Phi Lai Pagoda

Phi Lai Pagoda is a renowned monastic institution of the Tứ Ân Hiếu Nghĩa religion and is a nationally recognised historical site located in Ba Chúc commune, An Giang province, Vietnam.

Phi Lai Pagoda is situated opposite Tam Bửu Pagoda, the mother temple (tổ đình) of the Tứ Ân Hiếu Nghĩa religion, about 200 metres east of Tượng Mountain, in Ba Chúc commune, An Giang province.

The pagoda was built by Ngô Lợi together with followers on 19 January 1877. Like Tam Bửu Pagoda, Phi Lai Pagoda had to undergo several restorations after being burned and destroyed by the French colonialists (Đạo nạn), before attaining its present appearance.

According to Sơn Nam: Phi Lai Pagoda at Tượng Mountain is a sanctuary, worshipping the supreme deity Ngọc Hoàng Huyền khung Cao thượng đế, symbolised by a red cloth, without any image (called trần điều). A lower altar is reserved for the "tứ đại thần châu", that is, the four islands of the celestial realm. This is truly the practice of immortality, the Daoist way... The traditional Buddhism, with its compassion and charity, doing good and avoiding evil, was not strong enough to urge followers to rise up in armed rebellion. There had to be the addition of talismans and spells, (but) it all revolved around 'beans transformed into soldiers', 'the end of the world', 'bullets that do not penetrate', 'yin-yang and five elements', the talismans of the Five Lords... The people who had lost their country reacted to what the colonists brought...

At 3 p.m. on 20 April 1978, the 15th day of the 3rd lunar month, year of the Horse (Mậu Ngọ), Pol Pot's army (from Cambodia) crossed the border and stormed into Phi Lai Pagoda. The Pol Pot soldiers fired indiscriminately and threw grenades, killing more than 80 people on the spot. Panicked villagers who tried to flee through the doors were beaten on the head with sticks or shot dead by the Pol Pot troops, killing more than 100 more people. Forty people hiding under the Buddha altar were also attacked with grenades, killing 39 of them; only one woman survived by crouching in a corner and being shielded by the bodies of the dead.

After fleeing the massacre, on 30 April 1978, the people of Ba Chúc returned, carrying their belongings. Entering Phi Lai Pagoda, they saw many bloodstains on the walls. In front of the main hall, blood mixed with yellow fluid was 0.2 metres high. Everywhere, the stench of death was overwhelming, as numerous corpses lay or sat in various positions, decomposing...

According to the Ba Chúc Memorial Stele, the number of civilians massacred was 3,157. Some were killed in the pagodas, others in various locations.

Currently, the Ba Chúc Ossuary displays 1,159 sets of remains; the rest have been buried by relatives or remain in deep caves on Tượng Mountain...

On 10 July 1980, Tam Bửu Pagoda, Phi Lai Pagoda, and the Ossuary, the three representative sites within the Ba Chúc Pol Pot Genocide Memorial Area, were recognised by the Vietnamese state as national historical sites.