Wat
Chùa Dơi
Chùa Dơi (Wat Sêrâytêchô Mahatup) is a Khmer Theravada Buddhist Wat on Văn Ngọc Chính street near Sóc Trăng, in Cần Thơ, Vietnam.[1][2] It stands about 2.5 km (1.6 mi) southwest of the center of Sóc Trăng.[1] In Vietnamese it is also called Chùa Mã Tộc. Its common name, Chùa Dơi, means "Bat Wat", after the fruit bats that have roosted in its trees for hundreds of years.[2][1]
History
Old records kept at the Wat date its founding to 1569, when Thạch Út led its construction. As of 2014, 19 generations of abbots had served there. The Wat has been restored many times. After a fire in August 2007, the main hall was rebuilt in its present form by April 2009.[1]
On February 12, 1999, the Ministry of Culture and Information recognized Chùa Dơi as a national relic of art (Decision 05/1999/QĐ-BVHTT).[1] As of 2023, it and Chùa Kh'leang were the two Wats in the city of Sóc Trăng with national relic status.[3]
Architecture
The grounds cover about 4 ha[1] or more than 3 ha[2] (7.4 to 9.9 acres) and are shaded by old trees. They hold the main hall, a sala (meeting hall for monks and lay followers), a guest house, monks' quarters and stupas that hold the ashes of the dead.[1]
The main hall follows the traditional Khmer style of southern Vietnam, with stylized lotus petals as its main motif. Its roof has two layers of colored tiles, naga (serpent) finials at the four corners and a spire at the top. Each pillar around the hall bears a figure of a kemnar (celestial maiden) with hands joined in greeting. Inside, as in other Khmer Theravada Wats, the hall enshrines only the Buddha, in a gilded image. Twenty-eight wall paintings outside the hall tell the life of the Buddha from his birth to his enlightenment and passing into nirvana. Around the hall stand stupas for the ashes of monks and of lay families, following Khmer custom.[2]
The bats
Two kinds of large fruit bat roost in the trees of the Wat: Lyle's flying fox and the large flying fox. Both have been listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 1989, and the provincial authorities banned hunting and trading them. The bats sleep by day and fly out at night to feed.[1] They do not eat the fruit in the Wat's gardens but fly elsewhere to feed.[3] The monks tell of the 17th abbot, Venerable Thạch Chia, who was known for taming the bats, which stayed close to him like pets.[1]
Community
As of 2014, the Wat was a center of education and of traditional Khmer religious festivals, and a gathering place for the local community, where Khmer, Vietnamese and Chinese residents live side by side.[1] As of 2016, it was also a place to learn to read and write Khmer and to study Buddhist teachings. At Khmer New Year, residents gather at the Wat to make offerings in memory of the dead, and during Sen Dolta in the eighth lunar month they make offerings at home for three days and then bring them to the Wat, where monks chant for their ancestors.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Du lịch Sóc Trăng, Chùa Sêrâytêchô-Mahatup (Chùa Dơi) (undated) (archived May 2, 2014)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 VOV5, Chùa Dơi, ngôi chùa theo dòng Phật giáo Nam tông Khmer (February 2, 2016)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 VOV5, Những ngôi chùa Khmer ở tỉnh Sóc Trăng (December 13, 2023)