From the Côn Sơn Pagoda area, walk about three hundred and fifty meters along the foot of the mountain and you reach a stone bridge over a small stream. Across the bridge are the ceremonial gate, then the left and right cloisters, the stele house, and the main shrine hall under its tiled roof, its back against the Ngũ Nhạc range. Inside the hall is a bronze statue of Nguyễn Trãi, 1.4 meters tall.
This temple is new. Construction began at the end of 2000 and it was inaugurated in the autumn of 2002. What is old at Côn Sơn is not the temple roof but the land and the poems. Nguyễn Trãi grew up here, returned here at the end of his life, and wrote about the stream visitors have just crossed in his poem Côn Sơn ca (Song of Côn Sơn). The temple was built to honor him in the very scenery he described.
IỨc Trai, the scholar and writer
The man honored here is Nguyễn Trãi (1380 to 1442), pen name Ức Trai. The library writes about him as a renowned Confucian scholar and writer, the author of the Ức Trai thi tập in classical Chinese, the Quốc âm thi tập in Nôm script, and the poem Côn Sơn ca. The Quốc âm thi tập is regarded as the earliest surviving collection of Nôm poetry in Vietnamese literature. In 1980, on the 600th anniversary of his birth, he was honored by UNESCO as a cultural figure (Tiền Phong).
The four Chinese characters at the top of the page are the name Ức Trai linh từ, the sacred shrine of Ức Trai, written by the library in Sino-Vietnamese, not copied from a horizontal board at the temple.
The library places this temple in the Confucianism group, following the same practice as the page on the Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Temple: honoring someone who served learning and letters belongs to the Confucian line. The clearest sign is that his name stands among the eight notable figures worshipped as associates (tòng tự), that is, honored alongside the altar of Confucius, at Mao Điền Temple of Literature of the Hải Dương garrison.
Why the temple is at Côn Sơn. Côn Sơn was the land of his mother's family. He was the grandson, through his mother, of the Grand Minister (Tư đồ) Trần Nguyên Đán, who withdrew to live in seclusion at the Thanh Hư grotto (Thanh Hư động) in the Côn Sơn valley at the end of the 14th century. Nguyễn Trãi lived here as a child, then came back in his last years to build a house for reading and writing. The page on Côn Sơn Pagoda records his return here from 1435.
In 1442 he was condemned and died in the Lệ Chi Viên affair, and was later exonerated by King Lê Thánh Tông. The library records only that one sentence, and gives the rest of the page to his life in letters and in seclusion.
Many visitors think they are standing on the site of Nguyễn Trãi's old house, or before a temple dating from the Lê dynasty. Neither is true. The temple is a new building from 2000 to 2002. According to material on the Côn Sơn area, his old house site lies in the Thanh Hư grotto valley west of the pagoda, where there is a temple to Trần Nguyên Đán. Nor does this temple carry a ranking decision of its own: its heritage value lies within the shared record of the Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc complex.
IIOld land, new temple
The history of this place has two layers that must be kept apart. The layer of the land and the people goes back more than six hundred years. The layer of the building is less than thirty years old. The dates below record both, so that visitors can see where the new temple stands in the old story.
- Late 14th centuryTrần Nguyên Đán comes to Côn SơnNguyễn Trãi's maternal grandfather withdrew to live in seclusion at the Thanh Hư grotto. Nguyễn Trãi was born in 1380 and lived here as a child.
- From 1435Nguyễn Trãi returns to Côn SơnHe came to live here, built a house for reading and wrote Côn Sơn ca. This is the period of seclusion most closely tied to this land.
- 1442His deathHe died in the Lệ Chi Viên affair and was later exonerated by King Lê Thánh Tông.
- 1962The Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc complex ranked as national heritageThe whole complex was ranked as a national heritage site. The Nguyễn Trãi Temple did not yet exist.
- 1980Honored by UNESCOOn the 600th anniversary of his birth, Nguyễn Trãi was honored by UNESCO as a cultural figure.
- 2000 to 2002The temple is builtConstruction began in December 2000 (Tiền Phong) and the temple was inaugurated in September 2002 (Báo Yên Bái). Tiền Phong records that building the temple took more than 2,500 days of craftsmen's labor.
- 2012Special national heritage siteThe Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc heritage complex was ranked as a special national heritage site under Decision No. 548 of 10 May 2012.
- 2025World HeritageOn 12 July 2025, the Yên Tử, Vĩnh Nghiêm, Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc complex was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (Báo Chính phủ).
On the date of the temple, the three sources consulted agree: Tiền Phong gives the start of construction as December 2000, Báo Yên Bái gives the inauguration as September 2002, and the site's introductory material gives the inauguration as autumn 2002. What needs stating clearly is the address. The temple grounds used to belong to the former Cộng Hòa ward. That ward has now been divided between Chu Văn An ward and Trần Hưng Đạo ward. One introductory text places the temple in Chu Văn An ward, while the OpenStreetMap map places the neighboring Côn Sơn Pagoda area in Trần Hưng Đạo ward. The library has not found an official document, so it does not yet give the new ward.
As for the poem Côn Sơn ca, the familiar Vietnamese translation differs in places between books. In the last line, for example, some editions read that he sits on the stone as on a soft mat (chiếu êm), others as on a soft cushion (đệm êm). The library follows the common version and notes the difference.
IIIStone bridge, ceremonial gate and shrine hall
The grounds cover about 10,000 square meters, built in the traditional architectural style of the Lý and Trần periods (Tiền Phong). The designers did not imitate a 15th century temple from Nguyễn Trãi's own time but chose the Lý and Trần style, the time of his maternal grandfather and of the Trúc Lâm Zen school on Côn Sơn mountain.
The way into the temple crosses a bridge over the stream, the very stream that appears in the poem Côn Sơn ca.
Two layers of gates separate the path from the worship courtyard, with ancillary buildings on either side of the inner gate (Tiền Phong, introductory material).
Two symmetrical buildings on either side of the courtyard, and a stele house recording the building of the temple.
It holds the bronze statue of Nguyễn Trãi, 1.4 meters tall and weighing about 600 kg (Báo Yên Bái). The introductory material says the statue was modeled on his portrait kept in the Nguyễn family hall at Nhị Khê.
Two large, fairly flat rocks halfway along the Côn Sơn stream, on the path up the mountain rather than within the temple grounds, the larger one commonly called the hundred-bay rock (Tiền Phong). Tradition holds that this is where he sat to read and recite poetry (Báo Yên Bái).
It is worth reading the two opening couplets of Côn Sơn ca before going out to the stream. In Sino-Vietnamese: Côn Sơn hữu tuyền, kỳ thanh linh linh nhiên, ngô dĩ vi cầm huyền. Côn Sơn hữu thạch, vũ tẩy đài phô bích, ngô dĩ vi đạm tịch. In the familiar Vietnamese translation, rendered here in English: At Côn Sơn the stream murmurs, and I hear it as a zither playing by my ear. At Côn Sơn there are rocks spread with moss, and I sit on the rock as on a soft mat. The stream and the rocks of the poem are still there. The temple roof is what later generations have added.
For the pagoda and the Trúc Lâm patriarch, please read the page on Côn Sơn Pagoda. This page covers only the temple to Nguyễn Trãi.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
What follows is the library borrowing the traditional art of reading land to read the scenery, not something recorded in any stele or temple document. For a newly built temple, what is read here is the old lie of the land at Côn Sơn and the way the new building places itself within it.
The temple lies at the foot of the Ngũ Nhạc range, adjoining Kỳ Lân mountain where the pagoda stands. Ngũ Nhạc is five linked peaks, with five shrines on top, forming a long screen behind the temple. This is the backed by the mountain (tựa sơn) form in its plainest sense: a solid mountain behind, slopes embracing on either side, and the low ground of the valley in front.
What decides the scene here is water. The Côn Sơn stream flows across in front of the temple, and those entering must cross a bridge. In geomancy, water curving around the front is the form of water encircling (thủy nhiễu), water that embraces the site rather than rushing straight at it, holding the qi for the land within. The introductory material also records a lake in front, adding a layer of gathered water in the bright hall (minh đường).
Read with the old eye, the Côn Sơn valley is a place that hides the wind and gathers water (tàng phong tụ thủy): the mountains block the wind, the stream and the lake hold the water. It was no accident that people of old, from Trần Nguyên Đán to Nguyễn Trãi, came here to live in seclusion. The new temple has been placed right in the heart of that valley, between the pagoda and the Thanh Hư grotto, so what it inherits is the lie of the land rather than any foundation. The sources consulted do not record the temple's facing by compass direction, and the library does not guess further.
VThe Côn Sơn autumn festival
The temple has no festival of its own but is part of the Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc autumn festival in the 8th lunar month. The 16th day of the 8th month is the day of commemoration for Nguyễn Trãi, with a procession from Côn Sơn Pagoda to the temple. The Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc festival was added to the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012.
| Lunar time | Rite | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 10th to 20th day of the 8th lunar month | Côn Sơn autumn festival | The autumn festival of the Côn Sơn area, held in step with the festival of Kiếp Bạc Temple. |
| 16th day of the 8th lunar month | Procession and commemoration of Nguyễn Trãi | A procession from Côn Sơn Pagoda to the temple, followed by a commemoration and an incense offering before his altar (Côn Sơn Pagoda page, Thanh Tra). |
| 20th day of the 8th lunar month | Death anniversary of Saint Trần at Kiếp Bạc | The main day of Kiếp Bạc Temple within the same festival season, belonging to a different tradition of worship, noted here so visitors know the shared calendar. |
| 1st lunar month | Côn Sơn spring festival | The pagoda's spring festival, commemorating the Trúc Lâm patriarch, not a rite of this temple. |
Placing the commemoration of Nguyễn Trãi in the middle of the autumn festival is how people here link three places of worship in one season: the pagoda of the Zen patriarch, the temple of the Confucian scholar, and the temple of Kiếp Bạc, about 5.6 kilometers away. In one festival season, the three traditions of worship each keep their own ways.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Chân núi Ngũ Nhạc liền núi Kỳ Lân, khu Côn Sơn, phường Cộng Hòa cũ, thành phố Chí Linh cũ, tỉnh Hải Dương cũ, nay thuộc thành phố Hải Phòng. Phường Cộng Hòa cũ bị chia cho phường Chu Văn An và phường Trần Hưng Đạo, chưa tra được khu đền về phường nào
- Getting there
- At the foot of Ngũ Nhạc mountain in the Côn Sơn area, in the former Chí Linh area of Hải Phòng city, about 350 meters from Côn Sơn Pagoda, about 3.7 km from the Chu Văn An Temple and about 5.6 km from Kiếp Bạc Temple.
- Coordinates
- 21.1537, 106.3818
The temple lies within a heritage area of pine forest and streams, and parts of the path are slippery stone after rain. The custom of a place honoring a renowned scholar is that visitors dress modestly, remove hats on entering the shrine hall, do not bring meat offerings and do not burn votive paper before the altar. The Thạch Bàn rocks are tied to his poetry, so visitors are asked not to carve or draw on them.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Nguyen Trai Temple
Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Đền thờ Nguyễn TrãiEveryone 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
When was the Nguyễn Trãi Temple at Côn Sơn built
The temple is a new building, begun in December 2000 according to Tiền Phong and inaugurated in September 2002 according to Báo Yên Bái. It has no ranking decision of its own but lies within the Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc special national heritage complex. What is old here is the land where he lived and what he wrote about it.
Why is the Nguyễn Trãi Temple at Côn Sơn
Côn Sơn was the land of his mother's family. He was the grandson, through his mother, of the Grand Minister Trần Nguyên Đán, who withdrew to live in seclusion at the Thanh Hư grotto. Nguyễn Trãi lived here as a child, returned from 1435, built a house for reading and wrote Côn Sơn ca about the very stream and rocks of the valley.
How tall is the statue of Nguyễn Trãi at the temple
The bronze statue in the shrine hall is 1.4 meters tall and weighs about 600 kg, according to Báo Yên Bái. The site's introductory material says it was modeled on his portrait kept in the Nguyễn family hall at Nhị Khê.
What is Thạch Bàn at Côn Sơn
Two large rocks halfway along the Côn Sơn stream, on the path up the mountain, where tradition says Nguyễn Trãi sat to read and recite poetry. The detail echoes the lines of Côn Sơn ca: at Côn Sơn there are rocks spread with moss, and I sit on the rock as on a soft mat. This is tradition, not something confirmed by documents.
When is Nguyễn Trãi commemorated
On the 16th day of the 8th lunar month, during the Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc autumn festival. That day there is a procession from Côn Sơn Pagoda to the temple, followed by a commemoration and an incense offering. The Côn Sơn autumn festival usually runs from the 10th to the 20th day of the 8th lunar month.