A total of twelve deities, i.e. one for each month, are guarding the main entrance of the Thien Mu Pagoda, located on the bank of the Perfume River (fig.) near Hue, in central Vietnam.

This temple draws its name from an old woman, referred to as Thien Mu, i.e. the ‘Celestial Lady´, who foretold that a pagoda would be built on the hill in this location, after which she vanished. The seven storey pagoda, built in 1601 on the order of the first Nguyen lord, Nguyen Hoang, is currently the tallest in Vietnam, and its levels represent the seven steps that prince Siddhartha took immediately after his birth.

Today, the adjacent temple is a center of learning and education for monks and novices (fig.).