From the street at the foot of the hill, a short flight of stone steps leads up to the two-story three-entrance gate of Báo Quốc Pagoda. Behind the gate lies a tree-shaded courtyard within grounds of about two hectares, where four connected halls enclose a square chữ khẩu courtyard, and on the northern slope at the foot of the hill, beneath a low stone arch, sits the spring well that the people of Huế call by two names at once, Hàm Long Well (giếng Hàm Long) and the Forbidden Well (giếng Cấm).
The hill itself is named Hàm Long, meaning Dragon's Jaw, after the rock formation jutting from the bottom of the well. Built atop this hill in the second half of the 17th century, the pagoda changed its name three times over the next three hundred years, received royal restoration funds three times from the Nguyễn court, and in the 20th century became the seat of the Buddhist academy serving all of Huế. The first point to grasp is that this is an ancestral temple (tổ đình), the root monastery of a Dharma lineage rather than a standalone pagoda.
IThe ancestral temple and its founding patriarch
In monastic usage, an ancestral temple (tổ đình) is the monastery founded by a patriarch from which disciples branch out to establish other temples, returning on memorial days to venerate the lineage masters. A large pagoda is not necessarily an ancestral temple, whereas a modest monastery standing at the head of a lineage remains an ancestral temple. Báo Quốc began as the latter and later took on the role of a monastic school as well.
In Zen teaching, what is handed down within a lineage is not an administrative office but the mind-Dharma (tâm pháp), transmitted directly from master to disciple. Each lineage therefore keeps a transmission verse in which each generation takes one character as part of its Dharma name, making a monk's generational standing immediately clear. Records of Báo Quốc Pagoda place it in the orthodox Linji school (Lâm Tế chánh tông), later continuing through the transmission line of Patriarch Liễu Quán.
The name báo quốc is also read through Buddhist doctrine. Buddhism teaches four great debts of gratitude (tứ trọng ân) that monastics and laypeople alike must remember, including gratitude to the country that provides a peaceful land for spiritual practice, and báo quốc means repaying that debt to the nation.
The founding patriarch was Zen Master Giác Phong (also venerated as Old Patriarch Giác Phong), a monk from Guangdong who came to Thuận Hóa during the rule of Lord Hiền Vương Nguyễn Phúc Tần in the second half of the 17th century. He built a bamboo-and-thatch hermitage on Hàm Long Hill and named it Hàm Long Sơn Thiên Thọ Tự (shortened to Hàm Long Thiên Thọ Tự). This was also the monastery where Zen Master Liễu Quán, upon first arriving in Thuận Hóa, came to study and stayed for eleven years practicing and caring for his elderly father before seeking Dharma transmission at Ấn Tôn Pagoda. Tradition commonly places the founding of Báo Quốc Pagoda around 1674. Patriarch Giác Phong passed away on the 17th day of the 6th lunar month of the Giáp Ngọ year (1714) at the age of 79, and his stupa was erected in 1715 (some sources give 1714) in the pagoda garden.
A common misconception arises from the temple's title. Because the four characters Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự hang over the gate and because the royal family funded several major restorations, many assume that the pagoda was built by the Nguyễn dynasty. The documentary record shows the reverse sequence, as the monastery was founded by a Zen master more than a century before the Nguyễn imperial dynasty was proclaimed, while the Nguyễn lords, emperors and empresses dowager later bestowed plaques, granted funds and changed its name rather than founding it. The term sắc tứ means bestowed by royal decree, referring here to the name plaque and title.
IIThe sequence of names and the Buddhist academy
The history of Báo Quốc Pagoda is most clearly traced through its changing names, as each renaming marked a major turning point, from Hàm Long Sơn Thiên Thọ Tự at its founding, to Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự under Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát, to Thiên Thọ Tự during the great rebuilding of 1808, and back to Báo Quốc Tự from 1824 onward.
- Late 17th centuryFounded as Hàm Long Sơn Thiên Thọ TựZen Master Giác Phong built a hermitage on Hàm Long Hill during the rule of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Tần, traditionally dated around 1674. He passed away in 1714, and his stupa was erected in 1715.
- 1747Bestowal of the plaque Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc TựIn the fifth lunar month of the eighth year of Cảnh Hưng (1747), Lord Hiếu Võ Vương Nguyễn Phúc Khoát restored the temple and bestowed the wooden plaque Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự inscribed by the King, Taoist Master Từ Tế. The abbot at the time was Zen Master Tế Nhơn, a Dharma heir of Patriarch Liễu Quán.
- 1808Major reconstruction and renaming to Thiên Thọ TựAfter falling into disrepair following the upheavals of 1776, Empress Dowager Hiếu Khương (mother of Emperor Gia Long) funded a major rebuilding, erecting the three-entrance gate, casting the great bronze bell and bronze gong, and endowing temple fields. Emperor Gia Long renamed the temple Thiên Thọ Tự and appointed Zen Master Đạo Minh - Phổ Tịnh as abbot.
- 1824 and 1830Return to the name Báo Quốc Tự and Great Ordination PlatformIn 1824 Emperor Minh Mạng visited and restored the name Báo Quốc Tự because the words Thiên Thọ were used for Emperor Gia Long's mountain and mausoleum (Thiên Thọ Sơn and Thiên Thọ Lăng). In 1830 he convened a Great Ordination Platform at the pagoda on his fortieth birthday.
- 1858 and 1873Restorations under Emperor Tự ĐứcIn 1858 Emperor Tự Đức and Empress Dowager Từ Dũ granted funds to restore the main hall and other structures, and in 1873 the three-entrance gate was rebuilt.
- 1935 and 1940Opening of elementary and advanced Buddhist schoolsDuring the Buddhist revival movement, the An Nam Buddhist Studies Association opened the Elementary Buddhist School at the pagoda in 1935 and the Advanced Buddhist School in 1940.
- 1948Monastic Buddhist Academy moves to Báo QuốcThe monastic Buddhist academy transferred its student monks from Linh Quang Pagoda to Báo Quốc, making the temple the premier center for monastic education in central Vietnam.
- 1957Major modern restorationBeginning in June 1957 the pagoda underwent a major reconstruction replacing decayed timber with a reinforced frame while preserving the enclosed chữ khẩu layout and traditional appearance seen today.
The Buddhist academy on Hàm Long Hill
From the 1930s onward, Báo Quốc Pagoda took on a new mission. Leaders of the Buddhist revival movement held that strengthening Buddhism required systematic education for monastics, and the An Nam Buddhist Studies Association in Central Vietnam chose Báo Quốc as the site for its schools. The Elementary Buddhist School opened in 1935, followed in 1940 by the Advanced Buddhist School, and in 1948 the monastic school transferred from Linh Quang Pagoda to form the Báo Quốc Buddhist Academy (Phật học đường Báo Quốc).
What stood out was the method of instruction. Previously, novices and young monks studied individually under their own temple masters. The school at Báo Quốc taught a shared curriculum with graded classes, examinations and textbooks, bringing student monks from many temples into a single lecture hall. Many eminent masters of 20th-century Vietnamese Buddhism passed through this academy in their student years. That educational tradition continues today, as the pagoda grounds still house the Intermediate Buddhist School of Huế.
One discrepancy in the sources should be stated directly. Huế local records and studies in the Buddhist Studies Review document that Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát bestowed the gilded wooden plaque Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự in the fifth lunar month of the eighth year of Cảnh Hưng (1747), that the name was changed to Thiên Thọ Tự in 1808, and that Emperor Minh Mạng restored the name Báo Quốc Tự in 1824 to avoid duplicating the name of Emperor Gia Long's Thiên Thọ Mausoleum. Several popular travel accounts, however, state simply that Emperor Minh Mạng first named the pagoda Báo Quốc in 1824. Although the two accounts differ by seventy-seven years, the original 1747 wooden plaque bearing the colophon auspicious day in the fifth summer month of the eighth year of Cảnh Hưng and four seals of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát is still preserved inside the pagoda, confirming that the name Báo Quốc dates from 1747.
IIIThe enclosed courtyard plan, the stupa garden and Hàm Long Well
The pagoda grounds cover about two hectares across the crest and slope of Hàm Long Hill, laid out in the chữ khẩu (口) plan, in which four halls comprising the main hall in front, the guest hall and monastic quarters on the two sides, and the Patriarchs' Hall at the rear enclose a square garden courtyard. This is the classic layout of Huế ancestral temples, with low eaves and long roofs nestling beneath ancient trees on the hill.
Standing at the top of the stone steps leading up the hill, built in 1808 and rebuilt in 1873 with four pillars forming three arched passages under curved tile roofs. The front face bears the Chinese characters Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự (or Báo Quốc Tự), while the rear face looking outward bears the four characters Hàm Long Thiên Thọ Tự recalling the founding name.
Built in the three-bay, two-wing Huế timber-frame style, with four dragon-relief pillars and dragon-carved steps at the front hall and yin-yang roof tiles crowned by two dragons flanking the Dharma wheel. The sanctuary enshrines the Buddhas of the Three Times, Śākyamuni Buddha, Kāśyapa, Ānanda, Avalokiteśvara and Kṣitigarbha, and preserves the 1747 wooden plaque Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự.
The rear hall behind the main sanctuary, housing the memorial tablets and portraits of Founding Patriarch Giác Phong and successive abbots across generations.
The stupa compound behind and beside the pagoda contains nineteen stone and brick stupas ranging from two to five meters tall. The oldest is the 3.3-meter stupa of Patriarch Giác Phong erected in 1715 (after his passing in 1714), alongside five patriarchal stupas relocated here from Từ Đàm Pagoda in 1897 when the Nam Giao road was opened.
Cast in the seventh year of Gia Long (1808) through the patronage of Empress Dowager Hiếu Khương, the great bronze bell stands 1.4 meters tall and 1.2 meters in diameter, weighing 826 or 836 catties according to different sources (about 500 kilograms in traditional weight, though some articles convert it to over 800 kilograms), paired with a bronze gong cast the same year.
An ancient spring well at the northern foot of the hill, about 5 to 6 meters deep (some sources give 4.5 meters), dating back to the founding of the pagoda around 1674. At the bottom juts a rock formation shaped like a dragon's jaw from which clear, sweet water flows year-round.
The ancient well at the foot of the hill deserves special mention because it gave its name first to the hill and then to the pagoda itself. Beside the well stands a stone stele erected in the Ất Dậu year (2005) quoting two historical works, namely Hàm Long Sơn Chí by the lay scholar Điềm Tịnh (which records that the well appeared around 1674 when the pagoda was founded, with a dragon-jaw rock at the bottom spouting sweet, cool water celebrated in the Huế folk couplet Hàm Long Well is both clear and sweet, my love for you is witnessed by the Buddha) and the geography Đại Nam Nhất Thống Chí (which records that in the early Nguyễn dynasty court officials drew water from this well for the emperor's use, giving rise to the name Forbidden Well, Giếng Cấm). Local folklore also tells of geomancers sealing dragon veins along Hàm Long Hill. While that layer belongs to folk legend rather than annalistic history, it shows how earlier generations viewed the hill and its spring as a vital geomantic node on the south bank of the Perfume River.
The name Forbidden Well (Giếng Cấm) is sometimes misunderstood. Hearing the name, some visitors assume the water was considered too sacred for anyone to drink, or conversely that something was wrong with the water so its use was banned. As recorded in Đại Nam Nhất Thống Chí and inscribed on the well stele, the prohibition was an administrative order of the royal era, when the spring was reserved to supply water to the imperial palace so ordinary residents were barred from drawing it. Long after that court custom ended, the name Forbidden Well remained in local speech.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
This section presents the library's reading through the lens of traditional geomancy (phong thủy), not material copied from stele inscriptions or temple records. The library states this clearly so that readers can distinguish documentary records from interpretation.
The first feature to read is the name itself. Hàm Long means Dragon's Jaw, and in traditional site reading the dragon is the image used for a dragon vein (long mạch), where a long rising ridge of earth is likened to a dragon's body, the projecting tip of the ridge to its head, and a spring gushing from rock fissures at the tip of the ridge to its jaw. Whoever named this hill was not merely describing its outer shape, but recording a geomantic judgment that this is the head of a terrain vein where qi gathers and living water springs forth.
In terms of the five phases (ngũ hành), the configuration here is Earth embracing Water (Thổ ôm Thủy), with the hill as Earth and the ancient spring inside the hill as Water. Remarkably, the water does not merely flow past on the outside but wells up from within the body of the hill, and in classical geomancy water held inside earth keeps qi from dispersing, unlike surface water that flows past and away. The fact that Hàm Long Well stays clear and sweet through all four seasons without drying up was read by earlier generations in that exact light, that an enduring earth vein yields an enduring spring.
Regarding orientation and layout, the pagoda sits atop Hàm Long Hill on the right bank of the Perfume River in a mountain-seated posture (tọa sơn), placing its three-entrance gate toward the lower slope and using the stone steps as a transitional approach. Worshippers climb step by step beneath ancient trees, leaving the rhythm of the city streets below before entering the monastic precinct above. The enclosed chữ khẩu courtyard layout also suits a hilltop site, as four connected halls surrounding a central garden court hold the qi within the courtyard rather than letting hilltop winds scatter it in all directions.
Finally, there is the role of an ancestral temple and academy within the belt of hills southwest of the Citadel. Most of the ancient pagodas of Huế sit along the hills south of the Perfume River, forming a quiet upland belt. Choosing Báo Quốc to house the Buddhist academy for nearly a century fits its setting well, close enough to the center of Huế for student monks to travel back and forth, yet high and secluded enough on its hill to preserve the stillness needed for study and contemplation.
VAnnual observances and customs
As both an ancestral temple and a Buddhist academy, Báo Quốc Pagoda maintains two layers of observances, namely the general Northern Buddhist calendar reckoned by the lunar months and the memorial days of the patriarchs in its own transmission lineage.
| Lunar date | Observance | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1st and 15th of each lunar month | Twice-monthly repentance and precept recitation | Regular monthly observances in which the monastic community recites the precepts and local lay Buddhists gather to chant sutras. |
| 1st lunar month | New Year prayer for peace | The busiest pilgrimage period of early spring, running from Lunar New Year's Day through the First Full Moon on the fifteenth. |
| Full moon of the 4th lunar month | Buddha's Birthday | Week commemorating the birth of Śākyamuni Buddha, with the Bathing of the Buddha rite and ceremonial chanting. |
| Full moon of the 4th to full moon of the 7th lunar month | Rains Retreat (An cư kiết hạ) | Three months of intensive monastic residence and study. At a pagoda housing a Buddhist school, this is the most rigorous study period of the year. |
| 17th day of the 6th lunar month | Memorial day of Founding Patriarch Giác Phong | Commemoration of Old Patriarch Giác Phong (passed away in 1714), the principal lineage observance specific to Báo Quốc Ancestral Temple. |
| Full moon of the 7th lunar month | Vu Lan Festival and Monastic Pavāraṇā (Lễ Tự tứ) | Festival of filial piety honoring parents, coinciding with the conclusion of the three-month Rains Retreat when monastics add another year of ordination seniority. |
One detail easily noticed on ordinary weekdays is that because the grounds house the Intermediate Buddhist School, daily life at the pagoda follows the rhythm of a monastic academy. That explains why an ancient temple standing so close to the center of Huế remains so quiet and orderly throughout most of the day.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Số 17 đường Báo Quốc, đồi Hàm Long, phường Thuận Hóa (phường Phường Đúc cũ), thành phố Huế
- Getting there
- The pagoda stands at No. 17 Báo Quốc Street on Hàm Long Hill, Thuận Hóa Ward (formerly Phường Đúc Ward), Huế City, on the south bank of the Perfume River not far from Huế Railway Station and Dã Viên Bridge. Along the same route visitors can also stop at neighboring Từ Đàm Ancestral Temple on Sư Liễu Quán Street.
- Coordinates
- 16.4541, 107.5796
Because this is both an ancestral temple of worship and an active Buddhist school, temple etiquette should be observed, including dressing modestly, removing hats when entering the main hall and Patriarchs' Hall, walking quietly and speaking softly near the lecture halls and monastic quarters, and not entering classrooms or residential wings without permission. In the ancient stupa garden, visitors are asked to stay on the brick paths and not lean or climb on the stupas. Hàm Long Well at the foot of the hill is a preserved historic spring, so visitors should not litter or drop objects into the well.
Nearby places in the library
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshipped at Báo Quốc Pagoda in Huế
The central bay of the main hall worships the Buddhas of the Three Times and Śākyamuni Buddha attended by Kāśyapa and Ānanda, flanked on either side by the Bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Kṣitigarbha. Behind the main hall stands the Patriarchs' Hall venerating Founding Patriarch Giác Phong and successive lineage abbots of the Linji school.
Who founded Báo Quốc Pagoda and when
It was founded in the second half of the 17th century during the rule of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Tần by Zen Master Giác Phong, a monk from Guangdong, on Hàm Long Hill under the original name Hàm Long Sơn Thiên Thọ Tự (traditionally dated around 1674). The patriarch passed away in 1714, and his stupa erected in 1715 remains the oldest stupa in the pagoda garden.
Why is the pagoda named Báo Quốc
The two words báo quốc mean repaying the debt of gratitude to the nation, one of the four great debts of gratitude taught in Buddhism. The name comes from the wooden plaque Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự bestowed by Lord Hiếu Võ Vương Nguyễn Phúc Khoát in the fifth lunar month of the eighth year of Cảnh Hưng (1747). Renamed Thiên Thọ Tự in 1808, the temple returned to the name Báo Quốc Tự in 1824 under Emperor Minh Mạng to avoid duplicating the name of Emperor Gia Long's Thiên Thọ Mausoleum.
What is special about Hàm Long Well at Báo Quốc Pagoda
Situated at the northern foot of the hill, the well dates back to the founding of the pagoda around 1674 and has a rock formation shaped like a dragon's jaw at its bottom from which clear, sweet water springs year-round without drying up. According to Đại Nam Nhất Thống Chí and the stele beside the well, in the early Nguyễn dynasty officials drew water from this spring for the emperor's use in the palace, giving rise to its second name, the Forbidden Well (Giếng Cấm).
Is Báo Quốc Pagoda a Buddhist school
Yes. During the Buddhist revival movement, the An Nam Buddhist Studies Association opened the Elementary Buddhist School here in 1935 and the Advanced Buddhist School in 1940, which merged in 1948 to form the Báo Quốc Buddhist Academy. Today the pagoda grounds continue to house the Intermediate Buddhist School in Huế.