The small temple and cu chi tree

Pham Van Phuoc, 70, in An Ninh Dong commune in Long An province, was seen recently cleaning Phuoc Dinh Temple just before Lunar New Year. After many months of closure because of the pandemic, he was cleaning the temple to welcome people back to worship Buddha during Tet.

Phuoc does not know the exact age of the small temple but is sure that it was established a long time ago. Before it was built, the area was a wild forest with no human footprint.

A man from Loc Giang in Duc Hoa district came to the area, chopped down bamboo trees and picked up leaves to set up a small temple. It’s unclear why the man transferred the temple to a member of Phuoc’s family.

Legends about the temple have been passed around by locals as a part of the culture of the area. One of the most famous is the one about a couple of tigers lying on the yard of the temple listening to Buddhist scriptures.

In the past, there were many ferocious animals living in the Phuoc Dinh temple area where there was a pond with cool water all year round. The pond attracted many animals to come to drink water and take a bath, so tigers came to look for prey.

There were so many tigers and panthers that people did not dare visit the area, though there was a pond of cool water, fish and shrimp. At night, people could hear the loud roars from big tigers though they were far from the area.

However, things changed when the temple was set up. People no longer heard about the tigers’ harassing people.

There were a few tigers which were very big. They often appeared on the temple’s yard, but they never menaced or disturbed people.

“Every day, when people in the temple prayed, the tigers stayed in the yard and listened to them. They were big but they did not harm anyone,” he said. “Later, the tigers did not return to the forest, but got into the empty part of the root of cuchi tree adjacent to the pagoda and lived there.”

Another story has it that the male tiger one day carried a midwife on its back, bringing her to the root of the tree where she helped the delivery of a female tiger.

The stories about the tigers have been handed down through the generations of Phuoc’s family together with legends about the origin of Phuoc Dinh Temple. 

Nguyen Son

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