Long Thanh Pagoda

A 280-year-old ancestral pagoda in Binh Tan, built in 1740, once a training centre for gifted monks of Cochinchinese Buddhism

Long Thanh Pagoda was built in 1740 by Most Venerable Tri Tam, ordained name To Dat, and was once one of the most magnificent and renowned pagodas in the southwest of old Gia Dinh. Over more than 280 years and 09 generations of abbots, the pagoda was classified as a City-level Historical Relic in 2005. Its most brilliant period in Buddhist scholarship was from 1878 to 1915, when it became a Dharma Propagation Centre, a renowned place for training gifted monks of Cochinchinese Buddhism. Many highly respected monks of the time – Patriarch Long Quang – Dat Thanh, Most Venerable Khanh Hoa, Patriarch Tu Phong of Giac Hai Pagoda, Most Venerable Tu Van of Hoi Khanh Pagoda, and Most Venerable Nhu Bang of Tu An Pagoda – often came here to join Most Venerable Hoan Hy, the abbot at that time, in discussion and to lecture to classes of student monks. The pagoda is also linked to many historical milestones of the region. In 1885, during the uprising of farmers from the 18 betel-garden villages led by Phan Cong Hon (Quan Hon), Most Venerable Hoan Hy was put in charge of food and logistics for the insurgents. In 1913, the pagoda was a meeting place for the Heaven and Earth Society. At the end of 1945, the main hall was dismantled and relocated under the scorched-earth resistance policy; the ancestral hall and lecture hall were later burned, and many precious relics and antiques of the pagoda were lost. It was not until 1950 that the pagoda was restored. During the resistance years, the pagoda housed the command post and logistics base of the Anh Ty unit, and later became a revolutionary base of the Tan Tao commune Party cell. In 2009, the pagoda's foundation was raised and it was renovated while retaining the Southern Vietnamese pagoda style, with a main hall, ancestral hall, lecture hall and kitchen. Today, the red-painted gate bearing the sign "Chua To dinh Long Thanh" stands right on Provincial Road 10, and the pagoda remains a place where monks gather for the annual rains retreat. It is a stop on the "Binh Tan District – Colours of Binh Tan" programme introduced by the Department of Tourism, along with the Binh Tri Dong communal house relic and Hue Nghiem Pagoda.

English text: machine translation from the Localis platform — proper names kept in Vietnamese.