There is a very famous pagoda in Gia Thanh – Gia Vien – Ninh Binh province (considered to be the 3 most beautiful pagodas in Vietnam) that is Dich Long pagoda. It’s legendary that the cave was found out in 1739 with many stalitiles and stalimites especially buddha-like one and it is worshipped since.
In 1740, the grotto was dedicated to Buddhism.
The pagoda is the grotto, as large as a house with 10 compartments, there are statutes like arhant, guardian spirit… or the stone tables or the stone door inscribed with 6 characters “Nham Son Dong, Co Am Tu” (co Am pagoda, Nham Son grotto) visitors and pilgrims have to climb up to 105 stone-steps to the pagoda. This is naturally made pagoda. In the pagoda, there is a big bell, 1m high and 1 tori in weight due to high location, abound in stalactites and stalac, when the wind blows in, there echoes with sounds like flutes, the grotto itself is a colosal flute made of stone by nature, echoeing for ages now – so is grotto named, when we strike lightly against the stalic, there are sounds like from the drums, and the bell. That’s the musical band given by nature.
 |  |  |
Interesting is it that, once we are here, not only we come to pray for goodness, but we, are lost among imaginative elephants, water jars, crouching tigers, dancing pea -cocks, overwhelming dragons each stone wall is a picture of art, carved by nature, even we can find a well here with very clean water, a way up to the heav- ens and away down to the hell.
The whole grotto is a nice scope, a good combination of yin and yang of light and darkness, of music of poem, of the fairyland and worldly life.
Dich Long pagoda is a destination to come.