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Frontmost Altar Table in 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 first altar table in the temple (Image 01 and Image 02). The top inscription on the sign below the table reads, บทสวดบูชาเจ้าแม่กวนอิม, "Chanting to worship the Goddess Guanyin." Next to the sign are two praying cushions. The following Thai on the rest of the plaque is likely the chant for templegoers to use. The image behind the sign depicts dragons. Image 03 shows a close-up of the censer bowls atop the table. There are five censer bowls, all with Chinese "Golden Flower" (金花) offerings inside and Phuang Malai, Thai Flower offerings (พวงมาลัย), hung off of the right side. Image 04, Image 05, Image 06 show a close-up of each of the censer bowls. The inscription on the middle censer bowl reads,【慈】悲娘娘前案 in the big letters down the middle. This is likely a donated censer, which is indicated on the smaller inscription to the left, which identifies a donor named Chen Hexing (陳和興) which reads, 沐恩弟子 陳和興敬送, "reverently donated by Chen Hexing." If the date on the censer is correct, it dates back to the year 1889 during the Qing Dynasty (清, 1644-1911), as gleaned on the small inscription to the right. According to the temple caretaker, this bowl originally came from China 132 years ago, which roughly matches the inscription on the vase. Image 07 shows the inscription along the left wooden beam reading 西方自在遐觀法界皆春 "gazing from afar the Western Dharma world where there is eternal spring." Image 08 shows the inscription along the right wooden beam 南海非遙轉念慈【悲】。。。度. Image 09 shows the smaller inscription on the left beam, which indicates donor names and reads, "Guanyin showered us with grace and healed our children" (沐思治子朱木欽李友存。。。), which could refer to the donors' reason and occasion for giving to the temple. Image 10 shows the smaller inscription on the right beam, which reads 歲次甲寅孟春重修立 which refers to the date of renovation in the Jia (甲) year, which could refer to 1854, 1914, or 1974. Image 11 shows these censer bowls from the back. 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

10.14288/1.0441357

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

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