Bai Dinh Pagoda

Bái Đính Temple Spiritual and Cultural Complex is a complex of Buddhist temples. The compound consists of the original old temple and a modern era temple complex. It is considered the largest complex of Buddhist temples in Vietnam and has become a popular site for Buddhist pilgrimages from across Vietnam. As this is the festival season, we did see largely Vietnamese groups visiting and Doug was asked to pose with a group of tiny Vietnamese women who stood below his outstretched arm.

This huge site has many structures built over several phases starting in 2003 and completed in 2010. The temple's architecture follows traditional lines, consisting of large halls, courtyards, and enclosures. the pagoda holds nine records, including: The largest gilded bronze Buddha in Asia, the largest bronze bell in Vietnam, the tallest stupa in Asia, the largest pagoda complex in Vietnam, and the largest number of Arhat statues in Vietnam. An Arhat is a "perfected person who has achieved spiritual enlightenment" and each of the 500 arhats lining the halls weighs 2.5 tons. We noted that they were contemporary carvings of variable build and interesting facial expressions, demonstrating various buddha hand symbols and all of them had black shiny areas from being touched by followers despite signage saying "Don't touch the buddha".

The guided tour of the site is at http://qr.chuabaidinh.com.vnRead more