Looking down from the crest of the Đuống River dike, a visitor first sees a five-story stone stupa rising above the treeline, its shaft tapering gently toward the finial. Descending the dike and passing through the triple gate and bell tower reveals a sequence of low-roofed halls connected one behind another across narrow courtyards. This temple leaves its mark not through sheer size, but through what stands inside each of those timber halls.
The temple's Sino-Vietnamese formal name is Ninh Phúc Tự. The popular name Bút Tháp (Brush-Tip Stupa) was not given by the monastery itself, and refers to a single feature, the stone stupa standing out in the courtyard. Preserved here are four Buddhist artifact groups recognized as National Treasures, all dating from the 17th century and all still standing in the exact positions where their makers placed them. That continuity is rare.
IA Lâm Tế Zen ancestral temple and the Thousand-Eyed, Thousand-Armed Guanyin
The pagoda has borne several names. Ninh Phúc Tự is the formal name carved on its steles, while the official monument dossier also records Ninh Phúc Thiền Tự and Thiếu Lâm Pagoda. Bút Tháp is a vernacular name inspired by the shape of its stone stupa, and Nhạn Tháp is an older name of the surrounding locality.
In terms of lineage, this is an ancestral temple (tổ đình) of the Lâm Tế (Linji) Zen school in northern Vietnam. Zen Master Chuyết Chuyết, recorded as the thirty-fourth patriarch of the lineage, served as abbot here until his passing in 1644, after which his principal disciple, Zen Master Minh Hành, succeeded him and oversaw most of the temple's construction. Those two masters shaped the pagoda that visitors see today.
The statue in the upper sanctuary depicts Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Guanyin (Quan Thế Âm thiên thủ thiên nhãn). In Northern Buddhist doctrine, the thousand eyes perceive all the sufferings of sentient beings while the thousand arms reach out to save them, and because each palm bears an eye, wherever compassion sees, the hand reaches immediately. The eleven heads stacked above the main face represent the manifestations assumed by the Bodhisattva to teach different classes of beings. It is an iconographic statement in which Buddhist doctrine itself is given physical form in carved wood.
Unusually for ancient Vietnamese sculpture, the statue bears both an exact date and its sculptor's name. A Chinese inscription on the right side of the pedestal reads Tuế thứ Bính Thân niên thu nguyệt cốc nhật doanh tạo, meaning completed on an auspicious day of an autumn month in the Bính Thân year, corresponding to 1656. An inscription on the left side reads Nam Đông Văn Thọ Nam Trương tiên sinh phụng khắc, identifying the carver as a master surnamed Trương. Vietnamese scholarship renders this line in several ways, some reading his art name as Trương Thọ Nam or Trương Văn Thọ, and others interpreting the character Nam as the noble title Baron (Nam) held by Master Trương of Nam Đông.
Measurements and hand counts also vary across official and scholarly sources. The National Treasure dossier of the Department of Cultural Heritage records a height of 235 cm (with the statue body itself measuring 135 cm), a width of 200 cm, and an outer halo diameter of 224 cm, comprising 42 large arms and 789 smaller subsidiary arms (totaling 831 hands), each subsidiary palm bearing an eye, with 11 main heads and 2 smaller heads above. The Bắc Ninh Tourism Portal lists a total height of 3.7 meters, a width of 2.1 meters, 42 large arms, and 958 small arms (summing to exactly 1,000 hands). Meanwhile, several Buddhist studies articles and press reports record 46 large arms and 954 small arms (also summing to 1,000 hands). Because these three counts diverge, the library notes all three, while the difference in height reflects whether one measures to the top of the arm halo or includes the dragon pedestal and lotus throne. The statue was recognized as a National Treasure in the first batch under Decision No. 1426/QĐ-TTg on 1 October 2012 (though one heritage webpage prints 2011).
Worshippers fondly call the statue Lady Buddha (Phật Bà). Strictly speaking in Buddhist doctrine, Quan Thế Âm (Avalokiteśvara) is a Bodhisattva, an awakened being capable of Buddhahood who remains in the world to save sentient beings. Calling her Phật Bà is a long-standing folk convention, and the distinction matters mainly when reading steles and scriptures. Likewise, the word thousand in the scriptural title is a canonical figure signifying boundless multiplicity, whereas in physical carving the heritage dossier counts 831 hands and other counts reckon an even one thousand.
IIA Trần-dynasty temple and a 17th-century workshop
The pagoda's history falls into two distinct periods. The earlier period belongs to the Trần dynasty and survives only in later textual accounts. The second period spans roughly thirty years in the mid-17th century, and it is this period that produced virtually everything standing above ground today.
- Trần dynastyEarliest recorded templeMonument records state that Zen Master Huyền Quang, Third Patriarch of the Trúc Lâm school, once restored the temple and erected a nine-story stupa here. No above-ground structural element survives from this period.
- 1633Chuyết Chuyết becomes abbotZen Master Chuyết Chuyết propagated the Dharma in the Kinh Bắc region and took up residence as abbot here. Sources vary on the exact year of his arrival, with some recording 1643.
- 1642 to 1647Grand reconstructionUnder King Lê Thần Tông, the entire complex was rebuilt on its present scale, sponsored by Queen Mother Trịnh Thị Ngọc Trúc, Princess Lê Thị Ngọc Duyên, and Royal Consort Trịnh Thị Ngọc Cơ, under the supervision of Zen Master Minh Hành.
- 1647Erection of Báo Nghiêm StupaZen Master Chuyết Chuyết passed away in 1644 at age 54, his preserved body remaining at Phật Tích Pagoda. This five-story stone stupa, 13.05 meters high, was erected at Bút Tháp in 1647 to enshrine his relics, coinciding with the completion of the grand reconstruction.
- 1656Carving of the Guanyin statueThe Thousand-Eyed, Thousand-Armed Guanyin statue was completed in an autumn month of the Bính Thân year, as recorded in the inscription on its pedestal.
- 1660Erection of Tôn Đức StupaThe second stone stupa, enshrining the relics of Zen Master Minh Hành (who passed away in 1659). Sources list its height as either 10 meters or 11 meters. During its 2009 restoration, two bronze sutra plaques dated 1660 were discovered inside.
- 1876Origin of the name Bút ThápTradition holds that King Tự Đức passed through the area, saw the stone stupa rising like a writing brush pointing straight toward the sky, and called it Bút Tháp, a name that came to designate the entire pagoda while the stupa itself retained its carved name Báo Nghiêm.
- 2013Special national heritage siteRanked as a National Monument on 28 April 1962 (Decision No. 313-VH/VP), the pagoda was elevated to a Special National Monument on 9 December 2013 under Decision No. 2383/QĐ-TTg.
The royal women who sponsored the reconstruction
The mid-17th-century rebuilding was initiated not by the royal court as a state project, but by women of the royal house. Foremost among them was Trịnh Thị Ngọc Trúc, daughter of Lord Trịnh Tráng and queen, later Queen Mother, of King Lê Thần Tông, who left the palace to practice here under the Dharma name Diệu Viên. Joining her in monastic ordination and patronage was her daughter, Princess Lê Thị Ngọc Duyên (Dharma name Diệu Tuệ), along with Royal Lady Trịnh Thị Ngọc Cơ.
They petitioned to rebuild the pagoda in a project that lasted until 1647 and continued for years afterward as statues and stupas were completed. Their imprint remains visible in the architectural layout itself, as the ancestral shrine (phủ thờ) behind the upper sanctuary houses portrait statues and spirit tablets of these royal patrons, dedicating an entire hall of the monastery to their memory.
IIIThe long central axis, stone bridge, and three stupas
The pagoda follows the inner-Công, outer-Quốc (nội công ngoại quốc) plan, in which the central halls form the shape of the character Công while two long side corridors enclose the compound in a rectangular frame. Unlike most temples of this type, the central axis here is remarkably deep, with successive halls stretching for more than one hundred meters from the front hall to the rear hall. The monument dossier records a five-bay front hall measuring 25 by 10.60 meters, a five-bay upper sanctuary measuring 19 by 10.60 meters supported by 24 ironwood columns, and two 26-bay side corridors each running 70 meters in length.
The hall housing the Guanyin statue. Surrounding its stone plinth is a carved stone railing bearing 26 relief panels of birds, flowers, and animals. Together with 12 panels on the stone bridge and 13 around the base of Báo Nghiêm Stupa, they form an intact set of 51 17th-century stone reliefs.
An arched green-stone bridge roughly 4 meters long with three curved spans and side parapets carved with 12 relief panels of birds and blossoms. Rather than crossing water, it links the upper sanctuary directly to Tích Thiện Am within the courtyard.
A three-tiered stacked-roof pavilion tapering from five bays on the ground floor to three bays on the middle tier and one bay at the top. Its central columns rise continuously through all three stories, braced by tie-beams carved with dragons, clouds, figures, and animals.
An octagonal, nine-tiered wooden tower roughly 7.8 meters high standing inside Tích Thiện Am and mounted on a rotating axle. Its nine tiers represent the nine grades of rebirth in the Pure Land, with all eight faces carved with Buddhist scenes and hundreds of small figures. Recognized as a National Treasure in 2020.
A five-story stone stupa 13.05 meters high erected in 1647 to honor Zen Master Chuyết Chuyết. Its circular inner chamber measures 2.29 meters across, and its base features 13 stone relief panels of animals. This stupa inspired the popular name Bút Tháp.
Tôn Đức Stupa, five stories high, was erected in 1660 to enshrine the relics of Zen Master Minh Hành. Tâm Hoa Stupa stands within the same rear stupa group listed in the official monument dossier.
Alongside the Guanyin statue and the Nine-Lotus-Tier tower, the pagoda holds two additional National Treasures recognized under Decision No. 2283/QĐ-TTg on 31 December 2020 (Batch 9), namely the set of three Buddhas of the Three Times (Tam Thế) in the upper sanctuary and the carved wooden incense altar (hương án) ornamented with coiling dragons, twin dragons flanking the sun, and protective monster masks (hổ phù). All four treasures are 17th-century woodcarvings still standing in their original places among the pagoda's nearly one hundred ancient statues.
Many visitors hear the name Bút Tháp and assume it is the temple's formal Sino-Vietnamese title. It is not. The formal title carved on steles and horizontal plaques is Ninh Phúc Tự, whereas Bút Tháp describes only the silhouette of the stone stupa in the courtyard, a nickname traditionally traced to King Tự Đức's visit in 1876. The stupa itself bears the carved name Báo Nghiêm, meaning solemn repayment of karmic gratitude, reflecting its function as a memorial tower for the founding patriarch.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
This section presents the library's reading through the lens of traditional geomancy, not statements recorded on temple steles or in monument dossiers. The library notes this clearly so readers can distinguish documentary record from interpretation.
The pagoda stands right at the foot of the Đuống River dike, on the alluvial strip along the southern bank in the same ancient cultural zone as Luy Lâu Citadel. In delta geomancy, where no mountains exist, a major river takes the place of a mountain range, with the river channeling qi and the raised levee bank serving as the shelf where qi settles. Building the temple along the edge of that high bank placed it right at the threshold between water and land, a boundary classical builders regarded as a locus of vitality.
In terms of orientation, the main halls face south while resting their backs against the northern dike and river. South is the favored direction for northern Vietnamese temples, welcoming warm sunlight and summer breezes while blocking cold winter winds. Resting the rear of the compound against the river dike acts as a lowland adaptation of mountain backing (tựa sơn), since the earthen dike forms the only elevated ridge in sight, curving behind the temple like a continuous low hill.
The most striking feature to read here is the central axis stretching over one hundred meters. In traditional spatial thinking, a deep multi-layered axis channels qi inward step by step rather than letting it disperse laterally. A visitor must pass through the triple gate, bell tower, front hall, incense hall, and upper sanctuary before reaching the stone bridge and Tích Thiện Am, with each threshold narrowing the enclosure. By the time one stands before the Thousand-Armed Guanyin, the surrounding space has been compressed repeatedly, making the statue appear even larger than its physical measurements. That is at once a calculation of qi flow and a masterstroke of visual staging.
The three-span stone bridge can also be read in traditional terms. Spanning an open courtyard rather than a stream, its purpose is not utilitarian crossing. In classical symbolism, a bridge joins two shores, and placing three arched stone spans along the ritual axis creates a deliberate threshold so that crossing the bridge marks entry into another spiritual realm along the same path. Meanwhile, the three stone stupas are set slightly off to the rear flank rather than blocking the central axis, acting as stone pins that anchor the ground while signaling from above the dike that an ancient monastery lies below.
VThe third-lunar-month festival
The pagoda festival takes place in the third lunar month, with its principal day on the twenty-fourth. Sources record slightly different spans for the gathering, some listing two days on the twenty-third and twenty-fourth, others three days starting on the twenty-second, and some citing only the twenty-fourth itself. It is a village festival closely bound to the monastery, with ritual duties shared between the monastics and the village wards.
| Lunar date | Rite | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Before the main day | Ritual cleansing and offerings | Cleaning statues and ritual vessels, setting out vegetarian offerings in the upper sanctuary and ancestral shrine, and hanging festival banners along the central axis. |
| 23rd of the 3rd month | Opening rite (Lễ nhập tịch) | Opening day according to village custom, with incense offerings at the upper sanctuary and the patriarchal stupas. |
| 24th of the 3rd month | Main festival day (Chính hội) | The principal incense offering of the year, sutra chanting, and Buddha offerings attended by surrounding villages and pilgrims. |
| During the festival | Rites at the patriarchal stupas | Incense offerings at Báo Nghiêm Stupa honoring Zen Master Chuyết Chuyết and Tôn Đức Stupa honoring Zen Master Minh Hành. |
| Festival activities | Folk games and singing | Traditional village games, Quan Họ folk singing, and cultural performances held in the outer courtyard, separate from the worship halls. |
Beyond the third-month festival, the pagoda draws large crowds in early spring, on the new and full moon days of each month, and during the Vu Lan festival on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. The patriarchal memorial day is observed on the death anniversary of Zen Master Chuyết Chuyết as a monastic ceremony at the stupa compound rather than a village-wide fair.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Thôn Bút Tháp, phường Trí Quả (xã Đình Tổ, thị xã Thuận Thành cũ), tỉnh Bắc Ninh
- Getting there
- The pagoda is located in Bút Tháp hamlet, Trí Quả Ward (formerly Đình Tổ Commune, Thuận Thành Town prior to July 2025), Bắc Ninh Province, right at the southern foot of the Đuống River dike. Visitors on the same route can also visit Dâu Pagoda and the ancient Luy Lâu area.
- Coordinates
- 21.0611, 106.0222
Visitors should dress modestly, remove hats when entering the interior halls, walk quietly in the upper sanctuary, and refrain from touching the Guanyin statue or the carved stone reliefs. Although the Nine-Lotus-Tier tower is mounted on a rotating axle, it is a National Treasure, so please do not push or turn it yourself and ask a temple attendant if you wish to view it closely. Because the three-span stone bridge is narrow, please walk in a single direction and do not sit on its carved parapets. Photography inside the upper sanctuary depends on temple rules at the time, so please ask permission before taking pictures.
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshipped at Bút Tháp Pagoda?
The pagoda worships the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the Northern Buddhist tradition, centered on the Thousand-Eyed, Thousand-Armed Guanyin statue and the statues of the Three Times (Tam Thế). Its patriarchal hall honors Zen Masters Chuyết Chuyết and Minh Hành, while the rear shrine houses portrait statues and spirit tablets of the 17th-century royal patrons.
Why is the pagoda called Bút Tháp?
The pagoda's formal Sino-Vietnamese name is Ninh Phúc Tự. The popular name Bút Tháp comes from the stone stupa in the courtyard, as tradition recounts that when King Tự Đức passed by in 1876, he compared the stupa rising into the sky to a giant writing brush (bút) and called it Bút Tháp. The stupa itself bears the carved name Báo Nghiêm.
How many hands does the Guanyin statue at Bút Tháp have and who carved it?
Counts vary across sources, with the official National Treasure dossier listing 42 large arms and 789 subsidiary arms (totaling 831 hands), the Bắc Ninh Tourism Portal listing 42 large arms and 958 small arms (1,000 hands), and several scholarly articles listing 46 large arms and 954 small arms (1,000 hands). It was carved by a master sculptor surnamed Trương (the pedestal inscription reads Nam Đông Văn Thọ Nam Trương tiên sinh phụng khắc) and completed in autumn 1656.
How many National Treasures are kept at Bút Tháp Pagoda?
The pagoda holds four National Treasures, all 17th-century wooden works, namely the Thousand-Eyed, Thousand-Armed Guanyin statue recognized in the first batch in 2012, and the Three Times Buddha statues, the Nine-Lotus-Tier tower, and the carved wooden incense altar recognized together in 2020. All four remain in their original positions.
When does the Bút Tháp Pagoda festival take place?
The festival takes place in the third lunar month, with its main day on the 24th. Sources record the festival as lasting either two days (the 23rd and 24th) or three days (beginning on the 22nd). The pagoda is also busy during the Lunar New Year and on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month.