Its impact is such that it has become the unofficial symbol of the city. Từ Đàm Pagoda was built and opened under the direction of Zen master Thích Minh Hoằng, who was the 34th in the lineage of the Lâm Tế Zen lineage. In 1841, Vietnam had been unified in its modern state by the Nguyễn Dynasty and Emperor Thiệu Trị ordered that the temple be renamed so that it did not conflict with his name. The temple was one of the three national pagodas in Huế during the Nguyễn Dynasty era. In 1939, Suzanne Karpelès, Secretary General of the Buddhist Studies Association of Phnom Penh in Cambodia, arranged for a bodhi tree offshoot to be taken from the original bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya under which Gautama Buddha achieved enlightenment, to be brought to Từ Đàm Pagoda. It was planted in the front yard of the temple, where it was grown up and become a permanent fixture. In 1951, the temple was the venue for a meeting of 51 notable Buddhist monks from across Vietnam, to create a unified nationwide Buddhist organisation for all of Vietnam. At this meeting Thích Tịnh Khiết was chosen to be the head of Buddhism in Vietnam. It was during this meeting that the internationally designed Buddhist flag was first flown on the grounds of the pagoda. During 1968, the pagoda was heavily damaged during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War, some of which remains unrepaired. In 1966, a bronze statue of Gautama Buddha was cast to replace the one destroyed during the pagoda attacks of Diem's regime. During the period of the Nguyễn Dynasty in the 19th century, Emperor Thiệu Trị declared Diệu Đế Pagoda to be one of the national pagodas of Vietnam. The pagoda entrance is on the banks of the Dong Ba canal. The temple gates face southwest; directly on the other side of the canal is the Dong Ba gate of the eastern side of the Citadel of Huế, which was the imperial headquarters of the Nguyễn Dynasty, erected by Gia Long at the start of the 19th century. Báo Quốc Pagoda was one of the three national pagodas of the city during the time of the Nguyễn Dynasty.