Phi Lai Pagoda

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        Phi Lai Pagoda is located across from Tam Bửu Pagoda, about 100 meters east of Elephant Mountain. It was constructed on January 19, 1877, by followers of the Hiếu Nghĩa sect.

        On April 13, 1978, the Khmer Rouge forces used heavy artillery to shell the villages of Vĩnh Gia, An Nông, Lạc Quới, and Ba Chúc. Civilians sought refuge in Phi Lai Pagoda to escape the artillery fire. Due to their belief in the safety of temples and pagodas, over 250 people took shelter inside Phi Lai Pagoda.On April 20, 1978, the Khmer Rouge forces attacked Phi Lai Pagoda. They fired bullets into the underground shelters where civilians sought refuge, resulting in the deaths of 50 people. Those who managed to escape were shot and beaten outside the temple, and their bodies were piled around the temple—approximately 100 victims. Specifically, beneath the Buddha’s altar, 40 people had hidden. The Khmer Rouge used grenades to kill 39 of them, leaving only one survivor. To this day, the temple still bears the scars of that horrific massacre.
        After April 30, 1978, the survivors returned to search for their loved ones. The scene that they witnessed was one of bodies strewn around houses, temples, fields, and mountain caves—mostly elderly people and children. At Phi Lai Pagoda, bloodstains remained on the walls and corridors. Particularly striking were two distinct handprints on the left side of the temple’s entrance: clear imprints of blood, with droplets splattered up to a 4-meter height on one side and a 7-meter-long, 0.6-meter-high trail on the other. The temple floor was submerged in blood and yellowish water, rising to a depth of 20 centimeters.
        Having witnessed the Pol Pot genocide at Ba Chuc, our soldiers, in their retaliatory attacks and pursuit against them, wrote words of bitter hatred: "With hearts filled with rage, we vow to sink the Khmer Rouge perpetrators into the abyss, avenging our beloved Ba Chuc."