Open Collections

Left Side of the Upper Patio Area 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 left side of the upper level of the patio (Image 01 and Image 02). Image 03 shows a closer view of the inscription to the left of the door, reading in large characters, 大士救災難数【數】千年慈航普渡靈光威化化萬民 "For many thousands of years, the boat of mercy has universally crossed over and the power of the supernatural light has converted ten-thousand citizens" and in smaller characters to the left, 三聘娘宮社裡事會喜菇喜敬撰 "the executive committee of the San ping niang 【三聘娘】shrine society has joyfully and respectfully written.“ This corresponds to other inscriptions throughout the temple that mention the committee of the temple. Next to that are paintings of crabs, Buddha's hand fruit, cherry blossoms, and other fruit (Image 04). Image 05 and Image 06 depict the narrative scene in the middle of the painted flowers and fruits, featuring four different figures. Image 07 shows the painting below depicting a tiger in the mountains. The painting on the left-most wall, Image 08 and Image 09, feature a tiger and another guardian deity holding a ring. The inscription on the top right of the painting reads, 羅耀坤绘【繪.】 Above this painting is a smaller painting of striped ocean fish which mirrors the same painting on the other side of the patio. At the bottom is a painting depicting watermelon, some other fruit, and flowers in a vase. Image 10 shows the topmost painting depicting a dragon on the left wall above the fish. Image 11 and Image 12 show the lantern above the left patio. Image 13 shows the topmost narrative painting. Image 14 the paintings on the back wall of the patio, depicting fish, birds, and flowers. Image 15 shows the left window of the patio. Image 16 shows the bottom paintings below the window, depicting a mythological creature, which may be a Pixiu (貔貅) that is mirrored on the right side of the patio. Metadata created by: Kira Johansen

Bangkok (Thailand); 13.74042; 100.5064

chi

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0441354

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

DSpace