Behind Linh Ung Pagoda, passing by the side of two ancient tombs and Lady Buddha is a narrow passage which leads to this cave. This was the last cave we visited and attracts a lot of tourists.
King Minh Mang (1791-1841) who was the second emperor of Nguyen dynasty of Vietnam named it Tang Chon cave meaning treasure or "the place where the treasure is stored".
History of cave:
Cham people used to live and worship the gods here in the 12th century. During the reign of Le Canh Hung (1740-1786), they left and started living in Phan Rang which is 95 kms south of Nha Trang.
Vietnamese rediscovered the caves, settled in the area and worshiped Buddha.
Three words, Dong Tong Chon are written on a white stone which means: contains all truths of the universe.
There are three trees lined together.
plants covering the rocks
Thien Long Coc entrance is in front through which we enter the
caves. The ceiling of the cave is open letting in plenty of sunshine and
air circulation.
There are five caves inside:
Thien Long Coc Cave:
This is the first cave on entering. There is a Vietnamese style shrine, Thai Thuong Lao Quan in the center of the cave. The cave is vast and airy.
Surrounding this cave are other small caves with open spaces in between rocks which lets in air and a lot of sunlight.
The shrine has three compartments with image in each section. In the center is
Lao Tu altar, the right compartment of which is to worship Linh Son Thanh Mau, and the left
to worship Bat Bo Kim Cuong.
Thai Thuong Lao Quan
An image of sitting Buddha graces the shrine.
Ban Co Tien Cave:
On the left side of shrine is a semi-circular cave with two marble figures in white. They sit with a chess board between them. According to the legend, gods came down to play chess and talk. Maybe, it involved money exchange or gamble so was called Ban Co Tien Cave.
The expression of both players looks very natural with one thinking of the move to make.
Di Da Buddha cave or Amitabha cave:
On the right side of central shrine, stairs lead to a cave of Di Da Buddha or Amitabha cave.
In this huge and high rise cave, Buddha stands on top of rugged rocks. A hole at the top, lets in the rays of sun.
Standing posture of Buddha in vitarka mudra. This gesture represents transmission of teachings of Buddha.
Chiem Thanh cave:
Chiem Thanh cave also called the Cham Pa cave is next to the Di Da cave. The entrance to cave is very narrow.
Straight ahead must be the altar during the Champa kingdom.
.png)
temple guardian
temple guardian on the other side of entrance
Tam Thanh cave:
Looking straight ahead on entering the cave, is the Tam Thanh cave. There
are two guardian statues erected at the entrance to the cave.
At the entrance to cave, two brightly guardian statues of Cham stand on both sides. In the past, Cham people worshiped 3 immortal gods: Thuong Thanh, Ngoc Thanh, and Thai Thanh( Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva).
Now, those images have been replaced by Sakyamuni Buddha in meditative state or dhyaan mudra.
Guanyin sits below the main image
From the left side of image, a path goes up. One needs to be careful, I twisted my ankle while coming down.
a golden Buddha in one cave
Small spaces in the cave wall have small shrines. Two horses also a part of shrine.
a rugged path but visitors prohibited to go further
sunlight penetrates through a hole
another image in a space
We retrace our steps to outside of this cave.
A very interesting cave which attracts a lot of tourists, specially the Ban Co Tien cave with chess players.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for visiting my blog. Your feedback is always appreciated.