Turn off the busy traffic of Bạch Mai Street into quiet Liên Phái Lane in Bạch Mai Ward, Hanoi, and you step through a threshold in time into a hushed monastic courtyard. Directly in front of the Front Hall, rising from a rectangular brick-lined lotus pond, stands a ten-story hexagonal tower named Diệu Quang, reaching skyward like a Nine-Grade Lotus (Cửu Phẩm Liên Hoa) sculpted in weathered brick and stone. Behind the main sanctuary, shaded by old plumeria trees in the rear garden, the green-stone Cứu Sinh Stupa built in the second year of the Long Đức era (1733) has stood in quiet dignity for nearly three centuries. This is Liên Phái Pagoda, the sole founding seat of the Liên Tông Zen school in the heart of old Thăng Long.
Unlike royal temples built by imperial decree or village pagodas raised by rural communes, Liên Phái Pagoda was born from an extraordinary act of turning one's palace into a monastery (cải gia vi tự) that stirred the capital in the early eighteenth century. Its founder was Prince Trịnh Thập, grandson of Lord Trịnh Căn, younger brother of the reigning Lord Trịnh Cương and son-in-law of King Lê Hy Tông, who voluntarily shaved his head in his twenties to establish an indigenous Vietnamese Zen lineage.
IEminent Master Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập) and the ancestral seat of the Liên Tông Zen school
Liên Phái Pagoda stands at No. 184 Bạch Mai Street (at the end of Liên Phái Lane) in Bạch Mai Ward, Hanoi (formerly part of Cầu Dền Ward in the former Hai Bà Trưng District, following the boundary adjustments under Resolution No. 1286/NQ-UBTVQH15 and subsequently Resolution No. 1656/NQ-UBTVQH15 effective 1 July 2025, this section of Bạch Mai Street belongs to the new Bạch Mai Ward). In the early eighteenth century during the Restored Lê period, this southern suburb of the Thăng Long citadel belonged to Hồng Mai Ward (vernacular name Kẻ Mơ) in Thanh Trì District, an area dotted with estates and palaces of the Lê - Trịnh nobility.
The monastery's founder was Trịnh Thập (1696 - 1733), son of Prince Tấn Quang (Trịnh Bính), grandson of the ruling lord Trịnh Căn (1633 - 1709) and younger full brother of Lord Trịnh Cương (who ruled northern Vietnam from 1709 to 1729). Holding the noble title Duke of Thập (Thập Quận công) and the military post of Commander-Governor with a grand private residence in Hồng Mai Ward, Trịnh Thập also married Princess Lê Thị Ngọc Nhi (daughter of King Lê Hy Tông), making him one of the highest-ranking royal sons-in-law at court. Yet after the early death of his consort and witnessing the impermanence of worldly power, the young prince turned his heart toward the Buddhist scriptures.
In the history of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Buddhism in northern Vietnam (Đàng Ngoài), after the Lâm Tế (Linji) Zen school was introduced by Masters Chuyết Chuyết (1590 - 1644) and Minh Hành (1596 - 1659) at Phật Tích and Bút Tháp pagodas and deeply localized by National Master Chân Nguyên Tuệ Đăng (1647 - 1726) upon the foundation of Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen, Trịnh Thập sought instruction from Master Chân Nguyên and received his mind-seal. Taking monastic ordination under the Dharma name Hải Quý and title Như Trừng Lân Giác, honored as Eminent Master Lân Giác (Lân Giác Thượng Sĩ, echoing the title of Thượng Sĩ Tuệ Trung of the Trần dynasty), he founded the Liên Tông (Lotus School) Zen lineage (蓮宗) with Liên Tông Pagoda (now Liên Phái Pagoda) as its ancestral seat.
The doctrinal hallmark of the Liên Tông Zen school established by Patriarch Lân Giác is the threefold synthesis of Zen, Pure Land and Esoteric practice grounded in strict monastic precepts and compassionate life-release: taking Lâm Tế Zen contemplation of the mind as the core essence, Pure Land mindfulness of Amitabha Buddha (symbolized by the lotus of Liên Tông) as the skillful means to guide the multitude, and Esoteric dharanis as protective support. This distinctly Vietnamese synthesis drew thousands of monks, nuns and lay practitioners across the Red River delta.
The founding of the monastery is consistently recorded in the Liên Tông bản hạnh (Chronicle of the Lotus School), the pagoda's stone inscriptions and the Nguyễn geography Đại Nam nhất thống chí. In the Bính Ngọ year, the seventh year of the Bảo Thái era (1726) under King Lê Dụ Tông, while Duke Trịnh Thập had his retainers excavate an earthen mound behind his Hồng Mai residence to build a rockery and fish pond, workmen unearthed a large, radiant pink-and-golden lotus rhizome buried deep inside the dry hillock. Seeing this auspicious sign as a confirmation of his spiritual vow, Trịnh Thập immediately converted his entire palace into a Buddhist monastery named Liên Hoa Tự (Lotus Flower Pagoda) and took monastic vows there in 1726.
In the Quý Sửu year, the second year of the Long Đức era (1733) under King Lê Thuần Tông, Eminent Master Lân Giác passed away at the age of 38 by traditional East Asian reckoning (37 solar years, 1696 - 1733). Following his enshrinement, his disciples renamed the temple from Liên Hoa Tự to Liên Tông Tự (蓮宗寺) to honor the ancestral seat of the Liên Tông lineage. More than a century later, in the Canh Tý year (1840), upon the accession of Emperor Thiệu Trị of the Nguyễn dynasty (whose personal given name was Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông), imperial naming taboo required replacing the character Tông with Phái, giving the lineage and the monastery their present name, Liên Phái Tự (蓮派寺).
Upon hearing the name Liên Tông (Lotus School), many people assume it refers simply to Chinese Pure Land Buddhism (founded by Master Huiyuan on Mount Lu). In fact, the Liên Tông lineage of Liên Phái Pagoda is an orthodox Vietnamese Zen lineage branching from the thirty-sixth generation of the northern Lâm Tế Zen school (following National Master Chân Nguyên Tuệ Đăng), complete with its own ten-character Dharma transmission poem passed down through ten generations of patriarchs in Hanoi and neighboring provinces (from First Patriarch Như Trừng Lân Giác to Second Patriarch Tính Quảng Từ Phong, Third Patriarch Hải Quý Bảo Chân and beyond). The word Liên (Lotus) commemorates both the lotus rhizome unearthed in the Hồng Mai mound in 1726 and the undefiled mind of a Zen practitioner blooming amid worldly aristocracy.
IIThree hundred years of the Liên Phái ancestral monastery
After First Patriarch Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập) passed away in 1733, the leadership of the Liên Tông Zen school at Liên Phái Pagoda was inherited by another remarkable prince of the ruling Trịnh house: Second Patriarch Venerable Từ Phong (Dharma name Tính Quảng, a biological son of Lord Trịnh Cương and thus the nephew of Patriarch Lân Giác). Following his uncle's example in renouncing princely luxury for the monastic robe, Patriarch Từ Phong expanded Liên Tông Monastery, added the bell tower, commissioned statues, carved woodblocks for Buddhist scriptures and developed the rear stupa garden, turning the pagoda into one of the foremost monastic academies of late eighteenth-century Thăng Long.
In the nineteenth century under the Nguyễn dynasty, even after the imperial capital moved south to Phú Xuân (Huế), Liên Phái Pagoda continued to be sustained by successive abbots and northern mandarins. During the eighth year of the Tự Đức era (1855), the twenty-third year of Tự Đức (1870) and the late nineteenth century, the monastery underwent major restorations that finalized its architectural layout and renovated the ten-story Diệu Quang Stupa in the front courtyard.
- 1726Discovery of the lotus root and conversion of the palace into Liên Hoa TựIn the seventh year of the Bảo Thái era (1726) under King Lê Dụ Tông, Duke Trịnh Thập unearthed a miraculous lotus rhizome in the mound behind his Hồng Mai palace, converted his residence into Liên Hoa Pagoda and took ordination as Như Trừng Lân Giác.
- 1733Passing of Patriarch Lân Giác, erection of Cứu Sinh Stupa and renaming to Liên Tông TựIn the second lunar month of the second year of the Long Đức era (1733) under King Lê Thuần Tông, Master Lân Giác passed away, his disciples built the green-stone Cứu Sinh Stupa in the rear garden for his relics and renamed the pagoda Liên Tông Tự.
- Mid-18th centurySecond Patriarch Từ Phong expands the ancestral seatVenerable Tính Quảng Từ Phong (son of Lord Trịnh Cương) succeeded as abbot, expanding the Buddha halls, carving scripture woodblocks and spreading the Liên Tông Zen school across northern Vietnam.
- 1840Renamed Liên Phái Pagoda due to Emperor Thiệu Trị's naming tabooIn the Canh Tý year (1840), upon the accession of Emperor Thiệu Trị (Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông), imperial taboo on the character Tông required renaming Liên Tông Pagoda and its lineage to Liên Phái.
- 1855 - 1890Major Nguyễn-dynasty restorations and renovation of Diệu Quang StupaFrom the reign of Tự Đức to Thành Thái, the Front Hall, Upper Sanctuary and Patriarchs' Hall were extensively restored and the ten-story Diệu Quang Stupa in the front courtyard took its present form.
- 1962Ranked as a National Historical and Architectural Heritage SiteOn 28 April 1962, the Ministry of Culture issued Decision No. 313-VH/VP classifying Liên Phái Pagoda in the first batch of national historical and cultural heritage sites.
The corpus of Sino-Nom stone stelae and woodblocks preserved at Liên Phái Pagoda (cataloged and rubbed by the Institute of Sino-Nom Studies) provides primary documentation for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Thăng Long Buddhism. Particularly valuable are the stele inscriptions recounting the royal lineage of Eminent Master Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập), the record of his great assemblies for the liberation of living beings (the origin of the name Cứu Sinh, Saving Lives), and the roster of patriarchs transmitting the Liên Tông lamp. Through these inscriptions, historians have verified both the genealogy of the Trịnh lords and the transformation of a princely residence into a major Zen monastery.
IIIThe 10-story Diệu Quang Lotus Stupa, the 1733 Cứu Sinh Stone Stupa and the patriarchal garden
Although twentieth-century urbanization along Bạch Mai Street reduced the outer grounds compared with the sprawling eighteenth-century estate, Liên Phái Pagoda preserves a solemn axial layout comprising the Triple Gate - Bell Tower, the Front Courtyard with the Diệu Quang Stupa pond, the Three Jewels Sanctuary (Front Hall, Incense-Burning Hall and Upper Sanctuary), the Patriarchs' Hall and Mother Goddess Hall, and the Ancient Stupa Garden in the rear courtyard. Built of ironwood and roofed with traditional flat tiles, the halls blend Restored Lê structural carpentry with nineteenth-century Nguyễn decorative refinement.
Inside the Three Jewels Sanctuary, gilded statues rest upon brick pedestals and wooden altars carved with lotus flowers and the four sacred animals. Alongside the Three Times Buddhas, the Amitabha Triad, the Infant Shakyamuni and the Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara, the most distinctive sculptural work of Liên Phái Pagoda stands in the rear Patriarchs' Hall: here rests the portrait statue of First Patriarch Như Trừng Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập) alongside statues of subsequent Liên Tông patriarchs. The statue of Patriarch Lân Giác portrays the refined, contemplative features of a young nobleman who awakened to the Dharma, seated serenely in monastic robes.
The Diệu Quang Stupa (Nine-Grade Lotus) and the Cứu Sinh Stone Stupa (1733)
The architectural identity of Liên Phái Pagoda is defined by two celebrated stupas of Hanoi Buddhism: the Diệu Quang Stupa in the front courtyard and the Cứu Sinh Stupa in the rear garden. Standing at the center of the front courtyard within a rectangular brick-lined lotus pond recalling the ancient mound where the lotus root was found, the Diệu Quang Stupa rises on an equilateral hexagonal plan across 10 stories crowned by a qi-gathering gourd finial. Tapering gracefully from base to summit with gently curved eaves and arched niches on each face, the tower embodies a masonry Nine-Grade Lotus Tower (Cửu Phẩm Liên Hoa, nine lotus grades of the Pure Land combined with the base and finial into ten complete tiers) radiating Wondrous Light (Diệu Quang).
Regarding the dating of the Diệu Quang Stupa, scholarship records two complementary layers of history: according to the Liên Phái monastic chronicle and local historical accounts, a Nine-Grade Lotus tower in the front courtyard originated during Patriarch Lân Giác's founding and ritual assemblies between 1726 and 1733, whereas architectural historians (examining the brick-and-stone masonry, moldings and restoration stelae) note that the ten-story hexagonal Diệu Quang Stupa standing today was rebuilt in its current form during the late nineteenth-century Nguyễn restorations (around 1890). The library records both its eighteenth-century origin and its nineteenth-century architectural form.
While the Diệu Quang Stupa commands the front courtyard with its vertical grace, the ancient stupa garden in the rear courtyard is a unique outdoor museum of funerary stupa architecture within inner Hanoi, preserving 9 historic stupas. Foremost among them is the Cứu Sinh Stupa, enshrining the relics of First Patriarch Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập) and erected immediately after his passing in the second year of the Long Đức era (1733). Unlike ordinary brick stupas, the Cứu Sinh Stupa is constructed entirely of massive monolithic green limestone slabs on a square plan standing over 3 meters high, topped by a curved boat-prow roof, housing a stone spirit tablet within and inscribed on the exterior with the four large Chinese characters Cứu Sinh Bảo Tháp (救生寶塔, Precious Stupa of Saving Lives). Archaeologists recognize this monument as the oldest intact, precisely dated (1733) stone stupa inside inner Hanoi.
A ten-story hexagonal stupa rising from the rectangular pond in front of the Front Hall, symbolizing the Nine-Grade Lotus of the Liên Tông Zen school.
The oldest intact stone stupa in inner Hanoi, built of green stone slabs in 1733 to enshrine the relics of founder Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập) and named Cứu Sinh in memory of his life-releasing compassion.
A quiet rear garden preserving 9 eighteenth- and nineteenth-century stone and brick stupas of the Liên Tông patriarchs (including the Từ Phong and Chân Nguyên stupas).
A gilded wooden portrait statue in the Patriarchs' Hall depicting the Trịnh prince and founding patriarch seated in serene meditation.
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century stone stelae, woodblocks and a bronze bell documenting the history of Trịnh Thập's palace and the transmission verses of the Liên Tông lineage.
First-time visitors to Liên Phái Pagoda often stand before the tall ten-story tower in the front courtyard and assume it is the funerary tomb of Founder Trịnh Thập. In reality, the ten-story tower in the front courtyard is the Diệu Quang Stupa (a doctrinal monument symbolizing the Nine-Grade Lotus and the wondrous light of the Dharma, not a burial stupa), whereas the actual relic tomb of Patriarch Trịnh Thập is the lower, square-planned Cứu Sinh Stone Stupa standing quietly beneath the old trees in the rear garden behind the Patriarchs' Hall.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
This section is the library's own reading through the eyes of traditional form-school feng shui, not something recorded in the pagoda's stelae or historical chronicles. We state this clearly so that readers can distinguish historical documentation from geomantic interpretation.
At coordinates 21.00534 degrees North latitude and 105.84884 degrees East longitude, Liên Phái Pagoda rests atop an ancient elevated mound (the Hồng Mai / Bạch Mai rise) south of the historic Thăng Long citadel. In the low-lying, pond-studded terrain of the capital's southern gateway (flanked on the east by the Kim Ngưu River and surrounded by the Bảy Mẫu Lake, Quỳnh Lake and Mơ lagoons), the high strip of land along the Bạch Mai axis runs north to south like a branch dragon vein (long mạch) descending from central Thăng Long. Because this elevated rise gathers qi amid surrounding waters, eighteenth-century princes of the Trịnh house chose it for their estates, and the unearthing of a pink-and-golden lotus root inside the mound in 1726 confirmed to traditional geomancers that the site held the form of a lotus bud holding a gem (a Lotus Node).
In terms of facing and internal geomantic arrangement, Liên Phái Pagoda faces southwest (Kun - Shen) while resting its back toward the northeast (Gen - Yin). To awaken the Lotus Node on dry ground and soften incoming qi along the entrance axis, the founding masters excavated a rectangular water-gathering pond right in the center of the front courtyard before the Front Hall and raised the ten-story hexagonal Diệu Quang Stupa directly out of the water. In form-school feng shui, the pond serves as the inner bright hall (minh đường) nourishing the lotus, while the ten-story stupa acts as a literary brush tower and the central pistil of the blooming lotus, drawing heavenly qi down into the water before guiding it gently into the Three Jewels Sanctuary. Behind the pagoda (the rear backing, hậu chẩm), the patriarchal garden anchored by the massive green-stone Cứu Sinh Stupa holds the northeast Gen sector (the Mountain trigram in the Eight Trigrams), creating a balanced configuration of water-and-tower in front, stone-mountain behind in the heart of the city.
VThe death anniversary of Patriarch Lân Giác and Liên Phái monastic rites
As the founding seat of a major northern Zen lineage, the most solemn annual observance at Liên Phái Pagoda is the Grand Memorial Ceremony (Giỗ Tổ) of First Patriarch Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập) held on the 14th day of the 2nd lunar month (marking his passing in the Quý Sửu year, 1733). On this day, monks and nuns of the Liên Phái lineage from branch pagodas across Hanoi, Bắc Ninh, Hưng Yên, Hải Dương and Nam Định gather with lay Buddhists at the ancestral monastery to perform the circumambulation rite around the Cứu Sinh Stone Stupa and the Diệu Quang Stupa, offer incense in the Patriarchs' Hall and chant scriptures according to the traditional liturgy of the Liên Phái school.
Alongside the Patriarch's memorial day on the 14th of the 2nd lunar month, the monastery upholds the tradition of releasing living beings (phóng sinh) and holding Medicine Buddha peace-prayer assemblies in the first lunar month, continuing the compassionate Cứu Sinh (Saving Lives) vow initiated three hundred years ago by Founder Trịnh Thập when he ransomed birds and fish to release into the lakes south of Thăng Long.
| Lunar date | Festival / Rite | Main rituals and activities |
|---|---|---|
| 14th day of the 2nd month (main rite) | Death anniversary of First Patriarch Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập) | Monks and nuns of the Liên Phái lineage gather at the ancestral seat to circumambulate the Cứu Sinh Stupa, offer incense to the Patriarchs, recite the Liên Tông bản hạnh and pray for national peace |
| 15th day of the 1st month | First Full Moon assembly and traditional life-release rite | Chanting the Medicine Buddha Sutra for spring peace and performing the compassionate release of living beings in keeping with the founder's Cứu Sinh vow |
| 15th day of the 4th month | Buddha's Birthday Ceremony | Bathing the Buddha rite, lotus procession around the Diệu Quang Stupa pond and Dharma talks on the Zen - Pure Land - Esoteric synthesis of the Liên Tông school |
| 15th day of the 7th month | Vu Lan Filial Piety Festival and Mông Sơn offering rite | Prayers for deceased ancestors and traditional northern Vietnamese ritual offerings for wandering souls |
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Ngõ Liên Phái, phố Bạch Mai, phường Bạch Mai (trước đây thuộc phường Cầu Dền / phường Thanh Nhàn, quận Hai Bà Trưng cũ), thành phố Hà Nội
- Getting there
- From central Hoàn Kiếm Lake, travel south along the Phố Huế - Bạch Mai axis for about 3.5 km to No. 184 Bạch Mai Street (opposite the Bạch Mai - Lê Thanh Nghị junction), then turn into Liên Phái Lane for about 100 meters to reach the pagoda gate. Numerous city bus routes run directly along Bạch Mai Street and nearby Đại Cồ Việt - Trần Khát Chân roads.
- Coordinates
- 21.00534, 105.84884
Liên Phái Pagoda lies tucked inside a quiet residential lane off Bạch Mai Street and serves as a disciplined monastic training seat. When visiting, please keep silence from the moment you step through the triple gate, wear modest attire, refrain from releasing fish or turtles into the Diệu Quang Stupa pond without permission from the monks, and walk gently in the rear stupa garden without leaning on or placing objects atop the 1733 green-stone Cứu Sinh Stupa.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Liên Phái Pagoda
Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Chùa Liên PháiEveryone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
Thầy Ưng Khiêm mời cộng đồng cùng làm giàu trang này. Ảnh chụp tận nơi, một chi tiết lịch sử chưa được nhắc, một đoạn video ngắn: mọi đóng góp đều được đọc và trả lời.
No community contribution yet. You could be the first. Chưa có đóng góp nào từ cộng đồng. Bạn có thể là người đầu tiên.
?Quick Questions
Who founded Liên Phái Pagoda and why was it named Liên Hoa, Liên Tông and then Liên Phái?
Liên Phái Pagoda was founded in the 7th year of the Bảo Thái era (1726) by Prince Trịnh Thập (1696 - 1733, grandson of Lord Trịnh Căn, younger brother of Lord Trịnh Cương and son-in-law of King Lê Hy Tông). After unearthing a miraculous lotus rhizome in the mound behind his palace, he converted his residence into Liên Hoa Pagoda and took ordination as Eminent Master Lân Giác. After his passing in 1733, it was renamed Liên Tông Pagoda after the Zen lineage he founded. In 1840, due to the naming taboo of Emperor Thiệu Trị (Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông), the character Tông was changed to Phái, becoming Liên Phái Pagoda.
What are the distinctive features of the Liên Tông Zen school at Liên Phái Pagoda?
The Liên Tông school is an indigenous eighteenth-century northern Vietnamese Zen lineage founded by Eminent Master Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập) after receiving transmission from National Master Chân Nguyên Tuệ Đăng of the Lâm Tế Zen school. It harmonizes Lâm Tế Zen contemplation, Pure Land mindfulness of Amitabha Buddha and Esoteric dharanis with compassionate life-release practices, preserving its own ten-character lineage transmission verse at Liên Phái Pagoda.
Which are the two most famous stupas at Liên Phái Pagoda?
They are the Diệu Quang Stupa in the front courtyard and the Cứu Sinh Stupa in the rear garden. The Diệu Quang Stupa is a ten-story hexagonal tower rising from a rectangular lotus pond before the Front Hall, modeled on a Nine-Grade Lotus Tower. The Cứu Sinh Stupa in the rear garden is a square green-stone funerary stupa built in the 2nd year of the Long Đức era (1733) to enshrine the relics of Founder Trịnh Thập, recognized as the oldest intact, precisely dated stone stupa in inner Hanoi.
Which ward of Hanoi does Liên Phái Pagoda belong to after the 2025 reorganization?
Liên Phái Pagoda is located in Liên Phái Lane (at No. 184 Bạch Mai Street) in Bạch Mai Ward, Hanoi. Previously part of Cầu Dền Ward in the former Hai Bà Trưng District (and briefly adjusted into Thanh Nhàn Ward), under Resolution No. 1656/NQ-UBTVQH15 effective 1 July 2025 this section of Bạch Mai Street belongs to the new Bạch Mai Ward directly under Hanoi.
When is the main Patriarch's Memorial Day celebrated at Liên Phái Pagoda?
The most important annual observance at Liên Phái Pagoda is the death anniversary (Giỗ Tổ) of First Patriarch Lân Giác (Trịnh Thập) on the 14th day of the 2nd lunar month. On this day, monks, nuns and lay followers of the Liên Phái lineage across northern Vietnam gather at the ancestral monastery to circumambulate the Cứu Sinh Stupa, offer incense to the founding patriarch and perform traditional life-release rites.