Wat
Chùa Chrôi Tưm Chắs
វត្តមជ្ឈិមារាមជ្រោយទឹមចាស់
Chùa Chrôi Tưm Chắs (វត្តមជ្ឈិមារាមជ្រោយទឹមចាស់, Chùa Trà Tim Cũ)[1] is a Khmer Theravada Buddhist Wat in Mỹ Xuyên ward, Cần Thơ, Vietnam. It is shaded by hundreds of old sao trees.[2][3]
History
The Wat dates its founding to 1465. Its Khmer name means "parallel": it once stood on two parallel sandy ridges, with rice fields between them. The early abbots planted sao trees, a valued hardwood, to suit the sandy soil, and their descendants now cover most of the grounds.[3][4]
In 1962, monks and Khmer residents demonstrated against a plan by the Saigon government to move the Wat and build a military airfield on its land. The Wat also hid revolutionary cadres and Liberation Army fighters. During the Tết Offensive of 1968, it served as a gathering point for the attack on the town of Sóc Trăng.[3][5]
The grounds once covered nearly 7 ha (17 acres). The Wat gave land to more than 100 families in need to build homes, and by 2023 it kept nearly 4 ha (10 acres).[3] Work on a new main hall began in August 2018, and many of the families the Wat had helped gave toward it. The hall is 18 m (59 ft) wide, 30 m (98 ft) long and 43 m (141 ft) high, decorated in orange and pink as well as the usual gold and red. It was dedicated, and its sima (consecrated boundary) marked, in February 2024.[3][4] The Wat keeps three ngo racing boats of hardwood, shaped like a phoenix, for the boat races of the Ok Om Bok festival.[3] In August 2025, with gifts from lay followers, craftsmen carved a new dugout ngo more than 30 m (98 ft) long from a single sao trunk in the Wat's courtyard.[6]
Religious life
Hòa thượng (Most Venerable) Lý Đen, the abbot, died on December 10, 2023, at the age of 60, and was cremated in the grounds.[3][7] On October 18 and 19, 2025, at the end of the rains retreat, Đại đức (Venerable) Thạch Bênh, the abbot, led the Kathina robe offering; five lay donors offered robes.[8] On April 15, 2026, the leaders of Cần Thơ held the city's celebration of Khmer New Year (Chol Chnam Thmey) at the Wat, with a reenactment of the Tê-va-đa ritual that welcomes the new year.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ Báo Cần Thơ (Khmer edition), សកម្មត្រៀមបម្រុងសម្រាប់កម្មវិធីទូរទស្សន៍ផ្សាយផ្ទាល់អំណរបុណ្យចូលឆ្នាំថ្មី ឆ្នាំ២០២៦ (April 7, 2026)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dân tộc và Phát triển, Ấm áp Tết Chôl Chnăm Thmây năm 2026 tại Cần Thơ (April 15, 2026)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Thanh Niên, Ngôi chùa 'độc nhất vô nhị' với hàng trăm cây sao cổ thụ (October 8, 2023)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Báo Văn Hóa, Sóc Trăng: Khánh thành Chánh điện chùa Khmer Chrôi Tưm Chắs (February 26, 2024)
- ↑ Báo Sóc Trăng, Ký ức cách mạng từ những ngôi chùa Khmer ở Sóc Trăng (April 22, 2025)
- ↑ Báo Cần Thơ, Những ghe ngo độc mộc sẽ trở lại trên đường đua xanh (September 2, 2025)
- ↑ Giác Ngộ, Sóc Trăng: Hòa thượng Lý Đen, trụ trì chùa Chrôi Tưm Chás viên tịch (December 12, 2023)
- ↑ Phật Sự Online, Cần Thơ: Lễ dâng Y Kathina tại chùa Chrôi Tưm Chắc (October 21, 2025)