Dalat is a place to train a quiet mind. If you just walk a few steps outside the city center, you can hear nothing but your own mind. That is why this place is chosen to build Truc Lam Monsnastery - one of the three largest Zen monasteries in Vietnam. Situated on Phung Hoang (Phoenix) Mountain, about 5 km from the city center, Truc Lam Monastery belongs to Ward 3, Dalat city among green pine forests, which is adjacent Tuyen Lam Lake. With its beautiful location, Truc Lam Monastery is not only the largest monastery in Lam Dong province but also one of the most fascinating tourist attractions.
Read more Dalat is a place to train a quiet mind. If you just walk a few steps outside the city center, you can hear nothing but your own mind. That is why this place is chosen to build Truc Lam Monsnastery - one of the three largest Zen monasteries in Vietnam. Situated on Phung Hoang (Phoenix) Mountain, about 5 km from the city center, Truc Lam Monastery belongs to Ward 3, Dalat city among green pine forests, which is adjacent Tuyen Lam Lake. With its beautiful location, Truc Lam Monastery is not only the largest monastery in Lam Dong province but also one of the most fascinating tourist attractions.
Along the road winding up the hill to the temple, the bell tower is clearly visible from afar. The tiled roof of the pagoda is also prominent, contrasting against the pine forests that surround it. The entrance of the temple is somewhat isolated, so there is a direct entrance to the temple with 61 steps or climbing, or the person can go directly past Tuyen Lam and then climb 222 steps past the triple gated entrance to enter the main courtyard in front of the temple.
The temple is located on a plot of land encompassing 24 hectares. Of the 24 hectares, there are two hectares that are occupied by buildings, divided into two areas, the domestic areas and public areas. The domestic area is closed to the public. There are two domestic quarters, for monks and nuns respectively. Each of the domestic quarters has two meeting rooms for sangha, a meditation hall, a kitchen, dining room and a shed. Currently, there are approximately 50 monks and 50 nuns in religious practice at the temple.
It can be said that the monastery's flower garden is one of the sites tourist cannot miss when setting foot on Truc Lam Monastery. It is also the rare flower garden housing the great number of strange and precious flowers. Varieties of flowers were planted by monks and nuns here. Unlike other Dalat pagodas, Truc Lam Pagoda also retains a nursery and transplant garden. It is a home to many kinds of flowers over the world. The most famous is species of purple myrtle, Australia kapok or confederate rose... Tourists seemly are lost in a world of flowers when arriving here. Immersing in peaceful and gorgeous scenery, tourists seem to forget the noise and bustle of urban life in order to soak up with the nature, the earth and sky instead.
Established in special social conditions, with the aim of restoring Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen School founded by the King Tran Thanh Tong, this Zen school has harmoniously combined different Zen schools with Vietnamese cultural and tradition into Vietnamese Zen. It is worth to house practices for Buddhist monks and also ideal tourist site in Dalat tours. Here, tourist will have the opportunity to stabilize their mind and experience the peaceful scenery nowhere can be found.
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