Built-in 1993, Linh An Pagoda is a famous pagoda located on the outskirts of Dalat city. The pagoda is located in the scenic area of Elephant Waterfall in Nam Ban town, Lam Ha district, Lam Dong province. Thanks to its serene and peaceful beauty, Linh An Tu is also favored as the second “Truc Lam Zen Monastery” in Vietnam.
History and development of Linh An pagoda
When it was first built, the pagoda was just a small street with the abbot, Venerable Thich Tam. This Buddhist temple just has an area of about 4ha to worship the Buddha. For a long time until 1999, in order to expand and develop the temple for practice, this place was rebuilt and renamed Linh An Tu . Since then, the pagoda has been continuously expanded with many new works serving Buddhist monks and nuns.
Linh An Pagoda viewed from above
About 27km from the center of Dalat city, traveling to discover Linh An pagoda is quite easy. From Da Lat city , you can go on Hoang Van Thu street towards Cam Ly waterfall. Next, you need to go through the Ta Nung commune, go to Nam Ban town and ask for directions to the pagoda. On the way, there will be countless winding and winding slopes with coffee gardens, immense green pine forests. These are definitely beautiful natural sceneries that you have never seen before. In addition, if departing from Saigon , you should follow Highway 27 to reach this temple.
This is a large temple and has a long history of development
Architecture of Linh An pagoda campus
Linh An pagoda is located on a large area with the back of a mountain slope, far away is the waterfall of Elephant flowing day and night, creating a very favorable position of “mountain mountain waterfall”. Perhaps when deciding to lay the foundation for the temple here, Venerable Thich Tam realized the beauty of this place.
Entering the Buddha’s place, the first impression is that the temple courtyard is extremely spacious. This is a common place for Buddhist monks and nuns. The yard is planted with ornamental shrubs evenly to prevent the yard from being empty. At the end of the yard is the main hall. The steps from the pagoda yard to the Chanh Dien have a pair of dragons cast by cement prostrate on both sides.
A dragon figure on the steps leading up to the Main Hall
The main hall is the center of the temple. This work was built in 1999 with an area of up to 1,400 m2 extremely superficial. The two-storey roof is curved and roofed with red tiles like traditional pagodas in Vietnam. Inside the main hall is to worship 5 Buddhas, the front is Buddha Amitabha, Shakyamuni Buddha, Medicine Buddha, on the left is Quan Am Thien Thu Thien Nhan Buddha, and on the right is Buddha Amitabha.
The main hall of Linh An Tu
Right to the left of the main hall is the largest statue of Quan Am Bodhisattva in Vietnam with a height of over 70 meters. The statue of Guanyin Buddha is extremely large but is meticulously sculpted with gentle and gentle lines to create a gentle and serene look. In particular, visitors can go inside the statue and climb to the top or stand on the hands of Bodhisattva Guan Yin, or get into the giant Cam Lo vase.
Giant Buddha statue 70m high
Visitors can go inside and climb to the top of the statue
Behind the temple is the Quan Yin Garden of the Pure Land. This is a very special garden with nearly 500 statues of Guan Yin Buddha. Each statue is painted in pure white with identical size and shape and up to 3m in height. All are arranged in long rows placed majestically on the stone pedestal. Besides, this garden also grows a lot of different kinds of flowers to make the garden more fresh and vibrant.
Quan Am Tinh Thanh Garden with nearly 500 statues of Guan Yin
At the end of the garden is a bronze statue of the Great Buddha
And the last highlight of Linh An pagoda is the giant statue of Maitreya Buddha. This statue has a height of up to 12.5m with a width of 9m and a width of 6.5m. According to ancient folk beliefs, it is believed that Maitreya Buddha is a symbol of full happiness. That is the reason why the statue is meticulously sculpted to exude the spirit of a happy smile. His smile helps to neutralize all the stresses and pressures in daily life, directing people to a peaceful Buddha realm.
The 12.5m high statue of Maitreya Buddha is the second highlight of Linh An pagoda
Linh An Tu opens quite early at 5am to welcome visitors. You can go to the temple any time of the week. This will definitely be an attractive spiritual tourist destination for people to visit, take photos and worship.
Check-in at Linh An Tu
Especially on the occasion of the first day or the full moon day, thousands of Buddhists from all over come to the temple to celebrate incense offering Buddha. You will have the experience of humming the sutra to liberate monks meticulously. After hard working hours with the Buddhists here, continue to return to the temple to chant the Pure Land sutras to dispel fatigue and worries in life.
Photo: Internet