Bai Dinh Pagoda is a spiritual landscape located in the population of Bai Dinh – Trang An eco-tourism area with a history of more than 1000 years of age associated with the land of many feudal dynasties from Dinh and Tien Le dynasties. The Ly Dynasty. Let’s explore the experience of going to Bai Dinh pagoda – the first spiritual beauty spot in Ninh Binh through the following article with VietNampeace.vn.
Overview of Bai Dinh pagoda (Photo: Collection)
The experience of going to Bai Dinh temple is the most complete
Where is Bai Dinh Temple?
Bai Dinh Pagoda is a temple complex located on Bai Dinh mountain in Gia Sinh commune, Gia Vien district, 5km northwest of Hoa Lu ancient capital, 12km from Ninh Binh city. Bai Dinh Pagoda has a land area of 539 ha including 27 ha of ancient Bai Dinh pagoda, 80ha of new Bai Dinh pagoda. It is an annual honor to welcome thousands of Buddhists on pilgrimage.
Entrance to the ancient temple pagoda (Photo: Collection)
The best time to travel to Bai Dinh Trang An is
From January to March of the lunar calendar when warm spring weather is also the best time to go to Bai Dinh Trang An. You can combine spring tourism, pray for the temple and participate in major festivals in both Trang An and Bai Dinh. However, this is also the peak tourist season, so visitors here are very crowded, causing overcrowding and crowding. So if you do not like to be crowded, noisy, you can also visit Bai Dinh pagoda at other times of the year.
Ticket price to Bai Dinh pagoda
Bai Dinh pagoda is very large. If you are limited in time, you can take the tram to the temple. Tram tickets at Bai Dinh pagoda area 30,000 / way.
To explore Trang An scenic spot, it will take you more than 3 hours by boat. Usually each boat contains about 4-5 people. Ticket price for ferry is 150,000 VND / person. During the peak season, a lot of tourists come here to visit, so there is often an overload and crowding at the points of purchase, ticket control and marina. You need to be alert against theft, pickpockets.
About Bai Dinh pagoda
Overall view of Bai Dinh architecture as a norm for ancient pagoda architecture in Vietnam, especially the area where the temple invites to build has massive constructions. The roof of the main temple is very beautiful including 3 floors of 12 curved roofs shaped like a head, with a traditional comedic roof. Tier decorative stone dragon designs Ly Dynasty, wide stone yard looking straight down the jade well.
The palace consists of 3 floors of 13 massive roofs (Photo: Collection)
Three pagodas from the inside look out (Photo: Collection)
Around the corridor of the arhat statue running along the temple grounds, there are small gardens planted with trees, the most grown tree is the Bodhi tree, which is extracted from temples in India. Bai Dinh pagoda space is extremely pure and cool, an ideal place for Buddhist monks and nuns to visit and practice.
Green space with air conditioning (Image: Collection)
Places to visit around Bai Dinh Pagoda
Coming to Bai Dinh pagoda, you can prioritize to visit some highlights with many mysterious legend stories.
Bright cave, dark cave
Passing 300 stone steps up to the three-door gate, not turning into the gate yet, looking to the side of the slope, there is a fork which leads to the cave bright and dark. The light cave is a place of worshiping God and Buddha, just like the name of the cave has enough natural light, right outside the door, there are statues of two majestic gods with a fierce face, deep inside is the place to worship Buddha. The cave is about 25 m deep, 15 m wide, about 2 m high, going all the way to the end of the cave you will come to the sacred temple of Cao Son.
The dark cave is arranged with lighting system to create quite fanciful scenery, above the stalactites formed by underground water. The steps of the aisle are vividly decorated with dragon shapes. In the middle, there is a natural well with air conditioning, making visitors feel cool when entering the cave. Here, the statue of the mother and the gods are worshiped, many of them are placed deep in the rocks and have their own worship.
Temple of Saint Nguyen
Also from the junction of the steep slope (up to the three-gate gate) comes in to worship Nguyen. The temple is an architectural item belonging to the population of Bai Dinh pagoda built in the position of a mountain overlooking the river. In the temple, a statue of Zen monk Nguyen Minh Khong is placed. Once up the mountain to find a cure for the king, he accidentally discovered a beautiful cave that suited to build a temple to worship Buddha. He was not only a famous celebrity who helped cure people but he was also called the master of bronze casting. For a long time, he spent his time researching and studying the origins of Dong Son civilization in ancient Vietnam, collecting antique bronze pieces for the purpose of restoring the faded traditional bronze casting.
Temple of Nguyen is the place to worship Zen monk Nguyen Minh Khong (photo collection)
To commemorate and record the merit of the Zen master – famous physician Nguyen Minh Khong, people carved statues of worship on Bai Dinh pagoda. In addition, he is worshiped in many places throughout Ninh Binh province.
The overall architecture of the temple is in the most pre-emptive style. The front part is designed according to the Nhat style, while the back part is designed in the style of Cong, “Tien Nhat post-Cong” and firmly creates the traditional harmonious architectural design. Inside there are many ancient architectural fragments carved vividly, fresh flowers, dragons, strong and powerful unicorns.
Ngoc Well
It is said that the Zen master, Nguyen Minh Khong, took excellent medicine for the king and the people. Around the stone railing, forming a large circle, standing from above the great palace, looking down on the Ngoc well stands out between the vast campus of greenery covered, jade green watercolors are the highlight of the overall Bai Dinh pagoda . This is also a temple well recorded the largest record in Vietnam.
Blue well water is like jade (Image: Collection)
Visit the largest copper bell in Vietnam
The new Bai Dinh Pagoda is also famous for many large-scale works in Southeast Asia. The largest bronze bell in Vietnam has a height of 5.5 m, a diameter of 3.5 m wide and a volume of up to 36 tons. Copper bells are carved with many different ancient plates with Chinese characters and decorated with extremely vivid dragon images.
The largest bronze bell in Vietnam (Image: Collection)
The largest statue of Sakyamuni in Asia, solemnly placed in the Dharma Master of Bai Dinh pagoda, weighs 100 tons and is 9.5 m high. Standing in front of the statue you will feel overwhelmed by the majesty of the statue.
The longest La Han corridor in Vietnam (Image: Collection)
The records of Bai Dinh Temple
With a unique architecture and a long history, Bai Dinh Pagoda has become a famous eco-tourist destination in the North in general and Ninh Binh in particular. There have been 8 Vietnamese and Asian records recorded in Bai Dinh pagoda such as the largest bronze bell in Vietnam, the tallest Buddha statue in Asia, the largest Buddha in the world, The largest bronze Maitreya statue in Southeast Asia, the pagoda has the largest arhat corridor in Vietnam, the pagoda has the most Bodhi trees in Vietnam …
A few things to note when going to Bai Dinh Trang An pagoda
- You should bring comfortable sports shoes instead of high heels or doll shoes to protect your feet as well as convenient for moving because it will have to climb mountains, pagodas pretty much there. Should choose polite clothes when entering the temple, comfortable clothes should not wear tight, sweat-proof clothes.
- At Bai Dinh pagoda, there are many stalls selling souvenirs and attractive specialties. However, the price in the mountains is much higher than the outside. So if buying specialties as a gift, you should go down the mountain to find cheaper prices.
- In the early spring, there is often drizzle, so you should bring a small folding umbrella with you
- Remember to bring change when you go to the temple and donate offline. Avoid spending money on the statues of the Buddha to lose the beauty of the temple but instead you should put it right in the merit boxes here.
Above is all the experience of going to Bai Dinh pagoda that VietNampeace.vn has summarized. Wish you have a meaningful pilgrimage to this place.
