Turning into an alley off Lê Quang Định Street in Gò Vấp, about 30 meters from the main road stands a triple-arched gate opening onto a compact compound where three multi-story buildings enclose a front courtyard. Everyone walking across the courtyard is a nun with a shaved head and yellow robes. At the front right of the courtyard stands the memorial stupa of the late Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên facing the triple-arched gate, while on the left is a Lumbini Garden recreating the Buddha's birth beneath an ashoka tree. On mornings during the rains retreat, the sound of nuns chanting scriptures in Vietnamese echoes down from the upper-floor main hall.
This is Ngọc Phương Vihara (Tịnh xá Ngọc Phương), the ancestral seat of the Nuns' Order of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect (Ni giới Hệ phái Khất Sĩ). About 530 meters away stands Trung Tâm Vihara, the shared central monastery of the entire sect. Though close in distance, the two sites hold distinct roles, as Trung Tâm is where monks from all monastic groups gather, whereas Ngọc Phương is revered by the Mendicant Nuns' Order as its own mother monastery.
IThe ancestral seat of the Mendicant Nuns' Order
The Mendicant Buddhist Sect (Hệ phái Khất Sĩ) was founded by Patriarch Minh Đăng Quang in 1944, who disappeared from public view in 1954. The story of how the Patriarch built the sect's first vihara is covered in the Ngọc Viên Vihara entry. This entry focuses on one branch of the sect, the Nuns' Order (Ni giới), comprising its ordained female monastics.
The pioneer of the Mendicant Nuns' Order was Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên (Ni trưởng Huỳnh Liên), born Nguyễn Thị Trừ in 1923 in Phú Mỹ village in the former Mỹ Tho province. According to Giác Ngộ newspaper and Phật Sự Online, on April 1, 1947 she was ordained directly by Patriarch Minh Đăng Quang at Linh Bửu Temple. As the first elder nun to lead the sect's Nuns' Order, she translated daily chanting scriptures such as the Heart Sutra, Amitabha Sutra, Ullambana Sutra, Universal Gate Chapter, and Dhammapada into Vietnamese verse, founded numerous viharas for nuns during her lifetime, and established Ngọc Phương in 1957. She passed away on the 19th day of the 3rd lunar month of the Đinh Mão year (April 16, 1987) at the age of 65. The library records only her monastic practice and vihara foundations rather than civic titles.
The word Ngọc (Jade) at the beginning of the vihara's name follows the sect's customary naming pattern, alongside names such as Ngọc Viên and Ngọc Thạnh. It does not mean that Ngọc Phương is a branch of Ngọc Viên. According to the Mendicant Nuns' Order website, Ngọc Phương today coordinates more than three hundred nuns' viharas across all three regions of Vietnam.
Within the Mendicant Buddhist Sect, monks and nuns uphold the same way of life, wearing yellow robes, going on alms rounds with a begging bowl, eating a single meal each day before noon, chanting scriptures in Vietnamese, and studying the Patriarch's Chơn Lý (Truth) collection. However, monks and nuns do not reside in the same monastery. Each order maintains its own viharas and, over time, its own ancestral seat. For monks, the ancestral seat is Ngọc Viên. For nuns, the ancestral seat is Ngọc Phương, because this is where the sect's first nun laid the institutional foundation for the entire Nuns' Order and where her memorial stupa stands.
On Dharma names and successive abbesses. The library has not found a documented lineage transmission poem (kệ truyền thừa) for the Mendicant Buddhist Sect. What is readily observable is that early generations of nuns bear the word Liên (Lotus) in their Dharma names, such as Huỳnh Liên and Nhã Liên. According to the Mendicant Nuns' Order website, the elder nuns who successively served as abbess of Ngọc Phương after Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên were Elder Nun Thành Liên from 1960 to 1962, Elder Nun Đức Liên from 1963 to 1965, Elder Nun Châu Liên from 1965 to 1967, Elder Nun Thiền Liên from 1967 to 1968, and Elder Nun Ngoạt Liên from 1970 to 2019, while today the vihara is administered by a Management Board headed by Elder Nun Viên Liên. The library notes the shared word Liên as a naming custom rather than a lineage poem, without inferring generational numbers from it.
Because they stand close to each other and belong to the same sect, many visitors assume Ngọc Phương is an annex of Trung Tâm Vihara. It is not. Ngọc Phương was founded in 1957, eight years before Trung Tâm, and serves as the independent ancestral seat of the Nuns' Order rather than a subordinate house under Trung Tâm. A second common misconception is treating the word Liên in nuns' Dharma names as a character from a Lâm Tế lineage poem. No source records such a poem, so it should be understood as an early naming convention of the order.
IIFrom 1957 to the present
The vihara was founded in 1957 on a plot of land in Gò Vấp, which was then a suburban area. According to the Mendicant Nuns' Order website, the initial structures were built simply with corrugated metal roofs, wooden plank walls, and cement floors, centered on an octagonal wooden-walled main hall roofed with fiber cement sheets. Later reconstructions kept the original footprint while adding upper stories and rebuilding the octagonal hall into a rectangular multi-story structure with a tile-clad cast concrete roof, completed in stages over more than a decade.
- 1923Birth of the Elder NunElder Nun Huỳnh Liên, born Nguyễn Thị Trừ, was born in Phú Mỹ village, Mỹ Tho.
- 1947Monastic ordinationOn April 1, 1947, she was ordained under Patriarch Minh Đăng Quang at Linh Bửu Temple.
- 1954Disappearance of the PatriarchPatriarch Minh Đăng Quang disappeared from public view in 1954.
- 1957Foundation of the viharaElder Nun Huỳnh Liên founded Ngọc Phương Vihara in Gò Vấp with a simple octagonal main hall.
- 1965Restoration of the two side wingsThe two residential wings flanking the main hall were renovated.
- 1972Rebuilding of the main hallWork began on rebuilding the main hall into a rectangular two-story structure with a tile-clad cast concrete roof, continuing in stages until 1984.
- 1988Erection of the Elder Nun's stupaFollowing the Elder Nun's passing on the 19th day of the 3rd lunar month of the Đinh Mão year (1987), her memorial stupa was erected the next year and the left residential wing was renovated.
- 1994National heritage designationOn October 15, 1994, the Ministry of Culture and Information issued Decision 2754-QĐ/BT designating the vihara a national historical heritage site, according to Chốn Thiêng.
Regarding the scale of the vihara's network, sources frame the numbers in two ways. Giác Ngộ newspaper and memorial articles state that the Elder Nun founded over a hundred nuns' viharas during her lifetime. Meanwhile, the Mendicant Nuns' Order website records that Ngọc Phương currently coordinates more than three hundred nuns' viharas nationwide. The two figures describe two different moments, one reflecting the personal founding work of a single lifetime and the other reflecting the entire network today.
IIIThree building blocks and the Lumbini Garden
The compound covers about 2,500 square meters, arranged into three multi-story building blocks. The central block houses the lecture hall on the ground floor and the main shrine hall on the first upper floor. The two flanking blocks are nuns' residential wings, with the left wing comprising a ground floor, first floor, and rooftop terrace, and the right wing comprising a basement parking level, ground floor, two upper floors, and a rooftop terrace. This layout differs markedly from traditional mendicant viharas where an octagonal main hall stands freestanding in an open courtyard, as everything here is consolidated into three closely set blocks suited to a compact urban plot.
Located on the first upper floor of the central block, measuring 12 meters wide by 8.6 meters deep according to the Mendicant Nuns' Order website. At the center sits a 2-meter statue of Shakyamuni Buddha meditating on a lotus pedestal beneath a Bodhi tree, flanked on the left by Patriarch Minh Đăng Quang and on the right by Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên, with the abbess's quarters and memorial hall for late nuns behind.
In front of the upper-floor main hall stands a 2-meter statue of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara holding a pure water vase, beneath a tile-clad cast concrete roof, according to the Mendicant Nuns' Order website and Chốn Thiêng.
Measuring 34 meters long by 12 meters wide, with the ground floor housing the Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên memorial room, office, nuns' quarters, and kitchen, and the first floor housing nuns' rooms and the Nine Generations ancestral hall (nhà Cửu Huyền).
Measuring 38 meters long by 11.5 meters wide, with a sutra distribution room, guest parlor, refectory, and basement parking on the ground level, nuns' rooms on the first floor, and the Primary Buddhist Studies office, library, and classrooms on the second floor.
Erected in 1988 on the front right side of the courtyard, facing the triple-arched gate, in memory of the late Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên.
Set on the front left side of the courtyard, recreating the scene of the Buddha's birth beneath an ashoka tree in Lumbini Garden (Vườn Lâm Tỳ Ni).
Placing a Lumbini Garden inside a nuns' vihara carries a distinct resonance. According to Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha was born beneath a tree in Lumbini Garden while his mother, Queen Maya, was traveling home to her parents' kingdom. Recreating that scene honors the mother in the story of the Buddha's birth and reminds visitors that Buddhism opened a path for women from its earliest days, when Mahapajapati Gotami, the Buddha's maternal aunt and foster mother, became the first bhikkhuni.
Visitors familiar with the typical architecture of Mendicant viharas are often surprised upon arriving at Ngọc Phương not to see an eight-sided main hall. According to the Mendicant Nuns' Order website, the original main hall was indeed octagonal, and was later rebuilt into a rectangular two-story structure. The rectangular form is not a departure from the sect's tradition, but a practical way to provide living and study space for a large community of nuns on a narrow city plot.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
This section presents the library's reading through the lens of traditional Vietnamese geomancy (phong thủy), not something recorded in the texts of the vihara or the sect. The Mendicant Buddhist Sect does not include geomancy in its teachings, and the library has no source indicating that the Elder Nun consulted geomancy when founding the vihara. This is an urban plot of land, and the library reads it strictly as an urban site.
Gò Vấp, as the word gò (mound or knoll) in its name suggests, is an area of naturally elevated ground higher than the low-lying marshy fields around old Saigon. In 1957 this plot stood on the suburban fringe, whereas today it sits deep inside a dense residential district. For such a site, the library does not read a dragon vein (long mạch) or mountain-and-river configurations because none exist here. The only natural topographic feature that remains relevant is the elevated mound itself, offering high, dry, flood-free ground, which traditional builders always prioritized when choosing a site for a place of worship.
The rest of the spatial configuration is human-made. Three building blocks enclose three sides of a courtyard while the fourth side forms the entrance, creating a compact bright hall (minh đường), an open forecourt in front of the principal structure. In traditional geomantic reading, an enclosed bright hall retains qi and prevents street winds from rushing straight into the shrine. Placing the main hall on the upper floor, elevated above street level, likewise separates the space for venerating the Buddha from the urban activity below.
Finally, there is its spatial relationship with Trung Tâm Vihara about 530 meters away. Two viharas of the same sect stand near each other in the city, one marked by a tall stupa spire and the other low and enclosed. Read through the yin-yang pairing of traditional site analysis, one is tall and the other low, one open and the other inward-looking. For members of the sect, they are simply two separate residences for the two monastic assemblies of monks and nuns, each upholding its own discipline.
VMemorial observances and the rains retreat
The observance specific to Ngọc Phương is the memorial day of its founding Elder Nun. According to Phật Sự Online, the 38th annual memorial in 2025 was held on the 19th day of the 3rd lunar month of the Ất Tỵ year at the ancestral vihara, and Giác Ngộ newspaper reported that the 39th memorial in 2026 was likewise observed here with nuns gathering from viharas across the country. Other annual observances follow the shared calendar of the sect.
| Lunar date | Observance | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1st of the 2nd month | Memorial of the Patriarch | Commemoration day across the sect for Patriarch Minh Đăng Quang |
| 19th of the 3rd month | Memorial of Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên | Nuns from branch viharas gather at the ancestral seat to offer incense and flowers in memory of their founding elder nun |
| 15th of the 4th month | Buddha's Birthday (Vesak) | Celebration of the Buddha's birth, recalled by the Lumbini Garden in the courtyard |
| Three rainy-season months | Rains retreat (An cư kiết hạ) | Nuns from many viharas gather at the ancestral seat for three months of intensive monastic retreat |
| 15th of the 7th month | Pravarana (Tự tứ) and Vu Lan | Nuns conclude the rains retreat with the Pravarana ceremony while lay Buddhists observe filial piety |
Outside festival days, the primary work of Ngọc Phương is training nuns. According to Chốn Thiêng, the vihara operates a Primary Buddhist Studies program, hosts the annual centralized rains retreat, runs Dharma teacher training courses, and holds four practice retreats each year. The Mendicant Nuns' Order website notes that the vihara not only serves nuns in the city but trains capable nuns for the entire country. The right residential wing, with its library and classrooms on the second floor, is where this educational work takes place every day.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Số 498/1 đường Lê Quang Định, phường Hạnh Thông (phường 1 quận Gò Vấp cũ), Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
- Getting there
- The vihara is at 498/1 Lê Quang Định Street, Hạnh Thông Ward, on the territory of the former Ward 1 of Gò Vấp District, Ho Chi Minh City. Trung Tâm Vihara is about 530 meters away, within easy walking distance.
- Coordinates
- 10.8154, 106.6897
This is the ancestral vihara of the nuns' order, where everyone residing and studying is a nun. Please dress modestly and walk and speak quietly on the upper floor of the main hall, especially during the three-month rains retreat. The two flanking residential wings are private monastic quarters and visitors should not enter uninvited. The nuns take their midday meal before noon, so if you arrive around midday please wait until the meal offering has concluded. Please maintain silence in front of the Elder Nun's memorial stupa.
Nearby places in the library
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?Quick Questions
Which Buddhist tradition does Ngọc Phương Vihara in Gò Vấp belong to?
It belongs to the Mendicant Buddhist Sect (Hệ phái Khất Sĩ) and serves as the ancestral seat (tổ đình) of the sect's Nuns' Order. Founded in 1957 by Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên, the first leader of the Mendicant Nuns' Order, it is a center for monastic education and the annual rains retreat for nuns from many provinces.
Who was Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên?
Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên, born Nguyễn Thị Trừ in 1923 in Phú Mỹ village, Mỹ Tho, was ordained on April 1, 1947 under Patriarch Minh Đăng Quang at Linh Bửu Temple. She was the first elder nun to lead the Mendicant Nuns' Order, translated daily chanting sutras into Vietnamese verse, founded Ngọc Phương Vihara in 1957, and passed away on the 19th day of the 3rd lunar month of the Đinh Mão year (1987).
Is Ngọc Phương Vihara a designated heritage site?
Yes. On October 15, 1994, the Ministry of Culture and Information issued Decision 2754-QĐ/BT designating Ngọc Phương Vihara a national historical heritage site, according to Chốn Thiêng. Its courtyard holds the memorial stupa of Elder Nun Huỳnh Liên, erected in 1988.
How does Ngọc Phương Vihara differ from Trung Tâm Vihara?
Both belong to the Mendicant Buddhist Sect and stand about 530 meters apart. Trung Tâm Vihara, founded in 1965, is the shared central monastery of the sect where monks from all monastic groups gather. Ngọc Phương Vihara, founded in 1957, is the dedicated ancestral seat of the Mendicant Nuns' Order, where all resident monastics are nuns.
Why does Ngọc Phương Vihara not have an octagonal main hall?
According to the Mendicant Nuns' Order website, the original main hall was octagonal, and was rebuilt in stages between 1972 and 1984 into a rectangular two-story structure with a tile-clad cast concrete roof. Today the main shrine hall sits on the first upper floor of the central block, measuring 12 meters by 8.6 meters, above the ground-floor lecture hall.