The ancient and quiet temple at the foot of An Phu mountain

Bao Minh Pagoda was newly renovated in 2010.

This is not only an ancient temple located in a famous scenic area but also a place that marks many typical local resistance events.

Unique

The name Bao Minh Pagoda means the precious light at the Buddha's door. The construction is located on a high land, facing southwest; the east, south, and north are all strips of land of the An Phu mountain range covered in green grass and trees. From afar, you can see the majestic pagoda hidden under the canopy of the banyan tree and the ancient banyan tree hundreds of years old.

According to local documents, unlike other pagodas in the region, Bao Minh Pagoda has a history of construction associated with the character Lieu Khang in the 10th century, and is also related to the suppression of the 12 warlords by Dinh Bo Linh.

Mrs. Lieu Khang was from Khoai Chau district (Hung Yen), born into a wealthy family, often traveling the world by sailboat. Once, visiting Gia Duoc camp (the old name of Dich Son village), seeing the beautiful landscape, she stopped to rest. Not far from Gia Duoc camp, there was a small Buddhist temple built by the people a long time ago, the scenery was quiet, surrounded by mountains and forests on three sides, and trees. Seeing the beautiful scenery and the simple and honest people, she decided to choose this temple as a place to practice. Later, the small temple was built into a large pagoda and named Bao Minh.

During this time, there were two brothers named Dang Chan and Dang Chi who were talented in literature and martial arts. Mr. Dang Chan became friends with Mrs. Lieu Khang and gradually became close friends. When the country was in chaos with 12 warlords, Mr. Dang Chan and Mrs. Lieu Khang gathered an army by water to Dinh Bo Linh's camp to ask the general to help quell the chaos. During the battle, Dinh Bo Linh assigned Dang Chan to command a land army and Mrs. Lieu Khang to command an underwater army. The two water and land forces achieved many feats, defeating other warlords.

The country was peaceful, the people lived happily, thinking of the merits of those who had helped the king to quell the rebellion, King Dinh appointed Dang Chan as “Vu Dung Co Xi Chinh Ta Dao Binh Kiem Tham Tan Mo Su”; Lady Lieu Khang as “Princess Mau Nghi Thien Ha”. The king allowed the two to return to visit Gia Duoc camp. Unfortunately, before reaching the camp, the two died in the same place, which was called “Dai Than” pile by the people. The people were extremely sorry, built a temple to worship and honor the two as Thanh Hoang.

Over the years, to show gratitude to those who have contributed to the country, people worship Ms. Lieu Khang at Bao Minh Pagoda - where she practiced asceticism; and worship Mr. Dang Chan at Dich Son Communal House.

Presently, Bao Minh Pagoda and Dich Son Communal House are both in Dich Son village. The communal house and pagoda face opposite directions, which represents the close friendship between two heroes who have contributed to the country.

According to Ms. Pham Thi Dung, a member of the relic management board, Bao Minh pagoda was originally just a small hermitage. Later generations continued to renovate and plant many trees, making the relic a famous landscape. During the Nguyen Dynasty, the pagoda was restored again, and there is a stele recording it.

During the resistance war against the French, Dich Son land in particular and Hiep Hoa commune in general were fierce battlefields. Therefore, most of the relics were destroyed. However, Bao Minh pagoda was still preserved. In the 70s of the 20th century, according to the policy of the Party and the State, the pagoda was demolished. In 1991, the villagers contributed money and effort to restore the pagoda worshiping Buddha and Mrs. Lieu Khang, using wood. In 2010, the pagoda was restored to its present spaciousness, with a T-shaped architecture consisting of 3 front rooms and 3 upper rooms built on a high foundation 9 steps above the ground. Across the two ends of the steps are a pair of dragons made of monolithic green stone. The roof ridge is decorated with a sign with three Chinese characters: "Bao Minh Tu".

Due to time and war, the system of Buddha statues at the pagoda has been damaged, all statues and worship items have been donated by the people recently. The remaining antiques and relics are a stone stele, a stone incense bowl dating from the Nguyen Dynasty (19th century) which are carefully preserved and maintained by the villagers.

Shrine of Lady Lieu Khang at Bao Minh Pagoda

Many events

Not only has a long history of construction, Bao Minh Pagoda is also the place where many important historical revolutionary events took place. Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, head of Dich Son village, said that in 1946, Dich Son communal house and pagoda was the place where a force of 500 people gathered, under the leadership of Mr. Nguyen Van Lip, waiting for the opportunity to drive out the Chiang army. Also here, people focused on fighting against Chiang Kai-shek and demanding the release of monk Tue (a revolutionary monk, abbot of the pagoda). In February 1947, the Kinh Mon District Party Congress was held at the pagoda, electing the first District Party Executive Committee.

In particular, in June 1952, in Hiep Hoa, the enemy used a European-African company combined with puppet forces and security forces at Thai Mong and Nga outposts to continuously sweep and search everywhere, then they set up three military posts at Dich Son village, turning Dich Son into a white village. Faced with that situation, the commune party cell evacuated the people, sent the youth to the free zone, and a small group stayed behind to prepare enough secret tunnels at Che camp and Bao Minh pagoda.

Bao Minh Pagoda worships both Buddha and saints, so the festival at the pagoda is held on the 15th day of the third lunar month every year and is closely related to the Dich Son communal house festival due to the nature of worship of the village's tutelary gods...

With its remaining historical and cultural values, since 2011, Bao Minh Pagoda has been ranked as a provincial relic by the People's Committee of Hai Duong province.

DANG THU THOM