INAUGURAL CEREMONY OF PHU CHAU PAGODA
IN CAI BE, TIEN GIANG

“Phu Chau Tu” is a Vietnamese village’s Pagoda in An Ninh hamlet, Dong Hoa Hiep village, Cai Be district, Tien Giang city. It has a 250 years history and a major renovation. It also held a big inaugural ceremony with the participation of a lot of people from all walks of life, such as civilians, government officials and Buddhists from inside and outside the country, as well as Vietnamese people and foreigners. This is a great Buddhist ceremony with a lot of celebrations. Perhaps we can say it is the first ever in this region of Cai Be. The “Inaugural Ceremony of Phu Chau Pagoda” was organized on 05/05/2006 which is April 08 of the Year of the Dog.

The name “Phu Chau Tu” was given by the Government Official in 1732. The Chinese-Vietnamese words “Phu Chau Tu” means a “Pagoda that looks like a pearl floating above the river water”. This meaning is suitable to the Pagoda’s location in the middle of a green and luxuriant garden that is famous for its scenery. From a religious aspect, it symbolizes the precious faith value just like the pearl of the Pagoda to this region of Cai Be.

Buddhism entered Vietnam many centuries ago. It had strong development and became the National Religion since the 10th century, during the Ly dynasty with a king who started out as a young Buddhist follower. Buddhism has great influence for a long time in Vietnam. Therefore, the tradition and culture were significantly affected by Buddhism. The most apparent clue would be seen through the images of Buddhist Pagodas. Perhaps it is safe to say we can find Pagoda anywhere in Vietnam. You can find either a big or small Pagoda, in a municipal or remote area, in a city or village, in a farmland or on a mountain, etc. From the South to the North you can find Pagodas everywhere.

According to the Vietnamese culture and tradition, in almost all the villages there is a Pagoda to worship Buddha and it is called the “Village’s Pagoda”, there is a Communal House to worship the Deities and it is called the “Village’s Communal House”. Both, the Deities and Buddha cannot be excluded in the development of a Vietnamese village. In a new village with a small and poor population, the Communal House and Pagoda were built in a very simple manner. Phu Chau Pagoda was built in this simple way. The initial name of Phu Chau’s village was not “Dong Hoa Hiep village” as we see today, but it was called “AN BINH DONG hamlet”, Dinh Vien district, Long Ho palace. Long Ho palace in the past was located in Cai Be district of the present time. But later on Long Ho palace was moved to another city that is now Vinh Long.

In the beginning Phu Chau Pagoda was a small and simple Pagoda that was built with bamboo trees and wood. Until 100 years later the Pagoda was rebuilt by 4 large families in the village namely Dang, Doan, Tran and Nguyen, who combined their efforts to construct the Main Hall with the Eastern and Western Guest Houses. In 2001 Phu Chau Pagoda had to rebuild the Guest Houses, Ancestral Temple, Three Gates, and in 2005 the Pagoda started its major construction project to build Dai Hung Buu Dien Hall with heavy equipment as designed by the architect Nguyen Dai Thanh Truc and managed by an independent construction company in Tien Giang. This hall has the people’s culture and characteristics of a Vietnamese ancient Pagoda.

The symbol of ancient Vietnamese culture can be seen in the arched rooftop of Phu Chau Pagoda with 3 layers – Top, Middle and Bottom. The tiles are green and decorated with images of 4 sacred animals: Dragon, Kylin, Tortoise and Phoenix. The Main Building has 3 sections. The Main Altar has the golden statue of Buddha, bronze statues of Three Deities, on the Left and Right Walls there are drawings about the history of the practice of the Path and Enlightenment of Buddha Sakyamuni.

For more than 250 turbulent years of the Vietnamese history with a lot of physical changes from a simple Pagoda built by leaves in 1732, now on 05/05/2006 Phu Chau Pagoda has been renovated with larger dimensions and beautiful architectural designs. It has the meaning and benefit of a village’s Pagoda in South Vietnam. It benefits the culture, faith, community, people, religion, etc. This is a contribution of effort, materials, funds from many people who are in the local area as well as people from another region, even from people who live inside and outside the country, from the Vietnamese people and foreigners, from Buddhists and people who are not Buddhists.

Especially there is the great, significant and meaningful contribution from Prof. Dr. Luong Minh Dang and the students in Universal Energy Healing School. Not only Master Dang who made a tremendous contribution, but he also asked the students around the world to support this project to rebuild Phu Chau Pagoda to become a big Pagoda with its name as “Phu Chau Tu”. Many U.E. students from different countries and races around the world who responded to Master Dang’s calling to support financially to rebuild the Pagoda. Particularly, there were many U.E. students in Thailand, a country in which the majority of its population follow Buddhism, who also came to attend the inaugural ceremony of Phu Chau Pagoda in Cai Be district, Tien Giang city, which is the home town of Master Dang.

Phu Chau Pagoda was the place where Master Dang took refuge with and was given the Buddhist name “Minh Thien” at the age of 10. Now as an adult, he learned the Path and became a Spiritual Master, who applied the Path to help mankind and reached international recognition with millions of students from all walks of life in five continents. But Master Dang never forgets the old Pagoda and never forgets the old resident Monk, even though he already passed away many years ago. This characteristic of gratitude is the foundation of the Vietnamese culture. The fact of today Master Dang returns to help rebuilding Phu Chau Pagoda, the ancient village’s Pagoda, has many meanings in ethics and culture. They are the practical lessons in the Spiritual and Material aspects, as Master Dang tries to teach the students once more that, “The Path of Universal Energy Teaching is the Path of Human Virtues” as shown in the official name of the School: “Mankind-Enlightenment-Love”.

As we live we need to know how to act according to the Principle of being a human. Here “Enlightenment” means that we know the Truth, Virtue and Ethic. We have to respect Buddha, God, the Deities, etc. Here “Love” is the compassion of Christ, the mercy of Buddha, which is the kind and peaceful sentiment between a person with another, with plants, nature, river, mountain, country, etc. These things are not “heretic” and they are not “superstitious”. But they are the refined culture and faith that have the acceptance of any country at any time to help people to have happiness and society to have peace.

In another word, Psychology and Spirituality are always the needs of people, society and country to reach happiness and peace, and daily human wishes. But Psychology and Spirituality are invisible entities that always require psychological and spiritual conditions, in which people with a certain level of fate may be able to obtain. Therefore, mankind always need the physical means to learn the necessary lessons of Enlightenment, Love, Mercy, etc., and the Pagoda, Church, etc., are the most practical vehicles. In fact, they are the places where people can easily learn about Virtues and Spirituality.

Not everybody who comes to the Pagoda is kind. But in fact, kind and virtuous people often come to visit the Pagoda or Church, respect Buddha, God, Saints and Divine Beings, etc. Therefore, perhaps we can say to help building a Pagoda, a Church that is a place of spiritual worship, is a way to build and develop the good in people which can be the Psychology, Spirituality, Virtue, Mercy, etc. Any method and format of worship can have benefits in terms of Psychology, Spirituality, Virtue, etc., for people. It can be accepted as long as it does not harm anyone. There are methods of faith that can be observed only as cultural characteristic but not as heresy or superstition.

Master Dang had contributed in many aspects to rebuild Phu Chau Pagoda for many good causes and called the U.E. students to contribute in order to give them the opportunity to build and develop the goods for Virtues, Spirituality, etc. This is the true and important meaning, in which it should be considered. In this cause Master Dang does not only help the Buddhist Pagoda alone, but Master Dang also helps to rebuild a Catholic Church, as well as many other places of worship from different religions. Master Dang and Universal Energy School do not help any one particular religion because the objectives of Master Dang and Universal Energy School include the respect and caring for all belief systems and religions of humanity.

Inside Universal Energy School, Master Dang built the “Altar for Mankind Ancestors” and “Monument for Forgotten Soldiers Worldwide”. Eventually in the near future, Master Dang will allow the construction of the statues of Buddha Kuan-Yin and Mother Maria. They are two symbols of Love in the human race for many centuries around the world. These symbols of Love will continue to exist as long as humans still need Love. Love is something everybody always needs and desires.

U.E. students need to understand this profound meaning whenever they build or worship these Spiritual statues in the Pagoda or Church such as the statues of Christ, Buddha, Mother Maria, Buddha Kuan-Yin, etc. U.E. students should not perceive it in another small or narrow way. We worship the Deities, or invisible Divine Beings, but we are not superstitious. This is a difficult issue, but U.E. student already has sufficient power and experience to apply.

The real objective of Universal Energy School is to study the power of Spirituality and Ethical merits. They are the roots of human values, happiness, peace, evolution, liberation, etc. We do not learn about anything else but whatever that can be beneficial and good for people. In general we refer to as “True-Good-Beautiful”, that Master Dang often called the “Bodhi Seed”. Everything we have learned here or there, depending on each level and destiny, they are the vehicles for us to reach the higher goal just as referred to in the name of Universal Energy School: “Mankind-Enlightenment-Love”.

We thank all the U.E. students who responded to Master Dang’s calling to financially support the construction of Phu Chau Pagoda. Whether the contribution is small or big, everybody had a high merit in the construction of an ancient Pagoda in Master Dang’s home village. We thank all the U.E. students who responded to Master Dang’s calling and put out their efforts, time, money, etc., to come to this remote Cai Be village, which is Master Luong Minh Dang’s home town, to attend the inaugural ceremony of Phu Chau Pagoda.

For learning purposes, you certainly had many lessons in Psychology and Spirituality during this trip. Perhaps you can call it a “pilgrimage to the Master’s home town”. Of course, during this pilgrimage each person learns a different Spiritual-Physical lesson depending on the individual’s mentality, emotion, destiny and level. But regardless of any Spiritual-Physical lesson you may have, I believe it will benefit you more or less either Psychologically or Spiritually or both Psychologically and Spiritually, Love and Enlightenment, Wisdom and Compassion.

To conclude this short article on the inaugural ceremony of Phu Chau Pagoda, we sincerely wish to share with all the U.E. students a meaningful saying about the Pagoda that came from a Great Tibetan Monk, Dalai Lama, “I believe the goal of all major Religious traditions is not to build large Pagodas outside in public, but to build the Pagodas of Kindness and Compassion inside each of us.” U.E. students do not need to build any Pagoda outside in public, but we have to build the Temples of Love, Compassion, Wisdom, Enlightenment, etc. We do not just only build them inside ourselves, but we should always be ready to build these Temples for other people who need them either for their own self, family, society, country, etc.

Dr. Thai Tan Truyen, M.D.(T.M.), Ph.D.
Email: truyenthai@netbay.com.au