Đất Sét Pagoda

Đất Sét Pagoda (official name: Bửu Sơn Tự, Chinese characters: 寶山寺) is one of the religious belief establishments belonging to the organisational system of the Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương sect in Cần Thơ city, renowned for its thousands of clay statues and four pairs of large candles.

Đất Sét Pagoda is located at 286 Tôn Đức Thắng Street, Sóc Trăng ward, Cần Thơ city, Vietnam.

Đất Sét Pagoda was built in the early 20th century by the Ngô family for home-based religious practice. Initially, it was just a small hermitage made of wood and leaves on a small plot of land, and the worship hall was also very simple. It was not until the fourth abbot, Mr. Ngô Kim Tòng, that the small hermitage was renovated, expanded, and many more worship statues were added as seen today.

The pagoda currently stands on an area of about 400 m2. The triple-entrance gate (tam quan) is solidly built and roofed with tiles. The main hall faces east. The front of the hall is sturdily constructed with modern materials, with two main pillars adorned in high relief with intricately winding dragons. The rest of the hall consists only of "wooden pillars, corrugated iron roof", with no upper floor and a simple structure. The entire roof of the pagoda is supported by 24 wooden pillars. Each pillar is clad in clay, decorated with winding dragons and other ornamental motifs.

The inner hall is not spacious, and because it contains many items, it is rather cramped. Here, there are over a thousand statues of Buddhas, Immortals, Sages, Deities... and sacred animals made by Mr. Ngô Kim Tòng over 42 years (from 1928 to 1970) for worship and decoration. All are mainly made from clay, mixed with incense powder and ô dước resin to prevent cracking, and are meticulously painted with paint and varnish.

The arrangement of worshipped statues: Amitābha (A Di Đà), Maitreya (Di Lặc), Avalokiteśvara (Quan Thế Âm), Confucius (Khổng Tử), Jade Emperor (Ngọc Hoàng Thượng đế), Laozi (Lão Tử), Queen Mother of the West (Diêu Trì Kim Mẫu), etc., reflects the philosophy of "Three Teachings from the Same Source" (Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism) of the pagoda's founder and successive generations. And also because Đất Sét Pagoda was established for home-based practice, the pagoda has no resident monks and does not accept donations from visitors. Currently, the pagoda is managed in turn by family members.

Đất Sét Pagoda is not only famous for its thousands of clay statues and clay-clad pillars, but is also well known for its four pairs of large candles cast in 1940. Of these, three pairs have each candle measuring 2.6 m high, 1 m in diameter, and cast from 200 kg of wax. The remaining pair is smaller, with each candle cast from 100 kg of wax. In total, 1.4 tonnes of wax were used. To cast them, pure wax was chopped, melted in a pan, poured into moulds (made by rolling up corrugated iron roofing sheets). After a month, the candles cooled, the moulds were removed, and the candles were decorated. Currently, the two smaller candles have been burning day and night since Mr. Ngô Kim Tòng passed away (18 July 1970) and are not yet exhausted. It is estimated that each candle, burning continuously day and night, would last 70–80 years. In addition, there are three incense sticks, each 1.5 m high, weighing 50 kg, which have not yet been burned.

As for other artefacts (also all made of clay), notable items include:

- The statue "Bảo tòa thỉnh Phật trụ thế truyền tháp luận" with up to 1,000 lotus petals, each petal inhabited by a deity. Below the lotus pedestal is the "Bát quái Thiên tiên" (Eight Trigrams Celestial Immortals) comprising eight palaces: Càn, Khảm, Cấn, Chấn, Tốn, Ly, Khôn, Đoài. Each palace has two attendant fairy maidens; beneath the lotus pedestal and Eight Trigrams are the Four Heavenly Kings guarding the site.

- The Đa Bảo Stupa, 3.5 m high, with 13 tiers and 208 deity doors, and at the base of the stupa are 126 dragons supporting it.

Additionally, there are six-dragon lamps (with three large finials), seven small incense burners, and pairs of Kim Lân, Thanh Sư, Bạch Tượng, Bạch Hổ, Long Mã... all exquisitely crafted artefacts.

In March 2011, Đất Sét Pagoda was recognised by the former Sóc Trăng Provincial People's Committee as a Provincial-level Historical – Cultural Monument (in the field of architecture – art).

His father was Mr. Ngô Kim Đính, and his mother was Mrs. Đỗ Thị Ngọc. He was the fourth child (thus often called Cậu Năm, "Fifth Uncle", as per Southern custom).

Because his family was poor, he only completed third grade at the village school, then stayed home to look after the family hermitage left by his grandparents. At 18, he went to Phú Hữu commune (Long Phú district) to rent two công (local land measure) for farming. Due to lack of food and overwork, he fell ill. After his parents brought him home for treatment and he recovered, he dug up clay, dried it, pounded it finely,... then kneaded and shaped statues according to his imagination. With rare passion, he diligently worked and self-taught to create his works, without any formal schooling.

At age 38, his father passed away. From then on, he and his third elder sister continued their father's legacy, practising vegetarianism and religious study, and he became the fourth-generation successor of the "Ngô Lay Buddhist Layperson Family". After completing the aforementioned clay and wax works, he died on the 18th day of the 7th lunar month, year of the Dog (1970), at the age of 62 (by Vietnamese reckoning).

Praising his talent and creativity, a writer once said: "It can be said that Uncle Năm Ngô Kim Tòng was a man who lived for the earth. For 42 years, tirelessly with each load of earth, cherishing every handful, he shaped the earth, breathed sacred spirit into the earth, gave the earth a heartbeat so that a hundred years from now, the earth will speak in his stead".... Currently, there is an altar to him in Đất Sét Pagoda.

The unique clay pagoda in Vietnam on the Đạo Phật Ngày Nay website, published 21/01/2012.

Đất Sét Pagoda Sóc Trăng: A unique pagoda on Đất Mũi online newspaper, published 14/08/2006.

Đất Sét Pagoda is a Provincial-level Historical – Cultural Monument, archived 13 August 2013 at Wayback Machine on the Sóc Trăng Tourism website, accessed 13/4/2013