Thanh Mai Pagoda and Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Thanh Mai Pagoda

   In the late thirteenth century, a Vietnamese king who had twice helped drive back Mongol invasions gave up his throne, put on a monk's robe and founded a Zen school of his own. Trần Nhân Tông's Trúc Lâm school, the Bamboo Grove sect, became the most distinctly Vietnamese form of Buddhism, and the temples connected with it are scattered across the hills of the north-east, from Yên Tử mountain to Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc. Thanh Mai pagoda, on a forested slope in the Chí Linh area, is one of these places, associated with the early patriarchs of the school, and it belongs to the Yên Tử, Vĩnh Nghiêm, Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc complex that UNESCO listed in 2025.

   Read the complete Thanh Mai Pagoda write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Thanh Mai Pagoda is where the day begins. Next is Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster.

2. 2. Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster

   In 1293 the Vietnamese king Trần Nhân Tông, who had led his country to victory against two Mongol invasions, gave up his throne and became a monk. He retreated to the mountains of Yên Tử, east of Hanoi, and founded the Trúc Lâm, or Bamboo Forest, school of Zen Buddhism, a distinctly Vietnamese tradition that still flourishes today. In his final years he lived at a hermitage on the mountain of Ngọa Vân, and it was there that he died in 1308. The pagodas, stupas and relics scattered across the ridge form part of the complex of sites connected with Yên Tử and the Trúc Lâm school, which has recently been recognised by UNESCO.

   Read the complete Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster.

3. 3. Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster

   Yên Tử is the sacred mountain of Vietnamese Buddhism, rising to a little over a thousand metres above the coastal plain of Quảng Ninh province, and Hoa Yên Pagoda sits partway up its slopes, among old trees and stone steps, on the pilgrim route to the summit. The mountain's fame goes back to King Trần Nhân Tông, who defeated the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century and then, at the height of his power, gave up the throne, became a monk and retired to Yên Tử, where he founded the Trúc Lâm school of Zen. It became the only uniquely Vietnamese school of Buddhism, and the mountain has been a pilgrimage site ever since.

   Read the complete Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster. Next is back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster.

4. 4. back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster, late in the day. Next is Thanh Mai Pagoda.

5. 5. Thanh Mai Pagoda

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Thanh Mai Pagoda write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Thanh Mai Pagoda. That is the ride.