Pagoda Sunday

We spent our Sunday yesterday visiting the oldest temple and pagoda in Hanoi. It was a long day of walking and riding buses but I really enjoyed the peace there, especially at the Tran Quoc Pagoda. Even though the busy city was just a few steps away we could barely hear it.
There is a courtyard in front with beautiful statues, many incense burners, and a grand altar at which to pray. Along with other tourists, we walked amid everything with amazement, aware that we couldn’t really understand what it meant.

When we were about to leave Titus asked if we could follow a path he saw which led to the back of the pagoda. We saw a group of people had gone that way and were disappearing around a corner, so we followed. When we arrived at the back of the pagoda there was another courtyard, this one without tourists but with many others, sitting and listening in quiet devotion to a monk whose voice was amplified with speakers. He was sitting near an altar, with his yellow silk clad back to us, reading into a microphone. I asked our friend what he was saying. She said, “He’s talking about how to treat others. To be kind. Especially to your family…”