Other Construction Items in the Relic Site

(Meaning: Eighty years ago the good air was on the left. Eighty years later the good air fell in the middle)

After reading it, Thuong Tu realized that he had misunderstood, so he asked to correct the tomb and bowed to thank the Mandarin. And from then on, after many years, the tomb was still burned with incense and worshiped [13, p.47]

2.1.2.5. Kinh Thien Pen Tower

Kinh Thien Pen Tower is located on a high mound in the middle of a flat field, surrounded by a beautiful eucalyptus garden. Legend has it that Kinh Thien Pen Tower was built by a student of a Mandarin more than 400 years ago, during the lifetime of a famous person, to praise the talent of the famous person as a pillar supporting the sky (Kinh Thien). Kinh Thien Pen Tower is associated with the legend:

Mrs. Nhu Thi Thuc, daughter of the Minister of the Interior Nhu Van Lan, after nearly 20 years of choosing a husband, married Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh, a man with a noble appearance who gave birth to a noble son. The two families of her paternal and maternal families were separated by the Han River (Tuyet Giang). One day, she discussed with him: Let's fill in the Han River to make it easier to go to her mother's hometown. With his approval, early in the morning, the two of them went to the middle of the village field, digging soil to fill in the river. But they only carried one load, when they carried the second load, the pole broke, the pole flew out, the soil collapsed, the work was left unfinished. The place where they dug the soil gradually grew into a mound. Later, the mandarin's students built the Kinh Thien pen tower right on that mound. Over the years, the mound was eroded, the Kinh Thien pen tower collapsed, and it was rebuilt during the Nguyen Dynasty.

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2.1.2.6. Song Mai Pagoda

Song Mai Pagoda is a pagoda built by Trang Trinh for his third wife Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet - Hieu Vi Tinh so that she could practice at home.

Regarding the relationship between Trang and Mrs. Minh Nguyet, legend also recorded: One day he and his friends went to visit Do Son, in front of the scene

The sea and sky were vast and boundless, and he was inspired to recite a poem. He immediately recited the couplet and asked his friends to join him for fun:

Do Son men stand on Do Son mountain, the mountain produces heroes and great men.

(The first line is in Nom script, the second line is in Han script, translated as follows: Mountains give birth to heroes and great men - in the situation of parallelism, this is a very difficult parallel)

Before any of his friends could respond, a young monk suddenly stepped out from the bushes, holding a small piece of paper in his hand and offering it to him. When he opened it, there was a poem and a couplet:

The girl Minh Nguyet sits in the Nguyet palace, Nguyet Nguyet is like a gentleman.

(The first line is in Nom script, the second line is in Han script, meaning: The moon is a friend to a gentleman – a very neat, elegant and romantic match)

It turned out that the couplet was written by a girl named Huong (later changed to Minh Nguyet) and her family name was Nguyen. She was very beautiful and good at writing. A beautiful woman and a talented man met and became a couple. After getting married, they had a good life partner, but later, because she had no children, she was sad and asked her husband to let her become a nun.

Regarding this matter, it is said that Trang had advised him many times, but his heart was already made up. That state of mind was expressed in the sad, sorrowful dialogue between the two poets' souls:

The sea is not stormy, the sea is calm, the lake of ignorance has half moon in the lake of delusion.

Mean:

A sea without waves becomes a calm sea. A lake without moonlight becomes a lake of delusion.

He accepted and built a temple for her so that she could turn to Buddha in her old age. Next to the temple, he planted two apricot trees - so the temple was called Song Mai.

Mean:

Song Mai Pagoda still has a parallel sentence: "The wind blows in the middle of the pen, the happiness is in the Han River, a belt nourishes the heart with flowers."

Thanks to the mountains of pens, he enjoys good fortune in this land.

She lives by the Han River and nurtures a heart as beautiful as a flower.

This temple is said to be the place where Nguyen Binh Khiem received the envoy of Lord Trinh.

“In the 8th year of Thuan Binh (1556), King Le Trung Ton died, without a male heir to the throne, King The To (Trinh Kiem) hesitated about who to appoint, asked Phung Khac Khoan but could not decide, so he hesitantly ordered to bring gifts to Tan Hai Duong to ask the gentleman (Nguyen Binh Khiem). The gentleman did not answer, only turned back and told the servants:

This crop is not very good, just because the rice seeds are not good, so let's go find old seeds to sow rice!..

After saying that, the master got in the car and went to the temple, told the monks to clean and burn incense, and did not mention anything else, and that was the hidden meaning to show that "Just worship Buddha and you will have food to eat". Phung Khac Khoan understood the meaning and asked to say goodbye. Through the story, the founder immediately understood, so he welcomed Le Duy Bang (the 5th generation grandson of Le Tru, Le Loi's elder brother) to become king and called him Le Anh Tong. (Genealogy of Vu Kham Lan). Upon hearing the news that Le Anh Tong had ascended the throne, scholars everywhere turned to the Le dynasty, thanks to that, the power of the Le - Trinh dynasty grew stronger and stronger.

Next to the temple is the ancestral house built to worship Mrs. Minh Nguyet after she passed away. Her statue in the ancestral house is quite beautiful.

has its own unique features, unlike the Buddha statues and god statues commonly seen in pagodas, communal houses, shrines, and temples.

The pagoda and the ancestral house, after many renovations and beautifications with the contributions of visitors and the people in the commune, are now very spacious. Recently, the people of the commune have built a guest house to welcome men, women and visitors, making the landscape of the pagoda and the ancestral house more and more beautiful, majestic and attractive.

2.1.2.7. Trung Tan Restaurant

Not far from the temple, on the bank of the Han River is Trung Tan Inn. In 1542, during the reign of Mac Phuc Hai, the second year of the Quang Hoa era, he retired to the village to build Trung Tan Inn and erect a stele, and engraved the immortal stele "Trung Tan Inn Bi Ky". In the stele, he clearly stated his intention to the village elders who came to visit the Han River: I immediately spoke to the elders and said: You have previously repaired Nghinh Phong Bridge, Truong Xuan Bridge, which are also beautiful, now that there is a scenic spot like this, why don't you build an inn for passersby to rest? The elders responded. I immediately used my own money to build the foundation, then ordered Truong Thoi Cu, Nguyen Trong Tiem, Nguyen Man... to supervise and oversee the work. Construction began on August 3rd, and on the 29th the inn was completed". He personally wrote the sign hanging in front of the inn: Trung Tan Inn.

Sitting in a shabby tavern, “The three-roomed hut with feathers is always dear, the bamboo door by the river is always open” reflecting on the river, hidden under the cool shade of two ancient banyan trees:

Bring shade to the people. Though there are no pillars or beams to support the roof, let no one compare themselves to others.

Innocence does not suffer the hammer and axe.

Trung Tan Restaurant has become a unique place for villagers to meet, an interesting meeting place for visitors from all over, a leisurely place for a carefree life, a place of clear moonlight and cool breeze.

The name Quan Trung Tan is understood as follows: “Trung Tan means the way of loyalty; to maintain complete goodness is loyalty, otherwise it is not loyalty. Tan is the dock to dock, knowing the right dock is the right dock, if docked in the wrong place is the dock of delusion. The name Quan Trung Tan originally follows that meaning. Such as loyalty to the king, love for brothers, harmony between husband and wife, trust in friends. That is the way of loyalty. Seeing benefits, not competing, happily doing good deeds to take refuge, treating people and things with sincerity is the way of loyalty. Wherever the way of loyalty is maintained, there the ultimate goodness is maintained. If one knows how to use those things as a dock, as the essential thing to gather, then all things cannot go wrong, cannot not reach the place of complete goodness, and the merit is extremely great.”

(Trung Tan Stele)

Trung Tan Ancient Temple, once ranked as one of the 14 ancient relics of the Eastern region, attracted many scholars of the dynasties to visit and read the stele. Even in Nguyen Binh Khiem's poetry, there were many poems praising the beauty of Trung Tan Temple, especially the poem: Trung Tan Temple by inspiration

The river bank is divided into two banks. The wind is steady and the moon is cold on the street. The dragon of heaven appears in the distant mountains and clouds.

The setting sun hangs over the fishing village. The sound of the bell in the wild temple at midnight. The annual check-up tour of seventy years.

Only fate, old age and decline cause the army to die!

Poetry translation:

A few thatched houses leaning against the river

Faintly visible on both sides in the middle of a stream The wind is calm, the sails sail smoothly, the moon at the wharf is cold The sky is clear, the dragon appears, the mountains and clouds are pink The fishing village's fire shines on the slanted afternoon shadow The temple bell rings, the sound echoes in the air Thinking of burning old age, over seventy years old,

Far from the king does not mean the heart is calmed

(Translated by Hoang Viet)

In 1742, Vu Phuong De visited and said: "I went to Quan Trung Tan and there was an old stele but the letters were too faded to read. Only Tran Ba Quang, the village chief, reviewed for me the Phu Quoc Am Tuc text of the Quan Trung Tan stele" [13, p.39]

In 1777, La Son Phu Tu Nguyen Thiep, a famous scholar of the Tay Son Dynasty, visited Trung Am village and wrote a five-word poem, stating:

“Am, beer is all gone

The vast Tuyet Giang River

In 2001, the restaurant was rebuilt next to Han ferry, also with 3 rooms and a stele in the middle. The stele was rebuilt by the Hai Phong Historical Association in 2000 with funding from the General Department of Tourism. The stele was recreated from Thanh Hoa stone, 1.5m high, carved by Hai Phong craftsmen, including 800 words in the ancient script of the Mac Dynasty.

2.1.2.8. Exhibition house

This is where historical documents related to Nguyen Binh Khiem are displayed. Located in front of the main gate. It is an octagonal-roofed structure. The newness of the materials shows that it was built only a few years ago.

Among the artifacts displayed here, the most notable is the cabinet in the middle. On it are some of Nguyen Binh Khiem's works such as Secret Prophecy, which includes his predictions about the future; poetry collections such as Bach Van Am Thi Tap, Trinh Quoc Cong Bach Van Am Thi Tap, which is a collection of some of his poems in Chinese and Nom characters about human nature or natural beauty... In particular, there is also an original artifact here, which is the remaining part of a stone crane, on which are 3 Chinese characters: "Truong Xuan Kieu" (meaning Truong Xuan Bridge). However, over time it is no longer intact. The green stone slab has been carved on one side by the footprints of people passing by.

The caption next to it clearly states that this is the bridge built by Nguyen Binh Khiem and the local people in 1543 to cross a small canal to Met Pagoda. Legend has it that he used to come here to enjoy the scenery and discuss poetry and literature during his lifetime.

2.1.2.9. Other construction items in the relic site

- Statue of Trinh Nguyen Binh Khiem and two bas-reliefs.

The statue of Nguyen Binh Khiem is a carved architectural work, 5.7 meters high, weighing 8.5 tons, made of Granite and depicted in a sitting position holding a pen in one hand, a book in the other, wearing Confucian clothing, with a simple demeanor.

The large bronze incense burner placed in front of the statue always seemed to be filled with incense smoke.

Behind the statue of the old man are two reliefs, each about 5 meters high, more than 20 meters long and quite complete in both content and artistic composition. One depicts the life and career of Trang Trinh from childhood to the end of his life; the other depicts a historical period of the locality from the time of the French colonial invasion until now.

- Crescent Lake: in front of Nguyen Binh Khiem statue is a lake about 1000m2 wide.

- Some statue gardens in the temple: In the relic site, there are 3 statue gardens in total. The statues in the garden are made of stone with the same size as real people, depicting the life of Nguyen Binh Khiem. The statue gardens not only create a lively and intimate scene but also bring to those who come here an interesting, relaxing and light-hearted feeling.

The statue garden on the left side of the main church was built on the occasion of the 420th anniversary of the businessman's death. The statue garden depicts the scene where after he submitted a petition to behead 18 corrupt mandarins, which was not approved by King Mac, he asked to retire and return to his hometown to live in seclusion. When he returned to his hometown, all the villagers of Trung Am, from the elders to the children, came to welcome him. This shows the love and respect of the villagers for a respected teacher, a great man of the world.

Coming to the relic site, we not only light incense sticks to commemorate the cultural celebrity, a great personality of the country, but also visit the scenery and enjoy the fresh air of the countryside with bamboo clumps, ornamental plants, hibiscus rows, fruit trees, or rows of areca trees stretching along the road in the relic site... creating a rustic, simple but no less lyrical feature.

2.2. FESTIVAL OF TRANG TRINH NGUYEN BINH KHIEM TEMPLE

2.2.1. Preparation work

- Festival time: from November 26 to 29 of the lunar calendar every year.

- Location: Trang Trinh Nguyen Binh Khiem Temple relic site in Trung Am village, Ly Hoc commune, Vinh Bao district, Hai Phong city.

- Preparations for the festival at the temple of Trang Trinh Nguyen Binh Khiem are always carried out very early. The traditional ceremony is prepared by the elders of the Nguyen family in Trung Am village throughout the year, including selecting the elders in the consulting team, writing the funeral oration and choosing the person to perform the "Moc Duc" ceremony on the 23rd day of the 11th lunar month.

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