Ceremony to appoint abbot and groundbreaking to erect statue of Quan Am at An Thai pagoda
(Baonghean.vn) - On the morning of October 30, An Thai Pagoda (Quynh Long, Quynh Luu) solemnly held a ceremony to appoint Venerable Thich Minh Hai as abbot, held a ceremony to announce the decision to restore the pagoda and broke ground to erect a statue of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.
Attending and witnessing the ceremony were Most Venerable Thich Tri Tinh; Most Venerable Thich Tho Lac; Member of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha - Head of the Buddhist Sangha of Nghe An province; Most Venerable Thich Thong Kien - Deputy of the Dharma Propagation Board of the Buddhist Sangha of Nghe An province; representatives of a number of provincial departments and agencies, and numerous Buddhists from near and far.
Based on the remaining historical documents, nAn Thai pagoda has existed for a long time and during the Tran Minh Tong period (1324-1329) it was renovated on a large scale. In terms of the Yin-Yang theory, the pagoda is located in the middle of the "four spirits meeting", with four gods attending, namely Thanh Long, Bach Ho, Chu Tuoc and Huyen Vu. According to the concept of Buddhism, the pagoda is located in the lying position, surrounded by four Bodhisattvas and Eight Vajrapani.
Currently, the pagoda still preserves three ancient statues in the style of the Later Le Dynasty, which are the statue of Buddha Sakyamuni and two statues of Manjushri and Samantabhadra. In particular, the pagoda also preserves a sacred ancient well, at the bottom of the ancient well there is a cross-shaped wooden plank, engraved with the words: "Thien Thanh Giap Ty nien khai thien tao tinh", showing us that the well was dug in 1024 under the reign of King Ly Thai To, the Thien Thanh era. Thus, this ancient well is 988 years old.
At the ceremony, Venerable Thich Minh Hai– The new abbot spoke, encouraging and motivating the chief disciple. From now on, with the responsibility of taking on Buddhist work, meeting the spiritual needs of Buddhist followers near and far with the spirit of "living a good life and upholding the Dharma", propagating the Dharma, and benefiting all living beings.
Most Venerable Thich Tho Lac - Member of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Head of the Buddhist Sangha of Nghe An province hopes that the new abbots will promote all their inner strength to serve the Triple Gem for the common benefit of Buddhism in the province, in accordance with the motto "Dharma, nation, socialism".
On this occasion, the representative of Nghe An Province's Religious Committee read the announcement of the decision to restore the pagoda and the document allowing the groundbreaking ceremony to erect the statue of Quan Am at Phuong Mountain - Quynh Long Commune. After the thanks of the Organizing Committee, Most Venerable Thich Tri Tinh and representatives of provincial departments, branches and sectors - District People's Committee, Commune People's Committee held the groundbreaking ceremony to erect the statue of Quan Am.
Huu Tinh - People's Committee of Quynh Long Commune
