Black Virgin Mountain (or sometimes Black Lady) is a major landmark in Tay Ninh province. Located rounghly 100 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City, it stands as a single peak surrounded by the Vietnamese countryside.
One of the more famous attractions on the mountain is the 76 metre tall Lady Buddha statue. This statue, set atop Ba Den looks out across the fertile plains around Tay Ninh.
Background
Going by the name of Bà Đen in Vietnamese, it claims to be the highest peak in southern Vietnam. It is an extinct, cone shaped volcano.
Of course, with a name like ‘Black Virgin Mountain’, you’d have to expect a story about its name. It turns out that there are a few legends involving the mountain. Or perhaps they are just variations on a theme.
Anyway, one story goes that there was a young woman in the mountain that fell in love with a soldier. While he was away fighting circumstances arose where she died after throwing herself off a cliff.
The locals of the area built a temple to honour her. Over time it became a place of spiritual significance to the Vietnamese Buddhists. As a result, there are shrines and temples to be found on the mountain.
More recently, the Sun World group built a complex on top of the mountain, that features a giant statue of the black lady.
Black Virgin Mountain
While you can hike up the mountain, there is a cable car that you can take up to the pagodas. I guess I’ve come to expect cable cars around Vietnam. Which means I’m probably heading into something of a theme park experience – or at least something with aspects of it.
Anyway, from the base of the mountain there are two cable car routes. The Von Son Cable Car takes you up to the top of the mountain. Alternatively, you can take the cable card to Chua Hang station near the site of several sacred pagodas. At this stop you will find pagodas such as Ba Den Pagoda, as well as numerous caves.
On this visit, the first stop was the mountain peak, then down to the pagodas, before returning to the base of the mountain. However, you can go in either direction.
Lady Buddha
The Lady Buddha statue here is 72 metres in height and is cast from 170 tonnes of copper. They seem to like their records in Vietnam, and apparently this statue is the “tallest copper Buddha statue in Vietnam located on a mountain peak”. Seems like a very specific record to me!
The statue stands on a lotus pedestal (also made of copper) crafted in the style of the Le Dynasty. The design includes cloud patterns and water droplets. In turn the pedestal is atop a building that functions as a Buddhist Art Gallery.
From the top of the mountain, the Lady Buddha statue keeps a watchful eye over Tay Ninh. As shown below, a lookout as been built allowing visitors to take in the view.
There is also a statue of Maitreya Buddha weighing over 5,100 metric tons. This sandstone Buddha statue positioned in front of the Lady Buddha and also looks out over the land around Tay Ninh.
Buddhist art gallery
As mentioned, the Lady Buddha statue is built on top of a Buddhist art gallery. This is a 4-storey building with a total area of over 4,000 square metres. The floors are as follows:
- First Floor – On this floor is a video exploration of the universe from a Buddhist perspective
- Second Floor – A collection of Buddhist art using 3-D holograms
- Third Floor – Exhibition space with paintings, statues and other artworks
- Fourth Floor – Display of Buddhist relics
Pagoda Complex
The next stop took us to an area where there were several pagodas near each other. The pagodas mentioned on the signposts below are
- Ba Pagoda: Also known as Thuong Pagoda or Linh Son Tien Thach Tu, situated halfway up the mountain.
- Hoa Dong Pagoda: Adjacent to Ba Den Pagoda.
- Hang Pagoda – dedicated to soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the war.
In addition to the Pagodas, the area contains a number of caves. Many of these caves have over time become their own small places of worship.
Ba Pagoda
The Ba Den Pagoda is a small pagoda where Be Den is worshipped. Built in the 18th century, it us about half way up the mountain at an altitude of 350 metres. Interestingly, the main worship area of the temple is in a small cave.
Thoughts
Ba Den Mountain is a place that combines the natural beauty of the Tay Ninh region with places of religious significance. In a way spirituality and nature converge here allowing for an interesting day. While the ability to go up by cable car is good, it does tend to highlight the way some areas have become quite commericalised.
Useful Information
Getting to Ba Den Mountain
Ba Den Mountain is located at about 110 km from Ho Chi Minh city. In my case, it was done by hiring a driver for the day that also took us to the Cao Dai Temple and Go Ken Temple. Aside from a driver, there are a number of tours from Ho Chi Minh city that visit the mountain.
If you are more self-sufficient, you can travel by car or motorbike from Saigon city center. You can take one of these two routes:
- Route 1: Follow Route 22A then turn right at Trang Bang junction toward Provincial Road 782; continue for about 60 km until you reach Ba Den Mountain
- Route 2: Follow Route 22A then turn left at Trang Bang junction toward Go Dau Town, continue on Route 22B for 22 km until you reach Ba Den Mountain.
It is also possible to get there by bus. You can catch bus 703 from Ben Thanh to Moc Bai, and then take the Moc Bai – Tay Ninh bus.
