Thanh Mai Pagoda

IThe ancestral seat of Second Patriarch Pháp Loa

The Trúc Lâm Zen school is an indigenous Vietnamese Zen lineage founded in the late thirteenth century, led by three successive patriarchs, namely Trần Nhân Tông as First Patriarch, Pháp Loa as Second Patriarch, and Huyền Quang as Third Patriarch. Each left his deepest imprint in a distinct locale. The founding of the school on Yên Tử mountain, the Quỳnh Lâm academy where Pháp Loa lectured at the Trần-dynasty complex in Đông Triều, and the Third Patriarch's seat at Côn Sơn Pagoda are covered in those three entries. This entry focuses on Thanh Mai, the sanctuary that holds the stupa and stele of the Second Patriarch.

According to the stele inscription cited by Heritage World (Thế Giới Di Sản) and VnExpress, Second Patriarch Pháp Loa bore the secular name Đồng Kiên Cương (written Đồng Kim Cương in both articles) and was born on the 7th day of the 5th lunar month of the Giáp Thân year, Thiệu Bảo 6 (1284), in Đồng Hòa village, Cửu La township, Nam Sách Giang (in the area of former Hải Dương city). He entered monastic life under Buddhist Emperor Trần Nhân Tông in 1304 and officially succeeded as Second Patriarch of Trúc Lâm on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month of Hưng Long 16 (1308). Over more than twenty years at the helm of the Trúc Lâm Sangha, he trained over thirty eminent disciples, ordained and nurtured some fifteen thousand monks and nuns, oversaw the casting of more than one thousand three hundred statues, and established over two hundred monasteries and study centers according to Hải Phòng Newspaper and Heritage World. In 1329, one year before his passing, he expanded the mountain precinct of Thanh Mai according to Nhân Dân newspaper. On the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month of 1330, he passed away at Quỳnh Lâm Monastery, and his relics were brought to be enshrined in Viên Thông Stupa behind Thanh Mai Pagoda.

IIFrom Viên Thông Stupa to modern reconstruction

The name of the monk who first built a hermitage here has not been preserved in available sources, which note only that the temple dates from the Trần dynasty. The documented timeline begins clearly with Pháp Loa, who expanded the mountain monastery in 1329 and was enshrined here in 1330, followed by the erection of his stupa and stele. During the Restored Lê period, additional stupas and steles were erected. After falling into ruin over a long period, the pagoda began to be restored step by step from 1980. According to Tiền Phong newspaper, when Venerable Thích Chí Trung arrived as abbot in 1994, the mountain site still lacked electricity, running water, and a road, so the monk and lay Buddhists carried building materials on their backs to cut a two-kilometer trail through the forest and rebuild the front hall, ancestral hall, and guest house before completing the main hall around 2005.

• 1329Expansion of the mountain precinct
  Second Patriarch Pháp Loa expanded the Thanh Mai mountain monastery, according to Nhân Dân and Hải Phòng Newspaper.
• 1330Passing of Patriarch Pháp Loa
  On the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month, he passed away at Quỳnh Lâm Pagoda, and his relics were brought to Thanh Mai.
• 1334Viên Thông Stupa erected
  The stupa enshrining the Patriarch's relics behind the pagoda was built in 1334 according to Quảng Ninh Newspaper and Mekong ASEAN, while Hải Phòng Newspaper gives 1330.
• 1362Thanh Mai stele erected
  The stele Thanh Mai Viên Thông tháp bi was erected in the 5th year of the Đại Trị reign, composed by attendant Trung Minh and collated by Third Patriarch Huyền Quang, inscribed with about five thousand characters.
• 1702 and 1703Phổ Quang and Linh Quang stupas built
  Two Restored Lê stone stupas erected in the 23rd and 24th years of the Chính Hòa reign.
• 1714 and 1718Viên Thông Stupa repaired and new stele erected
  Viên Thông Stupa was repaired in 1714, and the stele Trúc Lâm Đệ nhị tổ tháp was erected in 1718.
• 1980 and 1994Pagoda reconstruction
  Initial restoration began in 1980. From 1994, abbot Venerable Thích Chí Trung opened the mountain road and rebuilt the main halls.
• 1992, 2016, and 2025National Heritage, National Treasure, and World Heritage
  Ranked as a National Heritage site on April 20, 1992. The 1362 stele was recognized as a National Treasure on December 22, 2016. On July 12, 2025, the pagoda became a component site of the Yên Tử, Vĩnh Nghiêm, Côn Sơn, Kiếp Bạc UNESCO World Heritage property.

IIIStupas, steles, and the pagoda in the forest

The pagoda building seen today is the result of reconstruction phases from 1980 through the 2000s. According to the Chí Linh Đồng Clan portal, the sanctuary follows a T-shaped (Đinh-character) ground plan consisting of a seven-bay front hall and a three-bay rear sanctuary housing jackfruit-wood Buddha statues. The oldest historical remains lie not inside the main hall but in the stupa garden and stele pavilion behind the temple. Visitors seeking authentic Trần-dynasty traces at Thanh Mai should walk straight to the rear garden.

The extraordinary value of the 1362 stele lies in its primary historical text, engraved just thirty-two years after Pháp Loa's passing. According to VnExpress and Heritage World, the front face chronicles Pháp Loa's biography and the Trúc Lâm genealogy, while the reverse records major Trần-dynasty Buddhist undertakings in detail, including the casting of the Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara statue in Đại Khánh 8 (1321), monks and King Trần Anh Tông pricking their blood to print more than five thousand fascicles of the Tripitaka (Đại Tạng kinh) housed at Quỳnh Lâm Institute, the woodblock printing of nearly five hundred copies of the Four-Part Vinaya (Tứ Phần Luật), and the names of contemporary royal patrons, officials, and administrative territories. In a country where most Trần-dynasty books were lost to war and climate, this intact stone inscription serves as an irreplaceable primary chronicle and is recognized as a National Treasure.

IVThe lie of the land and orientation

This section presents the library's reading through the lens of traditional geomancy, not a doctrine recorded on the stele or in temple texts. The Thanh Mai stele records that Pháp Loa expanded the mountain precinct, but the sources consulted by the library do not state what geomantic method was used or give a compass bearing for the main hall. The library notes this clearly so that readers can distinguish historical documentation from geomantic interpretation.

VMemorial festival of Patriarch Pháp Loa and annual observances

The pagoda's largest annual festival coincides with the memorial day of the Second Patriarch. According to Tiền Phong newspaper and the Chí Linh Đồng Clan portal, the Thanh Mai Pagoda festival takes place from the 1st to the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month, with the 3rd marking the day Pháp Loa passed away in 1330.

Outside the third-lunar-month festival, the pagoda draws the most visitors during the final weeks of the solar year when the maple forest turns red and gold. Pilgrims following the trail of the Trúc Lâm school often combine Thanh Mai with Côn Sơn and the Trần-dynasty sites in Đông Triều on a single journey to visit the seats of all three patriarchs.

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