagoda is simultaneously a museum of historically and artistically valuable woodcuts. There are about one and a half hundred of them. Sculptures are also considered cultural relics and exhibits of the museum. And twenty monks living in buildings behind the pagoda act as tour guides. They greet guests in front of the stone-paved entrance. And they not only conduct a tour of this center of Buddhism in the southern provinces, but also tell many legends and legends that have arisen around the pagoda for more than two centuries of its existence. For example, according to one of the legends, the pagoda was used for worship by Zia Long, the emperor of the Nguyen dynasty.
If you are lucky, when visiting this beautiful pagoda, you can get to various kinds of Buddhist rituals - also very impressive.
