Wat
Chùa Pothiwong
Chùa Pothiwong is a Khmer Theravada Buddhist Wat at 21/2 Bùi Thế Mỹ street in the former Tân Bình district of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.[1] As of 2022, it and Chùa Chantarangsay were the two Khmer Wats in the city.[2]
History
Hòa thượng (Most Venerable) Thạch Âm founded the Wat in 1960 on a plot of 470 m2 (5,060 sq ft) and named it Onteskosey. He later left the country, and the Wat went through hard years and at times stood empty.[1][2] After 1975 Hòa thượng Giới Nghiêm, of the Vietnamese Theravada tradition, looked after it.[2] Hòa thượng Lâm Ym, invited from the Wat at Định Quán, became abbot in 1982[2] or 1993,[1] and gave it the name Pothiwon. Each year he let Khmer pupils and students stay at the Wat while they studied in the city.[1]
After Lâm Ym died in 2000, Đại đức (Venerable) Danh Giảng looked after the Wat for a time, and in 2001 Đại đức Tăng Ngọc An became abbot.[1][2] Under him the gate, the sala, the monks' quarters, the ossuary and the main hall were rebuilt, with Buddha images, deities and guardian figures, at a cost of more than 18 billion đồng given by monks and lay followers. The new main hall was inaugurated and its sima (consecrated boundary) established on February 21, 2018.[1][2]
Religious life
As of 2022, many Khmer people lived around the Wat, which held festivals, Khmer-language classes and Buddhist teaching each year.[2] On April 10, 2025, a delegation of the Ho Chi Minh City Military Command visited the Wat with gifts for Khmer New Year (Chol Chnam Thmey), and the abbot thanked them on behalf of the monks, the Wat committee and the lay followers.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Giác Ngộ, Khánh thành chùa Phật giáo Nam tông Khmer tại TP.HCM (February 22, 2018)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Báo Dân tộc và Phát triển, Độc đáo hai ngôi chùa Khmer giữa lòng TP. Hồ Chí Minh (March 14, 2022)
- ↑ Thành ủy Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Lãnh đạo Bộ Tư lệnh TPHCM chúc Tết Chol Chnam Thmay (April 10, 2025)