The
legend has it that on Ly Dynasty, Emperor Ly Thai To had no children so he used
to go to pagodas to pray the Buddha for a son. One night, he dreamt that he was
granted a private audience to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, who was seated
on a great lotus flower in a square-shaped lotus pond on the western side of
Thang Long Citadel. He gave the King a baby boy. Months later, when the Queen
gave birth to a male child, the Emperor decided to build a pagoda supported by
only one pillar to resemble the lotus seat of his dream in the honor of the
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The pagoda was built in a style of a lotus
emerging out of the water. One
Pillar Pagoda is situated in the western part of Hanoi capital, near Ho Chi
Minh’s Mausoleum. It is on Ong Ich Khiem Street, Ngoc Ha, Ba Dinh District,
Hanoi.
It
was said that Emperor Ly Thai Tong had this temple constructed in gratitude for
the mentioned significant legendary event in 1049, by erecting a pillar in the
middle of a lotus pond, and a temple of lotus-shape, exactly similar to what he
saw in the dream. This unique shape of the pagoda together with the special
story has been of great absorption to hundreds of thousands of international
tourists!
Architecturally,
One Pillar Pagoda was built of wood on a single stone pillar 1.25 m in
diameter, and it is designed to resemble a lotus blossom, which is a Buddhist
symbol of purity, since a lotus blossoms in a muddy pond. Before the pagoda was
opened, prayers were held for the longevity of the monarch, hence being
considered a temple at that time. During the Ly Dynasty era, the temple was the
site of an annual royal ceremony on the occasion of Vesak, the birthday of
Gautama Buddha. A Buddha-bathing ceremony was held annually by the monarch, and
it attracted monks and laymen alike to the ceremony. The monarch would then
free a bird, which was followed by the people.
As
time went by, the pagoda succumbed to many ravages caused by the colonial
powers. In 1954, the French Union forces destroyed the pagoda before
withdrawing from Vietnam after the First Indochina War, and then it was
rebuilt.
What
you see today of the pagoda is a new form recovered in 1955 when it was
refurbished with a concrete pillar from its remnants by the Vietnamese
Government. The structure today can be just called the replica of the original
pagoda. Locals believe that if you pray here, it will invoke well-beings and
prosperity.
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