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Main Guanyin altar in Ancient Guanyin Temple (Guanyin gumiao 觀音古廟) (ศาลเจ้ากวนอิม San Tchaw Kuan Im) Anderl, Christoph; Johansen, Kira; Thomson, Oliver; Sirothphiphat, Saly
Description
The Ancient Guanyin Temple (觀音古廟) (ศาลเจ้ากวนอิม San Tchaw Kuan Im) is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand. This one room neighborhood temple was constructed during the reign of King Rama V, roughly from 1853-1910, as specified from the temple caretaker. The caretaker said that the temple was bombed during the Japanese invasion of Thailand in 1941, but was later rebuilt. The temple regularly hosts chanting groups, the majority of whom were specified to be Teochew Chinese (唐人). The caretaker stated that the temple has no state support, but does regularly pay money to a Chinese foundation. It is not known to what extent the temple has been renovated, nor how often, but the most recent set of renovations occured in 2021. The following set of pictures show the main temple altar dedicated to Guanyin (觀音). Image 01 shows the main altar, with a crowned Guanyin. The altar is flanked by painted portraits on the left and right sides, depicting cranes and deer respectively, and an altar background depicting bamboo, clouds, and lotus flowers. On the top right section of the altar, there is a crane whose mouth is holding dark-colored beads. At the altar's base, there are offereings of incense, pearls, food, water, tea, marigold wreaths, or Thai flower offerings (Phuang Malai พวงมาลัย), and what appears to be coffee in the right most section of the picture. Image 02 shows an overview of the altar on the floor directly below the main altar box in Image 01. Image 03 shows a close-up of the inscription on the altar table leg reading 丁福利？藏. The gold sections have flowers, birds, and a dragon. Images 04 and 05 show a close-up of the floor altar, with an incense bowl placed in front and incense sticks, Chinese "Golden Flower" (金花), and peacock feathers inside. There are also qiu qian (求籤) divination sticks on the right side of the altar, and two bowls filled with gold coins flanking either side of the altar. This type of divination is also known as lottery poetry and is connected to kau cim (求籤) divination sticks, called qiu qian (求籤), or seam si (เซียมซี) in Thai. To find your fortune with these sticks, you must rattle the qiu qian sticks until one falls to the ground (methods vary geographically). In some Chinese Buddhist temples, you must confirm the fortune by throwing the cresent-shaped wooden moons called Moon Blocks, or jiaobei (筊杯) a maximum of three times to receive confirmation. A confirmation divination signal is when one moon block lands face up and the other lands face down. If both moons are face down, this is a non-confirmation. In some groups, both moons facing up means the god in question is laughing at you. These sticks are also connected to fortune papers pictured in another entry titled "Temple Drum and Kau cim fortunes on right side of Ancient Guanyin Temple (Guanyin gumiao 觀音古廟)." In the middle there is the Earth God (地主), also known as Tudigong (土地公). Image 06 gives a clearer perspective on the Chinese characters on the inside of the box, which at the very top reads 聚寶堂, the "Hall of Amassing Riches." A possible reading of the inside of the box, starting from the right most line from top to bottom, is 地興財大發, meaning the "Earth generates great riches," the middle line reading from top to bottom 地主, and the leftmost line reading from top to bottom主盛合家安, meaning "the lord provides peaceful abundance to the whole family." The characters on the column left of the altar box read from top to bottom 福祿自天來 meaning "good fortune shall come from heaven," and the column right of the altar box read from top to bottom 金銀從地起, meaning "gold and silver arises from the earth (referring to the Earth god)." Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen.
Item Metadata
| Title |
Main Guanyin altar in Ancient Guanyin Temple (Guanyin gumiao 觀音古廟) (ศาลเจ้ากวนอิม San Tchaw Kuan Im)
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| Creator | |
| Contributor | |
| Date Issued |
2023-05-25
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| Description |
The Ancient Guanyin Temple (觀音古廟) (ศาลเจ้ากวนอิม San Tchaw Kuan Im) is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand. This one room neighborhood temple was constructed during the reign of King Rama V, roughly from 1853-1910, as specified from the temple caretaker. The caretaker said that the temple was bombed during the Japanese invasion of Thailand in 1941, but was later rebuilt. The temple regularly hosts chanting groups, the majority of whom were specified to be Teochew Chinese (唐人). The caretaker stated that the temple has no state support, but does regularly pay money to a Chinese foundation. It is not known to what extent the temple has been renovated, nor how often, but the most recent set of renovations occured in 2021. The following set of pictures show the main temple altar dedicated to Guanyin (觀音). Image 01 shows the main altar, with a crowned Guanyin. The altar is flanked by painted portraits on the left and right sides, depicting cranes and deer respectively, and an altar background depicting bamboo, clouds, and lotus flowers. On the top right section of the altar, there is a crane whose mouth is holding dark-colored beads. At the altar's base, there are offereings of incense, pearls, food, water, tea, marigold wreaths, or Thai flower offerings (Phuang Malai พวงมาลัย), and what appears to be coffee in the right most section of the picture. Image 02 shows an overview of the altar on the floor directly below the main altar box in Image 01. Image 03 shows a close-up of the inscription on the altar table leg reading 丁福利？藏. The gold sections have flowers, birds, and a dragon. Images 04 and 05 show a close-up of the floor altar, with an incense bowl placed in front and incense sticks, Chinese "Golden Flower" (金花), and peacock feathers inside. There are also qiu qian (求籤) divination sticks on the right side of the altar, and two bowls filled with gold coins flanking either side of the altar. This type of divination is also known as lottery poetry and is connected to kau cim (求籤) divination sticks, called qiu qian (求籤), or seam si (เซียมซี) in Thai. To find your fortune with these sticks, you must rattle the qiu qian sticks until one falls to the ground (methods vary geographically). In some Chinese Buddhist temples, you must confirm the fortune by throwing the cresent-shaped wooden moons called Moon Blocks, or jiaobei (筊杯) a maximum of three times to receive confirmation. A confirmation divination signal is when one moon block lands face up and the other lands face down. If both moons are face down, this is a non-confirmation. In some groups, both moons facing up means the god in question is laughing at you. These sticks are also connected to fortune papers pictured in another entry titled "Temple Drum and Kau cim fortunes on right side of Ancient Guanyin Temple (Guanyin gumiao 觀音古廟)." In the middle there is the Earth God (地主), also known as Tudigong (土地公). Image 06 gives a clearer perspective on the Chinese characters on the inside of the box, which at the very top reads 聚寶堂, the "Hall of Amassing Riches." A possible reading of the inside of the box, starting from the right most line from top to bottom, is 地興財大發, meaning the "Earth generates great riches," the middle line reading from top to bottom 地主, and the leftmost line reading from top to bottom主盛合家安, meaning "the lord provides peaceful abundance to the whole family." The characters on the column left of the altar box read from top to bottom 福祿自天來 meaning "good fortune shall come from heaven," and the column right of the altar box read from top to bottom 金銀從地起, meaning "gold and silver arises from the earth (referring to the Earth god)." Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen.
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| Subject | |
| Geographic Location | |
| Type | |
| Language |
chi
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| Notes |
Author Affiliations: Ghent University, Florida State University, Edinburgh University, Harvard University
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| Series | |
| Date Available |
2024-03-22
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| Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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| Rights |
Attribution 4.0 International
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| DOI |
10.14288/1.0440921
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| URI | |
| Affiliation | |
| Peer Review Status |
Unreviewed
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| Scholarly Level |
Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate
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| Rights URI | |
| Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International