The Ngoa Van spring festival 2019 in Quang Ninh province’s Dong Trieu provincial city kicked off at the Tran dynasty Special Relic Site on February 13 (9th of the first Lunar month).
The festival’s opening ceremony was held by the province’s Dong Trieu town in collaboration with the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha chapter in the province.
According to the history, King Monk Trần Nhân Tông abdicated when he was 35 and spent the rest of his life on Yen Tu Mountain practicing and propagating Buddhism. He founded the first Vietnamese School of Buddhism called “Thien Tong” or Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen on Yen Tu Mountain.
He moved to Bao Dai Mountain and built Ngoa Van temple in 1307, which is located in a complex of landscape and historical sites on the Yen Tu Mountain range. Then he attained Nirvana in 1308 at the pagoda. Therefore, the pagoda is considered the "Holy Land" for Truc Lam Zen Buddhism in particular and Vietnamese Buddhism in general.
A scene of Ngoa Van pagoda
The festival running from the ninth day of the first lunar month to the end of the third lunar month aims to pay tribute to King Monk Trần Nhân Tông, as well as honor the ideological values of the Truc Lam Zen sect.
NL (daidoanket.vn)
