Zac Vien Pagoda is a unique architectural ensemble from the mid-18th century. It is located in a quiet outskirts neighbourhood of Ho Chi Minh City, near the Sen Lake Dam.
It was founded by Hai Tinh Zak Vien to worship the Bodhisattva goddess. Bodhisattvas are Buddhist deities who come into the world to help believers find the truth and find the path to salvation. The pagoda is named in honour of the founder who built it from salvaged materials. The thatched-roofed hut was only converted a century later into the pagoda that survives today.
Inside, the pagoda is equipped with one large hall for honouring the Buddha. Two corridors indicate the directions, east and west. The large hall is decorated with Buddha sculptures and unique engravings. Their creators, 19th- and 20th-century Vietnamese artists, depicted symbols of the country's culture and daily life.
At present, the active pagoda is also a museum of historically and artistically valuable wooden engravings. There are about one and a half hundred of them. Sculptures are also considered cultural relics and museum exhibits. Twenty monks living in the buildings behind the pagoda act as tour guides. They meet guests in front of the stone-paved entrance. They not only give a tour of this centre of Buddhism in the southern provinces, but also tell many legends and legends that have arisen around the pagoda over the more than two centuries of its existence. For example, according to one legend, the pagoda was used for worship by Zia Long, an emperor of the Nguyen dynasty.
If you are lucky enough to visit this beautiful pagoda, you can catch a variety of Buddhist rituals - also very impressive.
