Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

3031 sites15 countries4 traditions30 centuries
High medieval · Buddhist · Vietnam

Thầy Temple

Quốc Oai, Hanoi, Hanoi · 21.0223°, 105.6456°

Gautama Buddha with eighteen arhats, alongside Zen master Từ Đạo Hạnh and Emperor Lý Nhân TôngVietnamese
Sacred since
1000 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
11th c. (Lý dynasty)

History & significance

A Buddhist temple complex west of Hanoi in Quốc Oai, established in the 11th century under Emperor Lý Nhân Tông and refurbished repeatedly since. Its halls venerate the Buddha together with the Zen master Từ Đạo Hạnh, around whose cult the site grew.

Sthala katha — the traditional account

What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.

Từ Đạo Hạnh is said to have burned his finger to summon rain and healed villagers by blessing them, and to have been reborn three times - once as a Buddha, then as the son of King Lý Nhân Tông, then as the monk who saved King Thần Tông.

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Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: