The Western temple is associated with the story of a pair of giant snakes

Hang Pagoda located on Sam mountain in Chau Doc city has a tranquil landscape and many legends handed down.

Sam Mountain in Chau Doc City is about 200 m high above sea level and is a convergence of many spiritual destinations and famous monuments such as Ba Chua Temple of Sam Mountain, Tay An Pagoda, Thoai Ngoc Hau Tomb, attracting tourists to come and visit. Located on Tan Lo Kieu Luong street, about 2 km from Tay An pagoda is Phuoc Dien pagoda, also known as Hang pagoda.

Phuoc Dien pagoda campus is green with more than 40 attractions. Photo: Van Thai 

Hang Pagoda was founded by Mrs. Tho (real name Le Thi Tho, born in 1818). After getting married, she encountered a situation of opposites and took refuge in the Buddha's door at Tay An Temple, taking refuge with the Dharma name Dieu Thien. After a period of practice at Tay An pagoda, because this place was frequented by many people, she went to find a quiet place, empty of monks. Going to the west of Sam mountain, she met a deep cave, dense with trees, so she stayed and built a bamboo and leaf hut as a place to practice.

Next to the monk's house there is a deep mountain cave, inside there are a pair of big snakes. Since she came to practice, the pair of pythons have been listening to Buddhist scriptures every day, becoming gentle, eating vegetarian food, not harming people, watching over them. wild animals, crooks. Mrs. Tho named the pair of pythons Thanh Xa and Bach Xa. When she died, this pair of snakes suddenly disappeared. Then, to avoid danger, the cave was filled with only the entrance to the door, about 10 m deep, inside worshiping Amitabha Buddha, Avalokitesvara, and Dai The Chi Bodhisattva.

Appreciating the virtue of nun Dieu Thien, in 1885, Mr. Phan Thong (real name Nguyen Ngoc Cang) and people around the area contributed money, built a pagoda with a brick floor, tile roof, wooden pillars. ... named Phuoc Dien Tu, but folk still used to call it Hang Pagoda.

In the following years, the pagoda was restored and built two more times and has a spacious and dignified appearance as it is today. The temple campus has 44 attractions such as: the main hall, the brave cave, the lake of the sea, the courtyard of the fairies, the museum of the sutras, etc., which are arranged with specific instructions for visitors. The works in the pagoda are designed in harmony with reddish brown tones, roofed with pipe tiles, columns, delicately carved roofs, and paved walkways with steps for convenient movement.

In the summer, the Hang Pagoda glows in the color of the phoenix, and in the rainy season, it is dyed purple by the mausoleum. Photo: Van Thai

Chua is located on the slopes of Sam mountain to welcome the cool breeze, from here visitors can see the landscape of An Giang border fields in a green color.