From the center of Tri Tôn, you can spot this pagoda before reading its signboard. Rising above a low-lying residential neighborhood on an elevated terrace is a sanctuary with a three-tiered roof of colored tiles whose eaves curve sharply upward like serpent tails. Around the compound stand smaller reliquary stupas crowned with four-faced deity heads, while in front of the temple lie a lotus pond and rows of palmyra palms.
This is not the temple roof familiar to the Kinh majority. Step inside the main hall and a second difference appears. On the altar sits only Śākyamuni Buddha, with no Guanyin, no Kṣitigarbha, and no Dharma Guardians flanking the sides. The monks wear saffron-orange robes wrapped around the body and chant scriptures in Pali. This is a monastery of Khmer Theravada Buddhism.
IThe name Xvayton and the Khmer Theravada tradition
The original name of the temple is the Khmer name Xvayton, also written Wat Xvayton or Wat Svay Ton. Sources explain its two components as xvay meaning monkey and ton meaning clinging or pulling on one another, evoking troops of monkeys clinging to tree branches when the Seven Mountains (Bảy Núi) region was still dense forest. Xà Tón is the Vietnamese phonetic adaptation of that Khmer name.
The pagoda has no Chinese character name, so the library leaves the Chinese character field blank at the head of this article. That is normal for a Khmer pagoda, where the liturgical writing system is Khmer script used to record the Pali language.
Southern Buddhism (Nam Tông), also known as Theravada, meaning the Teaching of the Elders, is the branch of Buddhism transmitted southward through Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, entering southern Vietnam alongside the Khmer community of the Mekong Delta. This tradition takes 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, while Mahayana Bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteśvara (Quán Thế Âm), Kṣitigarbha (Địa Tạng), and Mañjuśrī (Văn Thù) do not belong to its system of worship. The goal of spiritual practice is the state of an Arahant (A La Hán), distinct from the Bodhisattva ideal of Mahayana Buddhism. Properly called, this is Khmer Theravada Buddhism, a distinct monastic lineage of the Khmer community.
The differences between Khmer Theravada Buddhism and the Northern Buddhism (Bắc Tông) of the Kinh majority are set out below item by item, in a factual tone without ranking one above the other.
Worship layout. A Theravada main hall places a statue of Śākyamuni Buddha at the center, surrounded by smaller statues of Śākyamuni standing, seated, or entering Parinibbāna, without Bodhisattva altars, Mother Goddess altars, or Northern-style Patriarch altars. A Northern Buddhist pagoda of the Kinh majority usually features the Three-Times Buddhas, Guanyin, Kṣitigarbha, and Dharma Guardians, and in many places a Mother Goddess shrine.
Monastic discipline and food. Theravada bhikkhus observe the two hundred and twenty-seven rules of the Pali Vinaya, go on alms-rounds, and do not take solid food after midday. They accept whatever food 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, so there is no custom of lifelong vegetarianism. Northern Buddhist monastics in Vietnam observe lifelong vegetarianism and generally do not go on daily alms-rounds.
Robes. A Theravada monk's robe is a saffron-orange or reddish-brown cloth 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 are delivered in Khmer. Northern Buddhism chants in Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation and Vietnamese translations. This is the most immediately audible difference when attending a service.
Role of the pagoda. In Khmer community life, the pagoda is also the village school and cultural center of the phum sóc (hamlet), teaching Khmer script and Pali scriptures, preserving village manuscripts, and serving as the monastery where young men ordain for a period to repay their parents' kindness before returning to lay life. Xà Tón Pagoda preserves that exact tradition.
Two common misunderstandings about this pagoda deserve clarification.
First, the words Xà Tón. Many people read those two Vietnamese syllables and look for a Vietnamese meaning, taking them for the name of an animal or a local place name. They are neither. Xà Tón is simply a phonetic transcription of the Khmer name Xvayton, whose meaning lies in the Khmer language.
Second, the palm-leaf manuscripts. The pagoda's treasured manuscripts are often referred to loosely as leaf scriptures or Bodhi-leaf scriptures. Their proper Vietnamese name is kinh lá buông (called Satra or Slấc-rích in Khmer), inscribed on the leaves of the talipot palm (Corypha lecomtei, cây lá buông), a palm species native to the Seven Mountains region. Furthermore, most of these manuscripts record the Pali language written in ancient Khmer script, meaning the alphabet is Khmer while the liturgical language is Pali, so saying they are written entirely in the Khmer language is only half accurate.
IIThree hundred years in the Seven Mountains region
The pagoda is cited as the oldest surviving Khmer temple in An Giang. Its founding date is usually given as 1696, when it was a simple wooden house roofed with thatch, while more cautious sources state simply the late 17th century. A firmer milestone is 1896, when the temple was rebuilt on a raised stone foundation in durable materials, giving rise to the structural framework seen today.
- 1696Initial wooden and thatched templeThe first pagoda was built simply of wood and thatch in the forested Seven Mountains region. Other sources date it more generally to the late 17th century.
- 1896 and 1933Digging the pond, raising the platform, and rebuilding in brickIn 1896, monks and laypeople dug a 0.15-hectare pond in front of the temple to obtain earth to raise the foundation by 1.8 meters, lining it with blue stone and building brick walls bound with traditional ô dước mortar (made of sand, lime, palm sugar, and forest tree resin) over two years. A further major restoration took place in 1933.
- 19th centurySurviving layer of palm-leaf manuscriptsThe palm-leaf scriptures (Satra) preserved at the pagoda date mainly from this century, recording Pali texts in ancient Khmer script on talipot palm leaves.
- 1986National heritage site rankingAccording to An Giang Newspaper, on December 12, 1986, the Ministry of Culture recognized the pagoda as a national architectural and artistic heritage site under Decision 235/VH-QĐ. Some other articles cite 1989.
- 2006National record for palm-leaf manuscriptsThe Vietnam Book of Records recognized Xvayton Pagoda as the place preserving the largest collection of palm-leaf scriptures in Vietnam.
- 2017National intangible cultural heritageOn January 23, 2017, the knowledge and technique of inscribing talipot palm leaves of the Khmer people in An Giang Province was inscribed on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
- 2025Groundbreaking for main hall conservationOn March 10, 2025, a major conservation project for the 382-square-meter main hall, entrance gates, and grounds officially began, scheduled to run from 2025 to 2027.
Sources diverge on two details that should be noted plainly. Regarding the heritage ranking year, architectural studies in An Giang Newspaper and Ethnicity and Development Magazine record December 12, 1986 under Decision 235/VH-QĐ, whereas a few other news reports cite 1989. The library records both dates.
Similarly, regarding the number of palm-leaf manuscript sets, An Giang Newspaper cites a provincial survey counting 179 sets comprising over 924 fascicles preserved across 30 of the 65 Khmer pagodas in the former Tri Tôn and Tịnh Biên districts, with Xà Tón Pagoda holding the largest share at over 100 sets. Another Buddhist portal article cites around 170 sets across the province.
IIIThe Khmer main hall and the palm-leaf scripture collection
A Khmer pagoda follows its own spatial canon, wholly distinct from the nội công ngoại quốc layout of northern Vietnamese temples. The main hall stands at the center of the compound on a 1.8-meter terrace lined with blue stone, facing east, with walls bound in traditional ô dước mortar and indoor murals narrating the life of the Buddha. Around it stand the sala hall, monks' quarters, classrooms, manuscript repository, and reliquary stupas.
The central sanctuary covers 382 square meters atop a 1.8-meter platform faced with blue stone. Facing east is a universal rule of Khmer Theravada temples rather than an individual choice of this pagoda, contrasting with northern Vietnamese temples which favor a southern orientation.
The roof is stacked in three overlapping tiers covered in green, red, and yellow glazed tiles. This stepped profile gives the building a soaring silhouette without requiring tall walls and makes a Khmer pagoda recognizable from afar.
The roof eaves curve into multi-headed Naga serpents, while along the corridors and under the eaves stand rows of pillars molded with winged Krud (Garuda) birds and Keynor (Kinnari) celestial maidens supporting the roof, with Yeak ogre guardians standing watch at the gates.
Small stupas dot the perimeter around the main hall and courtyard, holding the ashes of past abbots and laypeople from the hamlet. Many stupa spires are carved with the four-faced deity head in the style of the Bayon towers.
A collection of over one hundred palm-leaf scripture sets (called Satra or Slấc-rích in Khmer), recording Pali texts in ancient Khmer script on talipot palm leaves. Their contents fall into four categories, namely Buddhist scriptures, folktales, festival and game lore, and moral teachings.
Sources record the craft of making a palm-leaf manuscript in vivid detail. Talipot palm leaves are harvested while still young buds, wrapped tightly to protect them from insects, and then sun-dried, dew-cured, and boiled in water to make them supple, durable, and resistant to termites. Letters are incised stroke by stroke using a specialized stylus with a wooden handle and sharp metal tip called a Đek cha, with each leaf blade typically holding about five lines of script. Once incised, the artisan rubs the leaf surface with a special ink compounded from wood charcoal, kerosene (or plant oil), and water, then wipes the surface clean so the black pigment remains embedded in the engraved grooves. Each leaf takes hours and a complete manuscript takes months, requiring mastery of both ancient Khmer script and Pali (passed down by elders such as Most Venerable Chau Ty in the Seven Mountains region), so very few practitioners of the craft remain today.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
This section is the library's reading through the eyes of traditional Vietnamese feng shui, not something recorded in temple documents. It should be stated plainly that Khmer Theravada Buddhism does not teach feng shui, and the eastern facing of the main hall is a doctrinal rule of the tradition itself, oriented toward the rising sun rather than calculated by geomancy. This reading is offered purely as a comparison for readers familiar with traditional Vietnamese land-reading.
First is the eastern facing. Traditional Vietnamese geomancy favors a southern orientation most of all, while reading the east as the direction of rising vitality associated with the Wood element and new beginnings. A Khmer pagoda facing east aligns naturally with that familiar reading, as the morning sun shines straight into the main hall at dawn just as the first chanting service of the day begins.
Regarding the lie of the land, the pagoda sits in the Seven Mountains (Bảy Núi) region, an unusual landscape in the Mekong Delta where a cluster of low mountains rises abruptly out of flat alluvial rice fields, providing both mountain (sơn) for support and open fields (điền) for expanse. Khmer pagodas across this region consistently choose ground slightly higher than the surrounding paddies for a very practical reason, namely seasonal flooding. What traditional geomancy calls auspicious ground (đắc địa) here begins with land that stays above the floodwaters.
Regarding water, the compound features a lotus pond of about 0.15 hectares in front of the temple, originally excavated in 1896 when local people dug earth on site to raise the main hall platform by 1.8 meters. Read through traditional eyes, digging a pond in front to raise the foundation behind creates the bright hall (minh đường) with water gathering (thủy tụ) right before the door, simultaneously elevating the sanctuary's seat and holding a still sheet of water to gather qi. In the practical life of the monastery, that pond provided earth to keep the hall above flood level, grows lotus flowers to offer to the Buddha, and cools the intense heat of Tri Tôn.
Finally, the raised terrace and three-tiered roof. Traditional geomancy reads a high platform as commanding presence and a multi-tiered roof as a form that gathers qi toward the peak, whereas in Buddhist cosmology the high platform represents Mount Meru separating the Buddha's sanctuary from ordinary ground, and the three roof tiers express Khmer architectural symbolism. Two different ways of thinking arrive at the same form.
VThe three major festivals of the Khmer people
The ritual calendar here follows the traditional Khmer calendar, which is close to the lunar calendar of the Kinh majority but does not coincide with it exactly, so Vietnamese sources sometimes record dates by the lunar calendar and sometimes by the solar calendar. The three largest festivals of the year are not the Northern Buddhist Buddha's Birthday or Vu Lan, but Chôl Chnăm Thmây, Sen Đôlta, and Ok Om Bok, marking the New Year, ancestor commemoration, and harvest thanksgiving. All three are community-wide festivals of the phum sóc held inside the pagoda grounds alongside the monastic rains-retreat observances.
| Time | Festival | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Around mid-April (solar calendar) | Chôl Chnăm Thmây | The traditional Khmer New Year lasting three days. Villagers come to the pagoda to build sand mounds, bathe the Buddha statues, pour scented water for senior monks, and pray for New Year blessings. |
| Full moon of the 4th month in the Khmer calendar | Visakha Bochea (Buddha's Birthday) | Commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and Parinibbāna of the Buddha combined on a single full moon day. Some Vietnamese sources correspond this to the full moon of the 5th lunar month. |
| Full moon of the 6th lunar month | Chôl Vô Sa (Entering the rains retreat) | Marks the beginning of the three-month rains retreat, during which monks remain in residence at the pagoda devoted to scripture chanting and study. |
| Full moon of the 9th lunar month | Chanh Vô Sa (Completing the rains retreat) | Marks the conclusion of the three-month rains retreat, celebrated from the afternoon of the 14th to midday on the 15th. |
| 29th day of the 8th month to 1st day of the 9th lunar month | Sen Đôlta (Ancestor commemoration) | A three-day festival honoring deceased relatives, when families bring sticky rice and offerings to the pagoda so the monks may dedicate merit to their ancestors. |
| Full moon of the 10th month in the Khmer calendar | Ok Om Bok (Moon Worship) | The harvest thanksgiving festival honoring the Moon deity, featuring the custom of feeding flattened green rice (cốm dẹp) to children and releasing water lanterns. Some sources note this falls around early December in the solar calendar. |
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Gần đường Lê Thánh Tôn và tỉnh lộ 948, xã Tri Tôn (thị trấn Tri Tôn cũ), An Giang
- Getting there
- The pagoda stands near Lê Thánh Tôn Street and Provincial Road 948 in the center of Tri Tôn Commune (formerly Tri Tôn Town), An Giang Province, in the Seven Mountains region. Several other Khmer Theravada pagodas lie nearby and can be visited along the same route.
- Coordinates
- 10.4175, 105.0006
This is a community pagoda of the Khmer people where monks reside and study, so visitors should observe house rules by removing hats and shoes before entering the main hall, dressing modestly, walking softly and speaking quietly, and never pointing their feet toward the altar. With Theravada monks there is an important rule visitors should keep in mind, namely that women must not touch a monk or hand objects directly into his hands, but should set the item down for him to pick up. The palm-leaf manuscripts are priceless original artifacts, so please do not touch them.
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?Quick Questions
Who is worshipped at Xà Tón Pagoda
The main hall worships Śākyamuni Buddha, represented by multiple statues in standing, seated, and reclining Parinibbāna postures. In accordance with Theravada doctrine, the pagoda does not worship Mahayana Bodhisattvas such as Guanyin or Kṣitigarbha, reflecting its canonical tradition rather than any lack of statues.
How does a Khmer Theravada pagoda differ from a Northern Buddhist pagoda
They differ in four main ways. In worship layout, the main hall venerates only Śākyamuni Buddha without Bodhisattva or Mother Goddess altars. In monastic discipline, monks follow the Pali Vinaya, go on alms-rounds, abstain from solid food after midday, and do not practice lifelong vegetarianism. In dress, monks wear saffron-orange robes wrapped around the body leaving the right shoulder bare during rites. In language, scriptures are chanted in Pali written in Khmer script.
What does the name Xvayton mean
According to historical records, xvay in Khmer means monkey and ton means clinging or pulling on one another, recalling the era when the Seven Mountains region was covered in dense forest inhabited by troops of monkeys. Xà Tón is the Vietnamese phonetic rendering of that Khmer name.
What are palm-leaf manuscripts and how many sets does Xà Tón Pagoda hold
They are ancient scriptures (called Satra or Slấc-rích in Khmer) inscribed on the leaves of the talipot palm (cây lá buông), a palm species native to the Seven Mountains region, recording Pali texts in ancient Khmer script using a metal-tipped Đek cha stylus. Xà Tón Pagoda preserves over one hundred sets, the largest collection in Vietnam as recognized in 2006. The craft of inscribing palm leaves was listed as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage on January 23, 2017.
When was Xà Tón Pagoda built and when was it ranked as a heritage site
The pagoda is recorded as founded in 1696 in wood and thatch (some sources state more generally the late 17th century), then rebuilt in brick and tile on a raised platform in 1896 after digging the front pond, with major restorations in 1933 and 2025. Regarding its national heritage ranking, architectural studies cite December 12, 1986 under Decision 235/VH-QĐ, while a few other sources cite 1989.