Pagode Hông-Hiên

The Pagoda of Fréjus is a place of worship, built in 1917 under the leadership of Colonel Lame and inaugurated by the municipal authorities on April 6, 1919, the Mayor being Marius Coullet. It is the oldest Pagoda in Europe. It was founded by soldiers of the Colonial Troops coming from Asia. These, in order to acclimatize before going to the front, were stationed in Camp Gallieni. Named after General Gallieni, (1849 – 1916), appointed Minister of War, he created from 1915 the Camps of the South-East, camps of Colonial Troops based in Fréjus, Saint-Raphaël. These troops, quite naturally, felt the need to have a place of worship to practice their religion and bury their dead in accordance with tradition. A cemetery, now disappeared, also existed on these sites. The bones were transferred between 1965 and 1967 to the National Necropolis of Luynes.

This Pagoda was built in accordance with the traditional architecture of Vietnam, under the aegis of the venerable Tich Thanh Vuc, Buddhist chaplain. It is called Hong Hien Tu (Pagoda of the proud Hong Lac race). Abandoned thereafter and due to lack of maintenance, it fell into ruin and was saved from abandonment by Vietnamese refugees in 1954, then, in 1967 an association was created. Subsequently, the original Temple was expanded, new buildings were built, and, with the support of Buddhists from other regions of France, the renovation was completed in 1972.

In 1984, she was among the founders of the world Buddhist order. Today, it is a private property, acquired from the Ministry of Defense, belonging to the association "Hong Hien Pagoda Buddhist Center".

A building of worship, also used as a reception hall and library, was built in 1978. In 1979, after the acquisition of the 6100 m2 plot of land, other projects followed, including in 1988, the construction of the Tour An Lac (Tower of Eternal Tranquility), intended for the ashes of the faithful.

Dozens of statues have been added to the site, including the acquisition in 1979 of a two-meter, 1,5-ton statue, cast in Bangkok, which represents the future Buddha Siddhartha Gantana in meditation, installed under a Ficus tree where he had sheltered for 49 days of meditation before obtaining enlightenment. Shortly after, a venerable of the Pagoda sculpted the Buddha entering Nirvana (paradise) in a reclining position, the largest reclining Buddha in Europe (10 meters long).

No one knows exactly when Buddha's earthly life ended. He was about 80 years old. The venerable also sculpted Buddha giving his first sermon to 5 disciples and the statue representing the birth of Buddha in the 6th century BC. According to the historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, he was born in 624 BC in Benares and died in Kusinagara.

At the heart of this park, you will discover a replica, made in Hue, of the bell (2,50 meters high, 2 tons) of the Temple of the Celestial Lady of Hue, the ancient Imperial city.

The Buddhist flag created in 1880 and adopted in 1950 in Sri Lanka, dominates this pagoda. It represents the colors of the rainbow. Each color representing:

Blue: meditation

Yellow: thought

Red: energy

White: serene faith

Orange: intelligence (mixture of the four colors)

The 6th band, vertical: non-discrimination

The Buddhist tradition is divided into two main branches which are: Hinayana or "small vehicle" and Mahayana or "large vehicle". The tradition of the "small vehicle" is traditionalist and conservative, that of the "large vehicle" is more modernist and more open to lay practitioners. In the Pagoda of Fréjus, it is the tradition of the "large vehicle" which is in force.