Xua Temple – Giam Pagoda – Bia Temple is a cluster of 3 relics located in the area of 3 communes Cam Son, Cam Vu and Cam Van of Cam Giang district. The three monuments are very close to each other, worshiping the same ancestor, the great physician and Zen master Tue Tinh, but each place has unique architectural works, creating its own imprint and place in cultural and spiritual life. spirits of local people. In December 2017, the cluster of historical and architectural relics of Xua Temple – Giam Pagoda – Beer Temple was decided by the Prime Minister to be recognized as a special national relic.
– Giam Pagoda ( Nghiem Quang Pagoda ) , was built in the Ly Dynasty ; At the end of the 17th century, at the beginning of the 18th century, it was rebuilt with a large and beautiful architectural scale. The pagoda is located on an area of 2ha wide. The pagoda has a “foreign domestic and foreign” architecture with a full range of works such as: Tam Quan, Tien Duong, Tam Bao, Ancestor house, corridor, Nine product tower house, guest house, Sang house, garden, France. Monk, Nghe Giam. Architects and artisans have created on the ground of the pagoda the continuity of the items to exalt the ancient magnificence, containing many layers of cultural wisdom.
Giam Pagoda is a place associated with Tue Tinh’s life since he was a child. According to historical documents, Tue Tinh was born around 1330, orphaned at the age of 6, was raised by monk Hai Trieu at Giam pagoda and sent to school. His childhood and early knowledge of medicine were nurtured and attached to this temple.
The most unique feature of Giam pagoda is the lotus flower court located in the courtyard behind the three jewels. The house is square (8 x 8 m), 3 floors high, 12 roofs, with many architectural pieces that still retain the imprint of the 17th century. In the house of the nine products is a nine-storey lotus flower building, over 6m high, with a regular hexagonal shape, 1.24m each side. On the nine products there are 145 Buddha statues. The entire nine-product structure is linked with a large ironwood pillar in the middle, which is placed on a stone platform, like a ball bearing. On Buddha’s Day, just two people push, the nine products can rotate gently. The Lotus Pavilion is a unique Buddhist architecture found only in Vietnam. Currently, in the whole country, there are only 3 buildings of the nine products that can be filmed, the remaining 2 are at But Thap pagoda (Bac Ninh) and Dong Ngo pagoda (Thanh Ha, Hai Duong).
Xua Temple is the official temple built to worship the great physician Tue Tinh in his hometown, now Nghia Phu village, Cam Vu commune, Cam Giang district. It is not known what year the temple was built, but based on the architectural relics that can still be identified in the 17th century, there is a solid temple with delicate carvings. Currently, the relic still has about 50 valuable antiques such as bronze bells cast in the 8th year of Tu Duc (1855), ordained for Tue Tinh in the reigns of Thieu Tri, Tu Duc, Duy Tan, Khai Dinh, Bao Dai… These are evidences for the illustrious medical career recorded by Tue Tinh in history.
Temple of Beer, located on the western field of Van Thai village (Cam Van commune), adjacent to Nghia Phu village (Cam Vu commune), the hometown of Dai Danh y Tue Tinh. The temple was built to worship Dai Danh y Tue Tinh and the stone stele of the Le Dynasty, which is his memorial relic, so it was named Beer Temple. The stele currently kept in the harem of the Temple of the Stele is said to have been engraved by Dr. Nguyen Danh Nho according to the prototype of the stele placed on his grave in Jiangnan (China).
Beer Temple is not the place to worship Tue Tinh itself, but it is most visited by local people, because it has become a prestigious center of herbal medicine. On the occasion of the festival (1-4 lunar calendar), the festival is very crowded, many tourists come here to cut male medicine as a way to pray for good health.