The world's largest ancient wooden pagoda and the thousand-year-old legend of a Vietnamese monk
(Baonghean.vn) - The ancient capital of Nara, Japan, has the ancient Todaji temple built in 743. This is the largest ancient wooden temple in the world; more importantly, this place also has a thousand-year-old legend about a Vietnamese monk...
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| Todaji ancient temple, located in the Nara Imperial Palace complex, Nara city, Japan. This temple was built from 743 and completed in 751. In the photo: The main gate of Todaji ancient temple is crowded with visitors. Photo: Nhat Lan |
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| April in Japan is the season of cherry blossoms. Like everywhere else in the land of the rising sun, there are many cherry trees in bloom in the grounds of the ancient Todaji Temple. Photo: Nhat Lan |
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| The ancient Todaji Temple has many large bronze and wooden Buddha statues. In the photo is the world's largest gilded bronze Buddha statue, 16m high. Photo: Nhat Lan |
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| According to legend, Todaji Temple was completed after nearly 10 years of construction. At the inauguration ceremony, a high monk from Vietnam was welcomed to perform the eye-opening ceremony for the Buddha statue. Some books record that this high monk from Vietnam was named Phat Triet. The reason why high monk Phat Triet was able to come to Japan in the 8th century was because he was invited by Emperor Thanh Vu and his teacher, high monk Bo De Tien Na, to perform the eye-opening ceremony to offer the statue of Vairocana Buddha as well as to inaugurate Todaji Temple. The wooden Buddha statues at the ancient Todaji Temple have been considered national treasures of Japan for many years. In the photo is the statue of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. Photo: Nhat Lan |
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| In the Great Buddha Hall, there are two very large wooden Dharma Protector statues, up to 8m high. Photo: Dao Tuan |
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| Outside the Great Buddha Hall, there is a very large incense burner. This is also the only place where visitors can offer incense to Buddha. Photo: Duc Anh |
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| Outside the Great Buddha Hall, there is an area for visitors to drink cleansing water. Photo: Duc Anh |
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| Todaji Temple has very large wooden pillars, 1m in diameter and 20m high. One of them, in the Great Buddha Hall, has a large hole that is said to bring good health and luck to anyone who can crawl through. In the photo, a female tourist is trying to crawl through the pillar. Photo: Dao Tuan |
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| Another unique and interesting feature outside Todaji Temple is that there are many deer. The deer living here are very friendly to all visitors. Photo: Dao Tuan |
