Vinh Nghiem pagoda was built in the Ly dynasty under the reign of King Ly Thai To (1009 – 1028) in the village of Duc La (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Initially named Chuc Thanh, the pagoda later took the name of the village and is now called La Pagoda or Duc La Pagoda (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Construction of the pagoda was completed in 1016. Zen Master Van Hanh was the first abbot of the pagoda (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Construction of the pagoda was completed in 1016. Zen Master Van Hanh was the first abbot of the pagoda (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Vinh Nghiem Pagoda was recognised as a national historical – cultural relic site in 1964 and a special national relic site in 2015. Its festival, which is held annually from the 12th to 14th day of the second lunar month, was also named part of the national intangible cultural heritage in 2013 (Photo:Vietnam+) 
The pagoda is considered the place of origin of the Truc Lam Sect, playing an important role in the history of Buddhism in the Tran dynasty in particular and Buddhism of Vietnam in general (Photo: Vietnam+) 
The pagoda is quiet when there are no festivals (Photo: Vietnam+) 
The 10,000sq.m pagoda comprises different significant sections such as the three-layer gate, Triratna. Due to wars and conflicts, the pagoda was then ruined and was only restored in 1606. In the early years of the Nguyen dynasty, the pagoda was embellished with the addition of the statues of the three founders (patriarchs) of the Truc Lam Buddhism Sect (Photo: Vietnam+) 
The pagoda is a center of the dhyanist sect (Thien) of Truc Lam. King Tran Nhan Tong joined the religion here (1293), and became the first Patriarch of the sect (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Friars Phap Loa and Huyen Quang, his successors, also stayed here (Photo:Vietnam+) 
Over nearly 1,000 years, the pagoda has been restored for many times under Le Trung Hung and Nguyen dynasties (Photo: Vietnam+) 
(Photo: Vietnam+) 
At present, about 100 statues, 8 steles, parallel sentences, documents, books and other worshipping objects, especially the Buddhism scriptures’ wood-blocks carved by Zen masters of the Truc Lam Sect through time, are preserved at the pagoda (Photo: Vietnam+) 
(Photo: Vietnam+) 
(Photo: Vietnam+) 
Each tree in the pagoda is unique (Photo: Vietnam+) 
The pagoda is preserving valuble woodblocks (Photo: Vietnam+) 
For their values, the wood-blocks were recognized by UNESCO as a documentary heritage items in the Asia-Pacific Region’s Memory of the World Programme (Photo: Vietnam+) 
It includes 3,050 woodblocks, most of which are the Buddhist texts, sutras and writings of three Vietnamese master monks, (Dieu Ngu Giac Hoang Tran Nhan Tong (1258 – 1308), Phap Loa Dong Kien Cuong (1284 – 1330) and Huyen Quang Ly Dao Tai (1254 – 1334)), and other master monks of Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen Buddhism (Photo: Vietnam+) 
The wood-blocks not only consist of deep thoughts and values of the Truc Lam Sect, but also serve as remarkable calligraphy and artistic items and mark development stages of the Nom scripts in different periods of time (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Pieces of tiles under the Le dynasty unearthed in the pagoda in 2015 (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Books printed from the woodblocks are displayed i at the pagoda (Photo: Vietnam+) 
(Photo: Vietnam+) 
(Photo: Vietnam+) 
A 700-year old tree in the pagoda (Photo: Vietnam+) VNA
