On Feb.13 (or the 9th day of the first lunar year), the opening ceremony for the Ngoa Van Spring Festival was jointly held by the People’s Committee of Dong Trieu and the provincial Buddhist Excecutive Committee at Ngoa Van pagoda (Binh Khe commune, Dong Trieu town).
This cultural event created a good chance for Buddhist monks, nuns and followers nationwide to visit Ngoa Van which is considered the holy land of Vietnam Truc Lam Zen School in order to express gratitude towards the Buddha-Emperor Tran Nhan Tong and honor the high spiritual values of Truc Lam Zen School.
Prominent among those delegates were former Chairman of the Central Fatherland Front Committee Pham The Duyet, Deputy Secretary cum Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long, Leader of the Quang Ninh National Assembly Delegation and Deputy Head of the provincial Propaganda and Training Commission.
On behalf of Buddist organizations, Superior Monk Thich Thanh Quyet, Vice Chairman of the Central Buddhist Excecutive Committee, Chairman of the provincial Buddhist Excecutive Committee also attended the ceremony.
The event lured thousands of locals and pilgrims from various localities across the country.
It is recorded that Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308), the third King of the Tran dynasty, ascended to the throne when he was just 21. He is famed for defeating Mongol invaders twice as well as developing the national economy and culture during his 15-year reign.
The King abdicated when he was 35 and spent the rest of his life on Yen Tu Mountain practicing and propagating Buddhism. He founded the first Vietnamese School of Buddhism called “Thien Tong” or Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen on the 1,068m-high Yen Tu Mountain. The 20,000ha site is considered the capital of Vietnamese Buddhism.
He then attained Nirvana in 1308 at Ngoa Van pagoda, which is located in a complex of landscape and historical sites on the Yen Tu Mountain range.
After that, Ngoa Van was built and expanded into the centre of Truc Lam Buddhism and Dong Trieu’s An Sinh area became the capital of Dai Viet Buddhism during Tran Dynasty.
Dong Trieu town in cooperation with the provincial Buddhist Executive Committee have recently mobilized an array of capital resources to upgrade and develop these values of Ngoa Van relic site in particular and the national special relic complex of Tran Dynasty in Dong Trieu in accordance with the master plan approved by the Prime Minister.
The infrastructure system has been paid great attention with a range of important works such as a route connecting Uong Bi city’s Yen Tu relic site to Dong Trieu town’s Tran Dynasty relic site, a route linking among the sytem of Tran Kings’ tombs, a new route from Ho Thien to Ngoa Van, the first phase of Ngoa Van cable system, etc.
Currenlty, My Way Group has implemented preliminary study and closely worked with VinGroup’s Thien Tam Fund and the provincial Buddihist Executive Committee to continue to mobilize more capital for repairing and upgrading Da Chong relic and Ngoa Van small temple. Meanwhile, these entities have also planned to set up projects to repair and upgrade some other relics namely Thong Dan, Ba Bac, Do Kieu, Phu Am Tra, etc. so as to rehabilitate the landscape and huge values of the relic complex of Ngoa Van.
At the opening ceremony, after several rituals including praying ceremony for peace and prosperity for the country, sounding drum and bell, delegates and tourists all together incensed and visited the relic site.
The three-month Ngoa Van Spring Festival has been annually organized since 2016. This year, a part from traditional rituals, a lot of cultural, art and sport activities and folk games are also being held at the area of the cable station to create the cheerful atmosphere of the relic site.
Article by Phan Hang
