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In the Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu, the Complete History of Great Viet, it is written that in the winter of 1049 (when the great Northen Song poet Su Shi was just 12 years old) the temple was built. Previously, King Ly Thai Tong had a dream in which he saw Avalokitesvara sitting on a lotus seat inviting him to ascend. He related the dream to his courtiers an it was interpreted as an auspicious omen. The monk Thien Tue advised him to erect a temple, set on a stone pillar with a lotus seat on top as the king had seen in his dream. Once built, the monks circumnambulated the temple praying for the king's longevity, hence its nameDien Huu, Prolong Life. In 1122, King Ly Nhan Tong ordered the digging of a pond around the stone pillar and named it Linh Chieu Pond. A stele recorded: "The fragrant Linh Chieu Pond was dug, in the middle of which rises a stone pillar, on the top of which is an opened thousand leaf lotus flower. A dark red temple was built on this lotus. Inside the temple there is a golden statue." The original was unfortunately destroyed during the French wars.

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