Wat
Chùa Som Rong
វត្តបទុមវង្សាសំរោង
Chùa Som Rong (វត្តបទុមវង្សាសំរោង, Wat Bôtum Vong Sa Som Rong)[1] is a Khmer Theravada Buddhist Wat on Tôn Đức Thắng street in Sóc Trăng ward, Cần Thơ, Vietnam.[2]
History
The Wat dates its founding to 1785, when it was a simple building of bamboo and leaves. Repeated rebuilding made it the large complex of today.[2] By 2024 it had had 12 abbots. Two standing wooden Buddha images, made in the year the Wat was founded, are kept in the main hall.[3] By local tradition, the name comes from the som rong trees that once grew wild around the Wat.[2]
The grounds cover more than 5 ha (12 acres) and hold the main hall, a sala (meeting hall), a stupa, monks' quarters and a library of more than 1,500 books.[2] The gray stupa, about 25 m (82 ft) tall, was built in 2012. The Wat is known for its outdoor image of the reclining Buddha, shown entering nirvana. It was begun in 2017 and finished in 2021. It is about 63 m (207 ft) long and 22.5 m (74 ft) high, and stands on a platform about 28 m (92 ft) above the ground.[2][3]
Religious life
On October 11, 2025, Thượng tọa (Venerable) Lý Đức, the abbot, led the monks and lay followers in the Kathina robe offering, which follows the three-month rains retreat. Eight donors offered robes that year. Lý Đức was then a standing member of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and standing deputy head of its board for Cần Thơ.[4] On October 4, 2026, the deputy director of the Cần Thơ police visited Lý Đức, then also a deputy of the National Assembly for Cần Thơ, and the management board for Sen Dolta, the festival for ancestors.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ Báo Cần Thơ (Khmer edition), រមណីយដ្ឋានវត្តបទុមវង្សាសំរោង (August 9, 2016)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Văn hóa và Phát triển, Cần Thơ: Chùa Som Rong, dấu ấn văn hóa Khmer giữa lòng phố thị (August 18, 2026)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cục Du lịch Quốc gia Việt Nam, Giá trị truyền thống từ các ngôi chùa Khmer tại Sóc Trăng (December 19, 2024)
- ↑ Phật Sự Online, Cần Thơ: Chùa Somrong cử hành lễ dâng y Kathina năm 2025 (October 13, 2025)
- ↑ Báo Cần Thơ, Lãnh đạo Công an thành phố thăm, tặng quà dịp Lễ Sene Dolta năm 2026 tại phường Sóc Trăng (October 4, 2026)