Open Collections

Patio of the Holy Guanyin Temple (觀音聖廟) (A Nia Keng Shrine ศาลเจ้า อาเบี้ย)

From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR Project)

The Holy Guanyin Temple (觀音聖廟) (A Nia Keng Shrine ศาลเจ้า อาเบี้ย) is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand. It is unknown when this temple was constructed, but the last renovations took place in 1992. The temple was constructed with the wood from boats coming from China, and Chinese craftsmen were brought over to construct it without nails and screws - everything was carved to fit into place. It was originally a place for sailors to come and stay temporarily, and they slept on the floor of the temple. Before the 1992 renovations, there were originally two levels of the temple, but since the temple has experienced various bouts of water damage incurred from flooding, it now is just sequestered to the top level. According to the temple caretaker, the neighborhood has experienced quite a lot of fires, and the temple itself has suffered from fires, but since they have instructed templegoers to pray outward "for the community," rather than pray "facing towards the deity," the temple has not experienced a single fire. The temple caretaker noted this temple is particularly special, because it is one of two temples in the Bangkok area which features the main deity as Guanyin (觀音) sitting on a lotus. The temple is managed by a committee of five different families who are owners of different shops in the area; the membership of the committee is hereditary, and this hereditary membership was supposedly established during the reign of King Rama III (1788-1851). While many different types of Chinese people frequent the temple, the temple caretaker noted that Teochew Chinese (Deung Nang 唐人) (ชาวเถิง) and Hakka Chinese (客家) (ฮักกา) people are the most prevalent. The following images show the patio section of the Holy Guanyin Temple (Image 01). The right side of the temple patio, featuring a small shrine (Image 02). Image 03 shows a closer perspective of the entrance of the temple. The inscriptions on the tiles on either side of the bottom of the entranceway read from right to left, 吉星高照 "the auspicious star is shining from above" (they are the same on both sides). These tiles feature the Sanxing (三星) deities, Fu, Lu, and Shou, (福祿壽) known for fortune, prosperity, and longevity, as well as a few other deities. The Thai in the middle reads, ศาลเจ้า อาเนี้ย อ.สัมพันธวงศ์กรุงเทพฯ, which means "Anya Shrine [referring to Guanyin], Samphanthawong District, Bangkok." Image 04 and Image 05 show the donor plaque on the left wall of the temple patio; the top inscription reads from right to left, 千秋仰善譽 (right) 慈 (middle). 萬世留芳名 (left) meaning, "Throughout the ten-thousand generations leaving their fragrant names, during a thousand autumns, raising their good reputations," referring to the donors listed on the plaque. The donations are arranged from highest donations to lowest donations in descending order. Image 06 shows lanterns hanging from the patio’s covered ceiling. Image 07 shows the burner on the right side of the temple patio. Image 08 and Image 09 show closer perspectives of the railings on either side of the stairs. The middle of the railing is likely depict a wheel, alluding to the Dharma wheel in Buddhism. Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen

Bangkok (Thailand); 13.74042; 100.5064

chi; tha

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0441348

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

DSpace