Xa Loi Pagoda

The Xa Loi Pagoda ( _vi. Chùa Xá Lợi; Hán tự: ) is the largest pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was built in 1956 and was the headquarters of Buddhism in South Vietnam. The Temple is located in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City and lies on a plot of 2500 square metres. The name "Xa Loi" is the Vietnamese translation for "sarira", a term used for relics of Buddhists.

The pagoda is most well-known abroad for the Xa Loi Pagoda raids, in which the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, the brother of the Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem, raided and vandalised the pagodas on August 21 1963.

Construction

Construction began on August 5 1956 according to the plans drawn up by the architects Tran Van Duong and Do Ba Vinh, while the directing engineers were Du Ngoc Anh and Ho To Thuan. The pagoda was opened on May 2 1958 by the Most Venerable Thich Khanh Anh.cite web|url=http://www.buddhismtoday.com/viet/pgvn/chua/chuaxaloi.htm |language=Vietnamese |title=CHÙA XÁ LỢI:TRUYỀN THỐNG & ĐẶC ĐIỂM VĂN HÓA|author=Thích Đồng Bổn |publisher=Buddhism Today |date=2001-06-28 |accesddate=2008-02-04]

The pagoda was built to enshrine a sample of the relics of Gautama Buddha, giving its name.

The pagoda was the heaquarters of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association until 1981, and was its second office until May 1993.

Architecture

The temple includes a large statue of Gautama Buddha that was crafted by sculptors from Bien Hoa, a city just north of Ho Chi Minh City. The statue has been in its current state since 1969, when a gold coating was applied to it. In front of the statue is a shrine dedicated to the relics of the Buddha, with the relics being enshrined in a small stupa. The main ceremonial hall is adorned with large artistic depictions by Dr. Nguyen Van Long of the Gia Dinh Art School, which depict various scenes of the Buddha from his birth as Prince Siddhartha to his attainment of nirvana.

The bell tower of Xa Loi Pagoda was opened in 1961. The tower stands 32 m, has seven stories, and is the highest bell tower in Vietnam. On the highest level, there is a bell weighing two tonnes, which was cast in the model of the bell of Thien Mu Pagoda in Huế.

Raids

South Vietnam's Buddhist majority had long been discontented with the strong favouritism shown by Diem towards his fellow Catholics. Discontent with Diem and Nhu exploded into mass protest during the summer of 1963 when nine Buddhists died at the hand of Diem's army and police on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha. In May 1963, a law against the flying of religious flags was selectively invoked; the Buddhist flag was banned from display on Vesak while the Vatican flag was displayed to celebrate the anniversary of the consecration of Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc, Diem's brother. The Buddhists defied the ban and a protest was ended when government forces opened fire. With Diem remaining intransigent in the face of escalating Buddhist demands for religious equality, sections of society began calling for his removal from power. The protests were orchestrated from within Xa Loi, where thousands of monks arrived from across South Vietnam to organise demonstrations, hunger strikes, organise media releases and print pamphlets. The government of Diem was unable to break the protestors and demonstrations increased throughout the summer.Jacobs, pp. 130 140.]

However, the movement was broken with a series of raids on pagodas and monasteries across South Vietnam. Squads of Special Forces, led by Le Quang Tung and combat police flattened the gates and smashed their way into the pagoda at around 00:20 on August 21 1963, as Xa Loi's brass gong was clanged as a warning signal of the attack. Nhu's men were armed with pistols, submachine guns, carbines, shotguns, grenades and tear gas. The red bereted Special Forces were joined by truckloads of steel-helmeted combat police in army camouflage uniforms. [Jones, p. 297.] Monks and nuns who barricaded themselves behind wooden shields were attacked with rifle butts and bayonets. The gong of the pagoda was drowned out by the burst of automatic weapons fire, the sound of exploding grenades, shattering glass and human screaming. [Jacobs, p. 153.] One monk was thrown from the balcony down to the courtyard 6 meters below. Nhu's men vandalized the main altar and managed to confiscate the intact charred heart of Thich Quang Duc, the monk who had self-immolated in protest against the policies of the regime. The Buddhists managed to escape with a receptacle with the remainder of his ashes. Two monks jumped the back wall of the pagoda into the grounds of the adjoining US Aid Mission, where they were given asylum. Thich Tinh Khiet, the 80 year old Buddhist patriarch of Vietnam, was seized and taken to a military hospital on the outskirts of Saigon. [Hammer, p. 168.] The commander of the III Corps of the ARVN, General Ton That Dinh, soon announced military control over Saigon, canceling all commercial flights into the city and instituting press censorship. [Jones, p. 298.] cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940704-1,00.html |title=The Crackdown |publisher=TIME |date=August 30 1963 |accessdate=2007-08-18] Across the country, hundreds were estimated to have died or vanished, and more than one thousand monks were incarcerated.

Notes

References

*cite book| title=A Death in November| first=Ellen J.|last=Hammer| year=1987 |publisher=E. P. Dutton|isbn=0-525-24210-4
*cite book| first=Seth |last=Jacobs| year=2006| title=Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers| isbn=0-7425-4447-8
*cite book| first=Howard |last=Jones| year=2003| title= Death of a Generation| publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=0-19-505286-2