Khanh Van Nam Vien, Ho Chi Minh City胡志明市庆云南院
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- Vietnam · Ho Chi Minh City · District 11 (Cholon Chinese quarter) · 269/2 Nguyễn Thị Nhỏ, Phường 16, Quận 11; occupies over 2,000 square meters
- Coordinates
- 10.7574, 106.6508 Map ↗
- School
- Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage of Quanzhen, Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism
- First built
- The 'Quanqing Tang' was established in 1936; formally founded by Chen Qiming in 1939; relocated to its present site in 1942 and completed in 1943 · A division of incense from the Qingyun Cave at Cha Shan, Nanhai, Guangdong (built in 1899, dedicated to Lü Dongbin), belonging to the Longmen branch of the Quanzhen school
Overview
Khanh Van Nam Vien is one of the few temples in Vietnam, and indeed in Southeast Asia, that is a Daoist monastery in the strict sense: it preserves traditional Chinese Daoist ritual and monastic institutions, and its priests observe the Quanzhen Monastic Rules; Vietnamese media call it "the largest Chinese Daoist temple in Saigon." A "Quanqing Hall" was established on Tran Hung Dao Street in 1936; the temple was formally founded by Chen Qiming in 1939, relocated to its present site in District 11 in 1942, and completed in 1943. Its dharma lineage derives from a division of incense from the Qingyun Cave at Cha Shan in Nanhai, Guangdong (built in 1899, dedicated to Lü Dongbin), and belongs to the Longmen (Dragon Gate) branch of the Quanzhen school. The main hall on the ground floor is dedicated principally to Cihang Daoren (Guanyin), flanked in front by Wenchang Dijun, Guandi, and Lü Dongbin, with Chisong Zhenren (the Red Pine Perfected) on the left and the immortal physician Hua Tuo on the right; the second floor houses the Sakyamuni Hall, the Guanyin Hall, the Dizang Hall, and the Taiqing Hall. The building occupies over 2,000 square meters, with a Cantonese-style straight-ridge roof adorned with ceramic sculpture, exterior walls faced with red and yellow glazed tiles, and a reinforced-concrete frame, making it a mid-twentieth-century Chinese religious building that blends Chinese and Western construction methods. Each year in the seventh lunar month, the "Opening of the Ghost Gate: Deliverance of the Dead" grand offering (dajiao) is held — an important seasonal observance for the Chinese of Cholon.
Highlights
- One of the few monastic Quanzhen Daoist temples in Southeast Asia
- A division of incense from the Qingyun Cave at Cha Shan, Nanhai
- The Taiqing Hall, and a main hall dedicated to Cihang Daoren
- A grand offering for deliverance of the dead held in the seventh lunar month