Kỳ Viên Trung Nghĩa Pagoda

Kỳ Viên Trung Nghĩa Pagoda, often simply called Kỳ Viên Pagoda, is located at 132 Sinh Trung Street, Nha Trang Ward, Khánh Hòa Province. The pagoda sits atop one of the four Tứ linh (Four Sacred Creatures) hills in the heart of Nha Trang city, named Bạch Tượng (White Elephant). As a beautiful and long-standing pagoda, it is also a venue for summer retreats for youths and for Buddhist Dharma examination courses.

The pagoda was originally a miếu (ancestral temple) dedicated to the meritorious officials of the Nguyễn dynasty, named Tinh Trung Temple (later changed to Sinh Trung), built in 1802 during the Gia Long era.

Between 1948 and 1950, Từ Cung Empress Dowager (mother of Emperor Bảo Đại) visited Khánh Hòa Province, and upon coming to this miếu in Nha Trang, found the scenery suitable for a pagoda. The Empress Dowager then encouraged Vạn Thạnh village to donate the site to the Khánh Hòa Provincial Buddhist Sangha to serve as a place of Buddhist worship.

After a period of renovation, the Khánh Hòa Provincial Buddhist Sangha and the lay Buddhists invited Most Venerable Thích Thiện Minh to serve as abbot. Upon taking up the abbotship, the Most Venerable renamed the pagoda Linh Sơn Kỳ Viên Khuôn hội. Due to responsibilities assigned by the Sangha, he later handed over the position to Most Venerable Thích Từ Mãn. After a period as abbot, but having to undertake Buddhist affairs in Đà Lạt, Most Venerable Thích Từ Mãn passed the role to Most Venerable Thích Trí Tín. After Most Venerable Thích Trí Tín came Venerable Thích Viên Mãn.

Since 1977, Venerable Thích Trí Viên (now Most Venerable Thích Trí Viên, Vice Head of the Khánh Hòa Provincial Buddhist Administration, Head of the Dharma Propagation Committee of Khánh Hòa Province) has served as abbot. From 1982, the pagoda began major renovations, and by 1992, the restoration of the Main Hall and the Patriarchs' Hall was completed, and the pagoda was renamed Kỳ Viên Trung Nghĩa.

The pagoda is also a place of practice and activities for the Pháp Hoa Dharma Assembly, one of the assemblies propagated nationwide by Most Venerable Dharma Master Thích Trí Quảng.

On the morning of the 5th of December, Year of the Rooster (21 January 2018), on the occasion of the 100th day memorial of the late Most Venerable Thích Trí Viên—Vice Head of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (GHPGVN) in Khánh Hòa Province—at Kỳ Viên Trung Nghĩa Pagoda (Vạn Thạnh Ward, Nha Trang City), the Executive Council of the GHPGVN in Khánh Hòa Province held a ceremony to announce the appointment of Venerable Thích Huệ Giáo as abbot of Kỳ Viên Trung Nghĩa Pagoda.

Attending the ceremony were Most Venerable Thích Quảng Thiện, member of the Council of Elders, Witness of the Executive Council of the GHPGVN in Khánh Hòa Province; Most Venerable Thích Ngộ Tánh, Head of the Executive Council of the GHPGVN in Khánh Hòa Province; Most Venerable Thích Minh Thông, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Executive Council of the GHPGVN in the province; together with the venerable monks and nuns of the Executive Council of the GHPGVN in the province; Mr. Nguyễn Hữu Dinh, Head of the Religious Affairs Committee of Khánh Hòa Province; as well as representatives of the provincial, city, and Vạn Thạnh ward authorities, and a large number of lay Buddhists. Venerable Thích Huệ Giáo, upon being appointed abbot, offered a vow, excerpted as follows: Thirty-seven years ago, when I first entered the pagoda to study the Dharma, I was nurtured by my root teacher and taught by the venerable teachers at various Buddhist schools. Today, I am once again entrusted by my root teacher with the great responsibility of succeeding as abbot of Kỳ Viên Trung Nghĩa Pagoda. I respectfully bow in gratitude and vow: to strictly uphold the precepts of a monastic, to fulfil the duties of a Tathāgata's messenger, to propagate the Dharma and save sentient beings, to faithfully implement the Charter of the Sangha, and to live 'a good religious life, a beautiful secular life.'

In his Dharma address, Most Venerable Thích Ngộ Tánh expressed gratitude and praised the merits of the late Most Venerable Thích Trí Viên and his disciples, and reminded Venerable Thích Huệ Giáo to fulfil well the mission of 'Upholding the Dharma, maintaining the Tathāgata's abode.' (Excerpted from phatgiao.org.com.vn)