Walking through the gate from the Hoa Lu memorial temples into a small village, it’s only a few hundred feet before you hit Nhat Tru pagoda off to the right. The village itself itself is quite picturesque, though there are no amenities like convenience stores, and the odd old lady will attack you trying to sell incense or fans.

The temple consists of heavily renovated late 18th and early 19th century structures, respectfully built by the then-reigning Nguyen dynasty in the Dinh architectural style (what they believed 10th century structures would look like). In this style there are 5 main buildings: the Tien Duong (main lobby), Thuong Dien (Buddha Worship house), ancestor worship house, guest house, and tower (along with odd outbuildings for gardening and such).

The centerpiece of the temple is the ancient Buddhist pillar, erected in 995 by King Le Dai Hanh, and inscribed with the Surangama sutra. Notable for its rare lotus finial, the pillar is (dare I say) quite phallic; the main themes of the sutra are the impotence of dharma (righteousness) when unaccompanied by samadhi (the power of devotional trance) and the importance of confronting delusions in meditation.

There was actually a pagoda here prior to the erection of the pillar. After running away with a court official and regretfully returning, a Dinh princess was punished by being committed here as a nun. Upon her father’s assassination in 979, she committed suicide by throwing herself into the well (still in use) and there’s a small temple devoted to her in the complex also. How long does it take to carve a Buddhist pillar like this? 15 years? Could this possibly be an artifact of low-key sexist shade? I wonder if there was even a personal beef between them?

The last relic of interest here is the bronze temple bell cast in 1799. It is inscribed: “Do good and you will meet hundreds of good things … good people are always happy, this is the law of cause and effect “.