Con Son Pagoda (Chua Con Son, also called Chua Hun: Smoked Pagoda, because people came here to prepare their fire wood). Real name: Tu Phuc Tu. At Cong Hoa village, Chi Linh district, Hai Duong province. The first construction dates back to the Ly dynasty (XI – Xllth centuries). Under the Tran (1225 – 1400) King Tran Thai Tong went here many times on pilgrimage, King Tran Nhan Tong likely came for practising meditation. Other famous monks had their stay here: Phap Loa built Hd Thien and Chan Lac are small pagodas to live in; Huyen Quang died there.
Con Son is a picturesque mountain site, a retirement place chosen by the regent Great Minister Tran Nguyen Dan (1320 – 1390) who brought his young grandson Nguyen Trai there (later one of the greatest figures of Vietnam). The pagoda has preserved numerous steles dating back to 1357 (17th year of Thien Phong, reign the Tran dynasty) and 1617 (8th year of Hoang Dinh reign – in hexagonal form). According to inscriptions on the steles, the pagoda was built during the reign of Vinh To (1619 – 1628) by care of the monk Mai Tri Ban (85 compartments). Rebuilt in 1921 (under the reign of King Khai Dinh, the Nguyen dynasty). There were hundreds of statues, many of them damaged. Let us indicate in particular the statues of Quan Am Thien Thu Thien Nhan (Avalokitesvara or Quan Yin of a thousand arms and eyes – only one arms is left), of A di Da (Amitabha – 3m), of three Patriarchs of the Thien sect from Truc Lam (Truc Lam Tam To), of Tran Nguyen Dan, Nguyen Trai and Thi Lo.
