Woodblocks of Vinh Nghiem Pagoda

Woodblocks of the Truc Lam Zen Buddhism in Vinh Nghiem Pagoda (Tri Yen commune, Yen Dung district, Bac Giang province) are the only original woodwork of the Truc Lam Buddhist sect that is still preserved at Vinh Nghiem Pagoda.

Carpentry of Truc Lam Zen Buddhist scriptures of Vinh Nghiem pagoda

Since the founding of Truc Lam Zen (late 13th century), King Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308) has edited, imprinted and published some important books, books and works to popularize the religion. reason, religious thought of the Buddha in general and the noble Truc Lam Buddhist monks in particular. However, due to the policy of the enemy's gangrene, similar civil wars and harsh climate have caused most woodblocks to be destroyed and dispersed.

At the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Vinh Nghiem Pagoda was selected as one of the training centers of the Vietnam Buddhist Church , which kept records of national monks and nuns; At the same time, it is a major publishing and publishing center of Vietnamese Buddhism. The woodblocks were carved at the pagoda during this period including 3,050 copies of etchings kept at 8 bookshelves in the main electricity, most of which are sutras, books, Buddha's precepts, the precepts of the Three World Groups (Article Ngu Giac Hoang Tran Nhan Tong (1258 - 1308), Dharma teacher Phap Loa Dong Kien Cuong (1284 - 1330), Zen master Huyen Quang Ly Dao Re (1254 - 1334) and some high priests raised Truc Lam Yen Tu meditation ( poetry, riches, diaries .) In addition, Vinh Nghiem pagoda has a number of printed and scented woodblocks, which are the only type of text available in the Truc Lam Buddhist sect (sects in India, Korea, and China National and Japanese . are not available. In particular, there are also a number of wooden carpets that record how to treat herbal medicine, acupuncture with diagram showing clear acupuncture points.

Moc Ban Vinh Nghiem pagoda was crafted by skilled craftsmen in the wards of Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and especially Lieu Trang (Hai Duong) - a village specializing in woodblock carving for a long time. The woodblocks are all made of wood from the wood , carved in ancient Han and Nom , and a few inscribed with Sanskrit letters. The word is engraved on both sides of each wooden board (few engraved on one side) with a depth of 1 - 1.5mm. The technique of carving letters and decorative images on each board is done in accordance with Vietnamese printing standards. Each printed book page will have a border (book border frame), mind version (book title engraving position), a great fish (book's nape). In particular, in etchings that correspond to the first or last page of each book, there is often a misplacement indicating the time of the leveling, the leveler and the storage location.

The size of woodblocks is uneven, depending on the set of sutras and books. The largest engraving is over 100cm long, 40 - 50cm wide; The smallest version is only about 20 x 15cm.

The woodblocks of Vinh Nghiem Temple contain ideological values, profound teachings of the Truc Lam Buddhist sect , and mark the development process of the Nom script through the ages. This is also a beautiful work of art, unique, original, unmodified or deformed. Through this carpentry storehouse, viewers can exploit rich information in many fields such as religion, language, literature, medicine, art .

On May 16 , 2012 , at the conference of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Commission held in Bangkok (Thailand), Moc Ban Kinh Truc Lam Zen Buddhist Temple of Vinh Nghiem was recognized as a Heritage World literature belongs to the Asia-Pacific World Memory Program, based on three criteria: authenticity, irreplaceable uniqueness and regional position and role.