Phuoc An Hoi Quan Pagoda

Phuoc An Hoi Quan Pagoda is one of the Chinese clan temples (belonging to the Fujianese) in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City's Chinatown. District 5 is the old Cholon, once one of the most tremendous Chinese cities in the world - to read about it in its heyday you can't do better than Gontran de Poncins' wonderful book From A Chinese City. If you are lucky enough to travel to Ho Chi Minh City, you should really put aside a morning or afternoon to visit the colourful temples of Cholon.
The Phuoc An Hoi Quan is just two minutes walk from the Quan Am pagoda (that's not counting the ten minutes you will spend drumming up the courage to cross the truly terrifying Hung Vuong Rd.), so you should really plan to do both at once. Both temples are shown on maps in any of the guide books to Ho Chi Minh City.
There are reasonably concealed benches in the temple courtyard so it makes a nice place to sit and people watch without being hassled. Bring a fan.




The statue of Kwan Yin to the left of the courtyard as you enter is a very popular and lucky statue in this part of town.




And interestingly the robes for Kwan Yin that are donated by people who have had their prayers answered are embroidered with the names of the donors or the people they want blessed.




This is the first time I have seen this. I wonder if it's new or old?





There is also a lucky horse to your left as you enter the temple - it is meant to be lucky for travellers to stroke its mane.

Details:

Phuoc An Hoi Quan Pagoda is at 184 D. Hung Vuong, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City.
It is meant to stay open till 6pm, but they normally won't let you in after 5.30.
It's a 10-15 minute taxi ride from downtown Saigon.
Photography is allowed, and you don't have to take your shoes off to enter this temple.
You can purchase incense and offerings inside the temple, where you will be charged the true local price.

Orchid Farm in Cu Chi

Well, I can't really tell you how I ended up at an orchid farm in Cu Chi, about 50 kilometres outside of Saigon. I just say yes to any old invitation, and this is where it lands me.
Quite a beautiful place, though, filled with sweet teenagers from Hue who have never quite made it to the city.



And all around it, picturesque farms with women in conical hats, and tethered buffalo. It felt like an ad from Vietnam Airlines.
I'm quite an afficionado of Vietnamese rural architecture, and keep an eye out for trends. At Cu Chi, richer farmers seem to be favouring a big porcelain lion at the tops of their gateposts, unlike in Binh Chanh, where concrete dobermanns are de rigeur.




Do you think that noticing and liking flowers is a sign of getting old?



I suspect so, because increasingly I find myself spending time looking at them, smelling them and photographing them. And I was in the perfect place for that!

Learn More About Ireland With Rosamund Burton

Acclaimed travel writer Rosamund Burton will be speaking about her wonderful book Castles, Follies & Four-Leaf Clovers at Balmain Library in November.




Illustrated with some of the most evocative photographs from her journey along St. Declan's Way, this is a unique opportunity to learn more about the deep spirituality of Ireland and see the beauty of its mystical landscape.

Details:

Author Talk: Rosamund Burton @ Balmain Library

30 Nov 2011

6.30pm - 8pm

Adventures along Ireland’s ancient highway and pilgrim route St Declan's Way

Come and hear travel writer and journalist Rosamund Burton tell of her adventures along Ireland’s ancient highway and pilgrim route St Declan's Way. Rosamund's adventures begin when she is lent a map of the ancient route. Stories of goddesses, ghosts and fairies are intertwined with the eccentricities and daily lives of everyday people—this is a journey full of surprises.

Bookings essential: ring Balmain Library 9367 9211

Walter Mason Talks About Angkor Wat

Just a reminder that I will be giving a talk about the wonderful Angkor Wat next week on the 24th of October. Details:

Angkor Wat: The Beauty and Spiritual Significance of Cambodia's Great Forgotten City

At the Southern Cross Academy of Light
Monday, 24th October 2011
St John’s Uniting Church Hall, cnr of Yeo Street and Barry Street, Neutral Bay. Enter off Barry Street. Session starts 7:30pm. Entry Fee: $15, concession $10.

Forgotten for centuries in the jungles of Cambodia, Angkor Wat was once the world's greatest and most sophisticated city. Re-discovered by French explorers in the nineteenth century, this massive stone structure was both a political and a religious centre, built to illustrate the creation myths of Hinduism, and later accommodating many of the schools of Buddhism. In this fascinating talk Walter will take us through the stories, history and meanings of the great temple of Angkor Wat.


Walter Mason is a travel writer whose book on Vietnam, Destination Saigon, was named by the Sydney Morning Herald as one of the 10 best travel books of 2010.
Walter is currently at work on his next book, a spiritual journey through Cambodia. He is also in the final stages of writing his doctoral dissertation at the University of Western Sydney's Writing & Society Research Group, where he is writing a history of self-help literature in Australia."

Nui Ba Den - Vietnamese Travel Spots

This is the shrine atop Nui Ba Den, the Black lady Mountain that rises up out of the plains of Tay Ninh that stretch from Saigon to Cambodia. Vietnamese tour groups always visit the mountain, but it is relatively unknown to foreigners. It is a place of immense mystical significance, said to house a Black Goddess whose power is so great that all around the Mountain is a vibrant Holy Land that was and is something of a spiritual powerhouse in Vietnam.

Mr. Buddha!

Sister Truth is one of the thousands of Buddhist nuns throughout Vietnam who do unpaid and unsung charity work, caring for the orphaned, the disabled and the destitute.

Here is an excerpt from my book Destination Saigon, telling a little bit of the story behind this picture:

Sister’s main problem is orphans. Hers is a small temple and a small community, with very limited space and resources. But, being in a poor area, orphans and unwanted children are plentiful, and every month she finds a baby dumped on her doorstep, or a desperate mother appears at her quarters begging her to take her children. Almost the entire community of nuns in Binh Chanh is made up of orphan girls who have decided to embrace the religious life (and there is no compulsion to take the robe). The littlest nun is only five, and is adored by Sisters and disciples alike. She is very fat and very forward, with two top knots poking from her forehead, the rest of her head shaved.

In spite of herself – for she likes to cultivate something of a hard-hearted exterior – Sister Truth dotes on the child, and spoils her terribly. She had been left by her mother at the temple some years ago, and no-one had ever been back to claim her or see her since.

“When she first asked me who her mother was, I told her it was me,” said Sister Truth. “Lately she has been going to infant school, and after mixing with the other children there she came home one day and asked me who her father was. I told her it was the Buddha. I told her I loved the Buddha so much that he gave me a special child, and that was her.” She called the little novice over and, stroking her topknots she absently asked her, “Who is your mother, child?”

“The Abbess!” cried the little girl, throwing her arms around the Sister.

“And your father?”

“Mr. Buddha!” she cried, pointing towards the prayer hall.

Quan The Am

"The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara practiced wonderful wisdom and attained Enlightenment completely free of attachment. He entered emptiness, unobstructed, through the gate of liberation. Since there is nothing but Emptiness, (including the body, mind and all that exists), a Bodhisattva is never moved by eulogy or ridicule, slander or fame. Even war, famine or the bubonic plague are dismissed by him or her as illusions taking hold through karma. Letting go of all that seemingly exists on its own, independently of the mind, sets forth brightness; and the one experiencing it will not be intimidated."

From Dharma Master Lok To's Introduction to his translation of The Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra.

Statue of Quan The Am Bo Tat in the courtyard of Long Khanh Temple, Quy Nhon City. Any tour of Vietnam should include this beautiful and little-visited place.




The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is, of course, the deity more commonly known as Kwan Yin, or, in Vietnamese, Quan The Am.
Notice that Master Lok To refers to the Bodhisattva as "him." This causes much confusion, because in popular imagery Kwan Yin is almost always shown in a feminine aspect, and most people believe Kwan Yin to be a woman. Technically, Kwan Yin is without gender, though in the earliest representations (as in the scriptures) she is normally a he.