page_title: Quan Âm Pagoda (Ho Chi Minh City)
section_title: Front Courtyard
hierarchical_section_title: Quan Âm Pagoda (Ho Chi Minh City) / Layout / Front Courtyard
caption_attribution_description: English: This photo was taken at Quan Am Pagoda, Cho Lon (Chinatown), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This relief depiction is in the courtyard next to the entrance to the street. Amitabha Buddha, the master of the Pure Land, is blessing a female devotee.
context_page_description: Quan Âm Pagoda is a Chinese-style Buddhist pagoda located on Lao Tu Street in Cho Lon, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Founded in the 19th century, it is dedicated to Guanyin, the Chinese goddess of mercy and the Chinese form of the Indian bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The pagoda is popular among both Vietnamese and Chinese Buddhists; most of its inscriptions are in Chinese characters, but some have had Vietnamese labels added. In addition to veneration of Guanyin and the teachings of the Buddha, the pagoda also includes Pure Land worship of the Amitabha Buddha, elements of Taoism, and the folk worship of the Fujianese sea goddess Mazu in her role as the "Queen of Heaven".
context_section_description: The entrance to the pagoda across the street from the garden is through a small red gatehouse.  Between the gatehouse and the pagoda building itself is a narrow courtyard.  At both ends of the narrow courtyard are relief panels fashioned in the same style as the panels in the garden across the street.  The difference is that while the panels in the garden have Taoist motifs, those in the courtyard have Buddhist motifs depicting the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha.
  Amitabha is the Buddha associated with the form of Buddhist piety that promises salvation through faith.  It is a form of piety available even to those who lack the ability or opportunity to pursue salvation through meditation and reflection.  Devotees of Amitabha call his name in all sincerity, and he rewards them by having them reborn into the paradise that is called the Pure Land, a place without suffering and without evil, where sentient beings can prepare themselves for ultimate salvation.
  To the left of the main entrance of to the pagoda complex is a panel depicting Amitabha Buddha as he presides over the Pure Land.
  Amitabha is depicted sitting cross-legged on a lotus flower.  He is wearing robes of red and orange.  He has the elongated ears and curled hair of the Shakyamuni Buddha (i.e., the Buddha), and his head is surrounded by a halo of fire.  His right hand makes the gesture of fearlessness, and his left hand the gesture of giving.  He is flanked by two standing bodhisattvas, who prayerfully clasp their hands at their chests. They are Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (Quán Thế Âm Bồ Tát) and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva (Đại Thế Chí Bồ Tát).  These two bodhisattvas are Amitabha's companions in the principal iconographic triad of Pure Land Buddhism.  Surrounding Ambitabha and the bodhisattvas are numerous monks and devotees.  Most of the monks are dressed in orange robes, with short-cropped greyish hair.
  To Ambitabha's right is an interesting group of figures.
  The spirit of the land on which the pagoda was built has a white beard and black and red robes; a horned demon protects him from the sun by means of an umbrella made of a gigantic leaf.  The spirit of the land is conversing with a bodhisattva, who appears to be coming from the entourage surrounding Amitabha.
  Behind the spirit of the land are a novice monk, dressed in grey, and an azure dragon.
  Somewhat above the spirit of the land, emerging from some clouds, is a dark-skinned four-armed archer, with fierce bulging eyes and thick black eyebrows.  With two of his hands, the archer fits an arrow to his bow; with the other two, he gesticulates above his head.  A small light-skinned head grows upwards from the darker head below.
  To the right of the main entrance is another panel depicting Amitabha presiding over the Pure Land.  Again, Amitabha is depicted sitting on a lotus throne, and wearing red and orange clothing.  Again he is flanked by two standing boddhisattvas with clasped hands.  Amitabha's left hand rests in his lap in the gesture of meditation, while his right hand is raised in a benevolent gesture towards a haloed woman who kneels at his feet.  To Amitabha's left, a diverse crowd of figures emerges from the clouds surrounding a mountainous wilderness landscape.  About half the figures are monks clad in orange robes; the rest include two bearded men in armor, one playing a lute and the other carrying a sword, and a man leading a harnessed tiger.
caption: Amitabha blesses a female devotee.
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