Traveling along National Highway 51 toward Vũng Tàu, upon reaching Phú Mỹ visitors see by the roadside an imposing triple-entrance gate rebuilt in 2007 on the site of the older stone gate, and behind it, rising above rows of trees, a massive roof structure. Walking inside reveals its full scale in a two-story main hall ninety-one meters long, approached by forty-seven stone steps, with interior walls lined from floor to ceiling with small Buddha statues. On ordinary weekdays, the courtyard is quiet and the sound of sutra chanting carries from the buildings of the Buddhist college.
This is Đại Tòng Lâm Pagoda, whose full name is Vạn Phật Quang Đại Tòng Lâm Tự. The main hall is what visitors remember first, yet the most important word lies in the name tòng lâm (monastic forest or great monastery). Most Venerable Thích Thiện Hòa founded this place in 1958 not to build a village temple, but to establish a center where monastics could gather in large numbers to live, study, and keep the precepts together. Nearly seventy years later, the pagoda still fulfills that exact role.
IWhat a tòng lâm is and why it is called Đại
Tòng lâm (Chinese congshu / conglin) literally means a dense forest of trees. Buddhism borrows the term to designate a large monastery where many monks and nuns live and study together, because practitioners living in community support one another to grow straight just as trees in a forest shelter one another. A village temple may have only a few monks tending to rites for local residents. A tòng lâm maintains a shared monastic code (thanh quy), a unified daily schedule, lecture halls for instruction, an ordination platform for transmitting precepts, and quarters where hundreds of monastics can observe the rains retreat at the same time. The prefix đại (great) indicates the scale of that monastic forest.
Understanding the term tòng lâm explains why this site is renowned for three institutions rather than a single statue, namely its Buddhist college completed in 1995, its great ordination ceremonies (đại giới đàn) named after the founding patriarch, and its centralized rains retreats (an cư kiết hạ). In 2004, the rains retreat here gathered between 1,047 and 1,250 monks and nuns depending on the source, recognized as the largest rains retreat in Vietnam according to Giác Ngộ and phatgiao.vn. Giác Ngộ notes that the pagoda holds a great ordination ceremony every three years and hosts an annual rains retreat.
In lineage affiliation, Đại Tòng Lâm belongs to Northern-tradition (Mahayana) Buddhism of the Lâm Tế (Linji) school. The founding patriarch was Most Venerable Thích Thiện Hòa, secular name Hứa Khắc Lợi, born in 1907 in Tân Nhựt village, Chợ Lớn. According to Thư Viện Phật Việt, he took refuge under Patriarch Bửu Sơn at Long Triều Pagoda, receiving the Dharma name Tâm Lợi and the Dharma title Thiện Hòa. In the fourth lunar month of the Ất Hợi year (1935), he was ordained at Lưỡng Xuyên Buddhist Institute in Trà Vinh with Patriarch Khánh Hòa as his tonsure master. In 1958 he founded Đại Tòng Lâm, and in 1964 he applied to clear about 100 hectares of land in Phú Mỹ to expand facilities for training monastic talent, according to Chốn Thiêng and Giác Ngộ. He passed away on the first day of the first lunar month of the Mậu Ngọ year (February 7, 1978). His successor was Most Venerable Thích Quảng Hiển, who served as abbot after 1978 and initiated construction of the main hall in 2002, according to the pagoda's website.
The library has not found a source specifying which sub-branch of Lâm Tế he belonged to, which generation number he held, or whether the pagoda uses its own transmission verse. The library therefore records only the Lâm Tế school without assigning a sub-branch.
Readers familiar with lineage verses who see the Dharma name Tâm Lợi often assume that the character Tâm is the ninth character in Patriarch Liễu Quán's verse (quoted in the article on Thiền Tôn Ancestral Temple) and conclude that he belonged to the Liễu Quán branch. That deduction is insufficient on its own. Several other lineage verses also contain the character Tâm, and he had two masters, one who administered his refuge vows and another who presided over his monastic tonsure. Without a document stating the branch explicitly, the library does not assign him to a specific sub-branch.
A second common confusion concerns the name. Vạn Phật Quang and Đại Tòng Lâm are not two separate temples. Vạn Phật Quang Đại Tòng Lâm Tự is the full name of a single temple, according to the pagoda's official site. People frequently shorten the name to one half or the other, and because the main hall is called Vạn Phật Quang, some visitors assume it is a separate temple.
About 9.6 kilometers up National Highway 51 toward Biên Hòa stands Thường Chiếu Zen Monastery. The two sites are easily confused because both are large monastic centers along the same highway. Thường Chiếu is the ancestral monastery of modern Trúc Lâm Zen, dedicated specifically to Zen meditation. Đại Tòng Lâm is a traditional Northern-tradition tòng lâm focused on scriptural schooling, ordination platforms, and rains retreats. About 6 kilometers away stands Phước Sơn Monastery of the Catholic Cistercian Order, another cenobitic community of contemplative life belonging to a different faith.
IIFrom a small shrine to a great monastic complex
Đại Tòng Lâm grew layer by layer, each stage tied to a monastic training need. Giác Ngộ and Chốn Thiêng record that the original temple building stands on the left side as one enters the gate and measures just 7 meters wide by 16 meters long, or 112 square meters (while Ân Phật records 7 by 18 meters), with a memorial stupa, statue, and stele honoring the late Most Venerable Thích Thiện Hòa directly behind it. Larger structures were added one after another over more than half a century.
- 1958FoundingMost Venerable Thích Thiện Hòa founded the pagoda as a center for collective monastic study and in 1964 applied to clear about 100 hectares of land in Phú Mỹ.
- 1974Stone triple-entrance gateA stone triple-entrance gate (tam quan) was erected according to Ân Phật, and in 2007 it was replaced by a larger new triple-entrance gate according to Giác Ngộ.
- 1982Renovation of the original templeThe small original shrine enshrining Shakyamuni Buddha was renovated according to Giác Ngộ and Chốn Thiêng (Ân Phật records its construction in 1982).
- 1983Đa Bảo StupaThe three-story Đa Bảo (Prabhutaratna) Stupa was built, enshrining Shakyamuni Buddha and Prabhutaratna Buddha on the upper floor and Maitreya Bodhisattva with four Dharma Protectors on the lower floor, according to Giác Ngộ.
- 1995Buddhist collegeThe three-story Đại Tòng Lâm Buddhist College was completed with a capacity of about 1,000 students, according to Giác Ngộ and Ân Phật.
- 2002Vạn Phật Quang main hall and Maitreya statueMost Venerable Thích Quảng Hiển began construction of the two-story main hall measuring 91 by 46 meters, designed by architect Lê Quang Mẫn. The 40-ton monolithic granite statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva was completed the same year.
- 2004Largest rains retreatA centralized rains retreat from the 16th day of the 4th lunar month to the 10th day of the 7th lunar month gathered 1,200 monks and nuns according to Giác Ngộ (Ân Phật records 1,047 and Chốn Thiêng records 1,250), recognized as the largest in Vietnam.
- 2006Recognition of the main hallOn January 2, 2006, the main hall was officially recognized as the largest main hall in Vietnam.
Several figures vary across sources and are noted plainly here. For current land area, Ân Phật lists 57 hectares, Giác Ngộ lists over 60 hectares, while the pagoda's website lists nearly 100 hectares (the original area cleared in 1964). For the main hall, the pagoda's website records construction starting in 2002, Giác Ngộ records construction from 2002 to 2006, while phatgiao.vn states it was completed in 2002. The library follows the pagoda's website and Giác Ngộ on the 2002 start date and notes all three accounts.
For the number of rains-retreat practitioners in 2004, Giác Ngộ lists 1,200 monastics, Ân Phật lists 1,047, and Chốn Thiêng lists 1,250. Regarding records, phatgiao.vn and Giác Ngộ list four national records (as of 2007), whereas the pagoda's website lists six (adding records recognized between 2009 and 2010). The recognition date for the monolithic Maitreya statue also differs, with phatgiao.vn and Giác Ngộ recording May 31, 2007 and the pagoda's website recording 2009.
IIIVạn Phật Quang main hall and statue gardens
The main hall is the centerpiece of the grounds, rising two stories, 91 meters long and 46 meters wide, approached by forty-seven stone steps and designed by architect Lê Quang Mẫn according to the pagoda's website and Giác Ngộ. The upper floor enshrines nine large granite statues, comprising the Amitabha Triad (Amitabha Buddha, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva), the Shakyamuni Triad (Shakyamuni Buddha, Manjushri Bodhisattva, and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva), together with two Dharma Protector statues and a statue of Patriarch Bodhidharma. Around the interior walls are set about 10,000 small Buddha statues (each 0.25 meters wide at the knees and 0.30 meters tall according to Giác Ngộ). The name Vạn Phật Quang (Light of Ten Thousand Buddhas) comes directly from those ten thousand images, arranged according to the Sutra of Ten Thousand Buddhas. The ground floor enshrines Amitabha Buddha, according to Giác Ngộ and the pagoda's website.
Two stories measuring 91 by 46 meters, accommodating thousands of worshippers. The upper hall enshrines 9 large granite statues and 10,000 small Buddha statues, while the ground floor enshrines Amitabha Buddha (Ân Phật notes space on the lower floor for 500 Amitabha statues).
Carved from a single block of granite from the Cam Ranh mountains (Khánh Hòa), standing 5.1 meters tall and weighing 40 tons, completed in 2002 and recognized as the largest monolithic granite Maitreya statue in Vietnam.
Stands 17 meters tall atop a dragon head in front of the original small shrine, according to Giác Ngộ and Ân Phật.
Located beside the Maitreya terrace, featuring 48 granite statues of Amitabha Buddha along with a 18-meter concrete statue, according to Giác Ngộ and the pagoda's website.
The three-story Đa Bảo Stupa built in 1983 enshrines Shakyamuni Buddha, Prabhutaratna Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and Dharma Protectors. To the left of the stupa lies a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha entering Parinirvana on a lotus pedestal, according to Giác Ngộ.
Two sculptural gardens depicting the Buddha's birth at Lumbini and his first turning of the Dharma wheel for the five ascetics at Deer Park, according to Giác Ngộ and Ân Phật.
What stands out in the layout is how Pure Land devotion is combined with Zen. The nine large statues on the upper floor include both the Amitabha Triad and Patriarch Bodhidharma, the ground floor enshrines Amitabha Buddha, and the Nine-Grade Pure Land Garden displays forty-eight granite statues of Amitabha Buddha (in the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life, the number forty-eight corresponds to Amitabha's forty-eight great vows, while the nine grades refer to the nine levels of rebirth in the Pure Land described in the Contemplation Sutra). This arrangement reflects the dual practice of Zen and Pure Land (thiền tịnh song tu) common across Southern Vietnamese Mahayana temples, in sharp contrast to the sparse, minimalist halls of the Trúc Lâm Zen monastery ten kilometers away.
The three-story Buddhist college stands within the compound with a capacity of about 1,000 students, serving as both a monastic seminary and the venue for great ordination platforms. Behind the original small shrine to the left of the main gate stand the memorial stupa, statue, and stele honoring the late founding patriarch Most Venerable Thích Thiện Hòa.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
This section presents the library's reading through the lens of traditional Vietnamese geomancy (phong thủy), not a statement recorded in pagoda texts. The sources reviewed by the library do not mention geomantic reasons for the founding patriarch's choice of land in Phú Mỹ, nor do they record the compass bearing of the main hall. The library does not guess the compass bearing and reads only the overall posture of the terrain.
Đại Tòng Lâm sits on low, gently rolling, expansive ground alongside National Highway 51, sharing the same belt of terrain as Thường Chiếu. In geomantic terms this is flatland (bình địa), without a high mountain range immediately behind its back or a large river directly in front. Put plainly, the lie of the land here is not the dramatic mountain-and-water setting praised in classical geomancy manuals. Its strength lies in another quality, breadth.
A tòng lâm requires broad ground above all else. It needs room for a monastic college, for ordination platforms, for over a thousand monastics observing the rains retreat together, and for festival days drawing tens of thousands of pilgrims. Level, expansive ground makes it possible to raise a ninety-one-meter-long main hall without cutting into a mountainside. In traditional geomancy, the open courtyard and forecourt before a hall form the bright hall (minh đường), where a wide bright hall allows qi to gather and gives crowds room to stand. Here the bright hall is wide enough to hold an entire festival season.
Placed beside Thường Chiếu, the two sites illustrate two opposite ways of using the same belt of red soil. Thường Chiếu scatters two hundred small meditation huts across wooded gardens, allowing qi to disperse evenly in keeping with the quiet solitude of individual meditators. Đại Tòng Lâm gathers everything toward a massive central sanctuary, causing qi to converge in one place in keeping with the communal life of a great monastery. Sharing the same stretch of land, one chooses dispersion and the other chooses convergence, each matching its own mode of practice.
Finally, there is the word lâm (forest) in the temple's name. Tòng lâm means a dense forest. On flat terrain without mountains, trees and practitioners themselves form the sheltering support. The library simply notes that the name and the terrain express the same idea, that where there are no mountains, a multitude of practitioners becomes the mountain.
VObservances, rains retreat, and ordination platforms
The ritual calendar at Đại Tòng Lâm operates on two levels. For the monastic community, the core events are the annual rains retreat and the triennial ordination platform. For lay Buddhists, the largest gatherings are the three annual Avalokiteshvara (Quan Âm) feast days. Tiền Phong reported that on the Avalokiteshvara feast day of the 19th day of the 2nd lunar month in 2024, the pagoda welcomed about 30,000 visitors on the main day and an estimated 90,000 visitors across the three-day observance. During the Buddhist Era 2570 (2026) rains retreat, Giác Ngộ recorded 139 resident monastic practitioners at the Đại Tòng Lâm retreat center.
| Lunar date | Observance | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1st of the 1st month | Lunar New Year (Tết Nguyên Đán) | First day of the lunar year, which also coincides with the memorial day of Most Venerable Thích Thiện Hòa's passing on Lunar New Year's Day Mậu Ngọ (1978). Sources do not detail the patriarchal memorial rite. |
| 19th of the 2nd month | Avalokiteshvara's Birthday (Vía Quan Âm đản sinh) | The most crowded observance of the year, when lay Buddhists gather across the grounds for prostrations and sutra chanting, according to Tiền Phong. |
| 15th of the 4th month | Buddha's Birthday (Phật Đản) | Celebrates the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha. |
| 16th of the 4th month to 15th of the 7th month | Rains Retreat (An cư kiết hạ) | The centralized rains retreat formally commences on the 16th day of the 4th lunar month each year, according to Giác Ngộ. Monks and nuns remain on site for three months of intensive study and practice. |
| 19th of the 6th month | Avalokiteshvara's Enlightenment (Vía Quan Âm thành đạo) | The second major annual feast day honoring Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. |
| 15th of the 7th month | Vu Lan (Ullambana) and close of the retreat | Festival of filial piety honoring parents, marking the conclusion of the three-month rains retreat. |
| 19th of the 9th month | Avalokiteshvara's Renunciation (Vía Quan Âm xuất gia) | The third major annual feast day honoring Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. |
Alongside these annual dates, the pagoda convenes the Thiện Hòa Great Ordination Platform (Đại giới đàn Thiện Hòa), held once every three years according to Giác Ngộ. An ordination platform is where novices receive the monastic precepts to enter the ranks of fully ordained monks and nuns, and naming the platform after the founding patriarch reflects his original purpose in establishing the pagoda as a training ground that produces practitioners rather than merely a place for devotional visits.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Bên quốc lộ 51, khu phố Quảng Phú, phường Phú Mỹ (thành phố Phú Mỹ cũ, tỉnh Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu cũ), Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
- Getting there
- The pagoda stands along National Highway 51 in Quảng Phú Quarter, Phú Mỹ Ward, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Phú Mỹ City, former Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu Province), about 70 kilometers from central Saigon according to phatgiao.vn.
- Coordinates
- 10.6019, 107.0551
Đại Tòng Lâm is an active monastic training center housing a resident Buddhist college. Temple etiquette requires modest dress, removing hats, and maintaining silence inside the Vạn Phật Quang main hall, without touching the small Buddha statues mounted along the walls. The college classrooms and monastic living quarters are closed to casual visitors. During the three annual Avalokiteshvara feast days the grounds become very crowded, so visitors should follow the designated pedestrian routes arranged by the pagoda.
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?Quick Questions
Who founded Đại Tòng Lâm Pagoda
Most Venerable Thích Thiện Hòa founded the pagoda in 1958 as a center for collective monastic study and practice. His successor Most Venerable Thích Quảng Hiển initiated construction of the Vạn Phật Quang main hall in 2002. The pagoda belongs to Northern-tradition Buddhism of the Lâm Tế (Linji) school, with no specific sub-branch recorded in verified sources.
What does tòng lâm mean
Tòng lâm literally means a dense forest. In Buddhism it designates a large monastery where many monks and nuns live and study together under a shared monastic code. Đại Tòng Lâm lives up to its name with a resident Buddhist college, triennial ordination platforms, and a 2004 rains retreat that gathered between 1,047 and 1,250 monastics depending on the source.
How large is the main hall of Đại Tòng Lâm Pagoda
The two-story Vạn Phật Quang main hall measures 91 meters long by 46 meters wide, was designed by architect Lê Quang Mẫn, and was recognized on January 2, 2006 as the largest main hall in Vietnam. Its upper floor enshrines nine large granite statues and about 10,000 small Buddha statues, while the ground floor enshrines Amitabha Buddha.
Are Vạn Phật Quang Pagoda and Đại Tòng Lâm Pagoda the same temple
Yes. The full name of the temple is Vạn Phật Quang Đại Tòng Lâm Tự. Vạn Phật Quang is the name of the main hall housing ten thousand small Buddha images, and because people often shorten the temple's name to either half, some mistakenly think they are two separate pagodas.
How does Đại Tòng Lâm Pagoda differ from Thường Chiếu Zen Monastery
Both stand along National Highway 51 about 9.6 kilometers apart. Thường Chiếu is the ancestral monastery of modern Trúc Lâm Zen, focused on Zen meditation with simple, understated halls. Đại Tòng Lâm is a traditional Northern-tradition monastic complex centered on its Buddhist college, ordination platforms, and rains retreats, featuring extensive Amitabha imagery reflecting combined Zen and Pure Land practice.