Walking along the Nhiêu Lộc canal between two rows of town houses, you see three multi-tiered pointed spires and a stack of overlapping roofs rising into view, their eaves curving upward like serpent tails. The walls are painted gold, the pillars bear multi-headed Naga serpents, and along the eaves the sacred bird Krut spreads its wings to hold up the roof. This is not the village communal house or pagoda roof familiar to the Kinh majority, but the temple style of the Khmer people of the Mekong Delta, built intact in the heart of the city.
Step inside the main hall and you notice a second difference, this time not on the roof but on the altar. On the pedestal sits only Śākyamuni Buddha, with no Guanyin (Quan Âm), no Kṣitigarbha (Địa Tạng), no Mother Goddess altar, and no Dharma Guardians flanking the sides. The monks wear saffron-orange robes wrapped to leave one shoulder bare and chant scriptures in Pali. Those are the marks of a distinct Buddhist tradition, and this article explains clearly what that tradition is.
IAn ancestral temple of Khmer Theravada Buddhism
Chantarangsay, also written Candaransi, means moonlight in Khmer and Pali. It is the first Khmer Theravada Buddhist pagoda built in the land of Saigon and Gia Định, so for Khmer people living in the city, the pagoda serves as a mother temple, a place of return for those living far from their ancestral homeland in the Mekong Delta.
Southern Buddhism (Nam Tông), also called Theravada, meaning the Teaching of the Elders, is the branch of Buddhism transmitted southward through Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. This tradition holds the Pali Tipiṭaka as its foundational canon and does not use the Mahayana scriptures. According to Theravada doctrine, the figure venerated is Śākyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha of the present era, whereas Bodhisattvas of the Mahayana canon such as Avalokiteśvara (Quán Thế Âm), Kṣitigarbha (Địa Tạng), and Mañjuśrī (Văn Thù) do not belong to its system of worship. The goal of practice is the state of an Arahant (A La Hán), extinguishing all defilements in this very life.
The differences between Khmer Theravada and the Northern Buddhism (Bắc Tông) of the Kinh majority are set out below item by item, in a factual tone without placing either side above the other.
Worship layout. A Theravada main hall places only statues of Śākyamuni Buddha on the altar. A Northern Buddhist pagoda usually features the Three-Times Buddhas (Tam Thế Phật), Guanyin, Kṣitigarbha, and Dharma Guardians, and many places also include altars to the Mother Goddesses and ancestral patriarchs.
Monastic discipline and food. Theravada bhikkhus keep the code of two hundred and twenty-seven rules in the Pali Vinaya, go on alms-rounds, and do not take solid food after midday. They accept whatever is offered in accordance with the rule of threefold pure meat, meaning meat that the monk has neither seen, heard, nor suspected to have been slaughtered specifically for him, and therefore they do not keep lifelong vegetarianism. Northern Buddhist monastics in Vietnam keep lifelong vegetarianism and generally do not go on daily alms-rounds.
Robes. Theravada monks wear saffron-orange or reddish-brown robes wrapped around the body, leaving the right shoulder bare during ceremonies. Northern Buddhist monastics wear sleeved robes with buttons in brown or grey-blue.
Chanting language. Khmer Theravada monks chant in Pali written in Khmer script, while sermons and explanations are given in Khmer. Northern Buddhism chants in Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation and Vietnamese translations.
Role of the pagoda. In Khmer community life, the pagoda is also a school, teaching Khmer script and Pali scriptures, and serving as a place where young men ordain for a period to repay their parents' kindness before returning to lay life. Chantarangsay Pagoda maintains this custom, holding summer Khmer language classes for children.
Visitors accustomed to Northern Buddhist pagodas often misunderstand two points when entering here.
First, why monks eat non-vegetarian food. Quite a few people assume this breaks monastic precepts. In terms of the Vinaya, it does not. The Pali Vinaya kept by Theravada Buddhism does not impose lifelong vegetarianism. Instead, its rule is that a monk on alms-round accepts whatever food is placed in his bowl without picking and choosing, provided he does not eat meat from an animal killed specifically for him. Lifelong vegetarianism is a custom of East Asian Northern Buddhism formed along a different scriptural line. The two traditions follow two different monastic codes rather than one keeping the rules and the other abandoning them.
Second, why the pagoda has no Bodhisattva statues. Having only Śākyamuni Buddha in the main hall does not mean the pagoda is incomplete or lacked the means to acquire more statues. That is the standard worship arrangement of Theravada Buddhism across Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia. Visitors looking for an altar to Guanyin will not find one here, and that absence belongs to doctrine rather than to the circumstances of the temple.
IIFrom a canal-side stilt house to today's pagoda
The pagoda began on a low-lying marshy plot beside the Nhiêu Lộc canal. In 1946, Most Venerable Lâm Em (born in 1910 in the Ba Thắc area of Sóc Trăng Province, former principal of the Buddhist high school in Phnom Penh) purchased over 5,000 square meters of marshland along the canal, had the ground leveled, and built a small stilt house (some sources record a small thatched hermitage) as a residence and place of worship for Khmer people who had come to Saigon to work. From that modest structure grew the pagoda seen today, whose grounds now cover about 4,500 square meters.
- 1946Building the stilt house by the Nhiêu Lộc canalMost Venerable Lâm Em, a Khmer monk from Sóc Trăng, purchased over 5,000 square meters of marshland beside the canal, leveled the ground, and built a small stilt house (some sources record a thatched hermitage), founding the first Khmer Theravada pagoda in Saigon and Gia Định.
- 1949Constructing the main hallA permanent main hall was built to replace the initial structure, following traditional Khmer temple design with the main hall facing east.
- 1953Sima consecration and inaugurationThe main hall was completed and the Sima boundary consecration ceremony was held. This milestone established the pagoda's principal sanctuary.
- 1967 to 1969Adding the lecture hall, monks' quarters, Pali school, and stupaThe pagoda built the lecture hall (sala), monks' quarters, Pali school, and reliquary stupa, turning a simple place of worship into a center for both practice and study.
- Subsequent decadesSeven restorationsAccording to temple records, the complex has undergone seven major and minor restorations on its current grounds of about 4,500 square meters. Its decorative reliefs and roof system have been renewed repeatedly in authentic Khmer style.
- PresentCenter for Khmer study and community lifeThrough three generations of abbots, namely Most Venerable Lâm Em, Most Venerable Oul Srey, and Most Venerable Danh Lung, the pagoda has taught Khmer and Pali, hosted major Khmer festivals, and served as the headquarters of the Institute Branch for Khmer Theravada Buddhist Studies.
What is remarkable across those eighty years is that the pagoda was not altered by urbanization. The land around it turned from marshland into dense city streets, yet its architectural form, main hall arrangement, and ritual calendar remain faithful to the Khmer pagodas of the Mekong Delta. A community living far from home often loses its old ways gradually, whereas here the pagoda itself has preserved those ways for the entire community.
IIIThe Khmer-style main hall
A Khmer pagoda follows a distinct layout, and Chantarangsay preserves nearly all of it. The entrance gate features four pillars bearing statues of Kâyno celestial maidens (also written Cầy-no) supporting the roof and a nine-tiered square tower topped with a nectar vase. Inside, the main hall is the tallest building placed in the most solemn position, facing east because in Theravada tradition the Buddha sat facing east when attaining enlightenment. In front of the main hall stands a flagpole topped with the sacred bird Hoong, surrounded by the sala hall, monks' quarters, reliquary stupa, and courtyard.
A two-story structure facing east, raised on a high stepped platform symbolizing Mount Meru (Tu-di). Regarding the doors, records from the Government Committee for Religious Affairs and the Buddhist Studies Review state that the upper level has four side doors, whereas one travel source describes four doorways at the front and back. The roof is stacked in three overlapping tiers topped by three pointed spires symbolizing the Triple Gem of Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, each spire divided into eight levels for the Noble Eightfold Path with the topmost tip pointing to Nibbāna.
Built in multiple tiers with Buddha statues arranged from low to high and large to small, each statue depicting a posture or stage in the life of Śākyamuni Buddha. No Bodhisattva statues are placed in the main hall.
Two signature motifs of Khmer art. Naga is the multi-headed sacred serpent molded at roof ends, balustrades, and stairways, while Krut is the winged sacred bird set under the eaves in the posture of supporting the roof.
The walls inside the main hall are covered with murals depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha from his birth to his Parinibbāna, while the ceiling above features a painting of the demon Rāhu swallowing the moon. This visual storytelling tradition helps visitors follow the scriptural narrative even without reading the texts.
Beside the main hall stands a two-story reliquary stupa whose lower level holds the ashes of deceased lay Buddhists entrusted to the temple by their families, while the upper level enshrines the relics of past abbots and monks. In Khmer custom, placing ashes at the pagoda keeps the departed close to a place of Buddhist practice.
The two-story sala serves as a ceremony hall on the ground floor and a lecture hall upstairs, where the ceremonial coffin of the founding abbot Most Venerable Lâm Em is also preserved. The monks' quarters house the resident clergy. The entire complex is painted in the traditional golden yellow of Khmer temples.
One point should be clarified because sources describe it differently. Some articles note a five-tiered altar pedestal in the main hall with numerous statues, and mention the relief on the front exterior wall of the main hall depicting the five Buddhas of the Fortunate Aeon in Theravada cosmology. Other articles emphasize that the pagoda worships only Śākyamuni Buddha. These two descriptions do not conflict once two things are distinguished. All statues on the indoor altar pedestal represent Śākyamuni Buddha in different postures, while the five Buddhas of the present aeon are the subject of the exterior facade relief rather than separate altars. The library records both descriptions and notes the distinction instead of choosing one at random.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
This section is the library's reading through the eyes of traditional feng shui, not something recorded in the pagoda's own documents. It should be added that the facing of the main hall here was fixed in advance by a rule of the tradition itself, since Theravada temples orient the main hall toward the east following the tradition of the Buddha's east-facing posture at enlightenment. The library states this clearly so readers can distinguish historical records from interpretation.
First is water. The pagoda sits right beside the Nhiêu Lộc canal, on land that was originally a low-lying marsh. In the art of reading flatlands where there are no mountains, water currents take the place of mountain ridges, with flowing water guiding qi and open water gathering qi. A temple built beside a watercourse is read in the old tradition as having water gathering (thủy tụ) right before its face. Notably, the choice of land here did not come from geomancy, as it was simply an unused plot of marshland that a monk looking for a place to build a temple was able to purchase. What looks auspicious to the eye of feng shui is sometimes simply the ground others passed over.
Second is the eastern facing. In the traditional system, the east belongs to the Wood element, corresponding to spring and the morning breath, and is regarded as the direction of growth, so a door opening east receives the vital qi of the new day. Here that orientation was chosen not by a geomancer but by sectarian rule, yet seen through traditional eyes the result coincides. Once again, two traditions of different origins meet because both take the rising sun as their benchmark.
Third is the form of the building. Three pointed spires rising above the tiered roof belong in the old reading to the shape of Fire, a pointed form reaching upward, associated with rising and flourishing energy. Below them spreads a wide multi-layered roof belonging to the horizontal shape of Earth, representing stability. Pointed above and broad below is called having both tip and root, free of imbalance. Again, this roof and spire arrangement is a standard template of Khmer temple architecture rather than the product of geomantic calculation.
Finally, its role in the neighborhood. A compound of yellow walls, green trees, and an open courtyard set amidst cramped city streets acts in the old reading as a place that nourishes qi for the surrounding area, a spot where footsteps naturally slow down. People in the neighborhood often feel this before thinking about it, and traditional land-reading simply gives a name to an already familiar sensation.
VThe three major festivals of the Khmer people
The ritual calendar here follows the Khmer calendar and the Theravada Buddhist calendar, so it does not coincide with the familiar festival dates of the Kinh majority. The three largest festivals of the year are Chôl Chnăm Thmây, Sen Đôlta, and Ok Om Bok, alongside ceremonies marking the monastic rains retreat.
| Time | Festival | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Around mid-April (solar calendar) | Chôl Chnăm Thmây | The traditional Khmer New Year, lasting three days. Rituals include the procession of the Great Calendar, bathing Buddha statues, building sand mounds, and offering alms food to the monks. This is the pagoda's busiest festival of the year. |
| Full moon of the 4th month in the Buddhist calendar | Visakha Bochea | Commemorates three great events in the life of the Buddha, namely his birth, enlightenment, and Parinibbāna, which in Theravada tradition all fell on the same full moon day. |
| Three months of the rainy season | Entering and completing the rains retreat | The monastic rains retreat (Vassa), when monks remain in residence at the pagoda for intensive study and meditation without traveling far, concluding with the end-of-retreat ceremony. |
| Late 8th to early 9th month of the Khmer lunar calendar | Sen Đôlta | The festival of honoring grandparents, ancestors, and departed relatives. Lay Buddhists bring food and offerings to the pagoda so the monks may chant scriptures and dedicate merit. |
| After the rains retreat | Kathina robe offering | The ceremony of offering new monastic robes to the Sangha after the three-month rains retreat, one of the most important merit-making occasions in the Theravada tradition. |
| Full moon of the 10th month in the Khmer calendar | Ok Om Bok | The Moon Worship festival thanking the Moon deity for the harvest, featuring the ritual of feeding flattened green rice (cốm dẹp) and presenting offerings beneath the full moon. |
Beyond festivals, the pagoda maintains two practices common to Khmer temples, namely chanting Pali scriptures during daily services and teaching Khmer script to children during the summer. For a community living far from its ancestral homeland, those two tasks are no less vital than worship, since script and language are the first things lost when people leave their village.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Số 164 đường Trần Quốc Thảo, phường Xuân Hòa, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
- Getting there
- The pagoda is located at 164/235 Trần Quốc Thảo Street, Xuân Hòa Ward (formerly Võ Thị Sáu Ward, District 3), Ho Chi Minh City, right beside the Nhiêu Lộc canal and about one kilometer from the Turtle Lake (Hồ Con Rùa) area. The entrance lies in an alley off Trần Quốc Thảo Street connecting directly to Hoàng Sa Street along the canal bank.
- Coordinates
- 10.7856, 106.6839
This is an active center of monastic practice, so the rules of the house should be observed. Remove shoes before ascending to the main hall and dress modestly with shoulders and knees covered. Inside the main hall, sit with your legs tucked to one side and never point your feet toward the Buddha statue. When offering items to monks, place them down in front of the monk or present them on a cloth, as women do not touch a monk's hands or robe. Theravada monks do not take solid food after midday, so food offerings are arranged in the morning.
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshipped at Chantarangsay Pagoda
The main hall worships only Śākyamuni Buddha. All statues on the pedestal depict Śākyamuni Buddha in different postures corresponding to stages of his life. In accordance with Theravada Buddhist practice, the pagoda does not place statues of Mahayana Bodhisattvas such as Guanyin or Kṣitigarbha, nor does it have a Mother Goddess altar.
How does Khmer Theravada Buddhism differ from Northern Buddhism
They differ in five main respects. Theravada Buddhism follows the Pali Tipiṭaka, worships only Śākyamuni Buddha, requires bhikkhus to keep two hundred and twenty-seven precepts, go on alms-rounds, and abstain from solid food after midday, wears saffron-orange robes leaving the right shoulder bare, and chants in Pali. Northern Buddhism of the Kinh majority honors multiple Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, keeps lifelong vegetarianism, wears sleeved robes, and chants in Sino-Vietnamese.
Why do Khmer Buddhist monks not practice lifelong vegetarianism
Because the Pali Vinaya observed by Theravada Buddhism does not prescribe a rule of lifelong vegetarianism. Its rule is that monks going on alms-rounds accept whatever food is offered without picking and choosing, and do not eat meat from an animal killed specifically for them, known as the rule of threefold pure meat. Lifelong vegetarianism is a distinct custom of East Asian Northern Buddhism.
When was Chantarangsay Pagoda built
In 1946, when Most Venerable Lâm Em, a Khmer monk from Sóc Trăng, purchased marshland beside the Nhiêu Lộc canal and built a small stilt house (some sources record a small thatched hermitage). The main hall was constructed in 1949 and consecrated in 1953. It is the first Khmer Theravada Buddhist pagoda in Saigon and Gia Định.
What are Chôl Chnăm Thmây, Sen Đôlta, and Ok Om Bok
Chôl Chnăm Thmây is the Khmer New Year held in mid-April for three days, featuring Buddha statue bathing and sand mound building. Sen Đôlta is the ancestor commemoration festival. Ok Om Bok is the Moon Worship festival giving thanks for the harvest, featuring the ritual of offering flattened green rice.