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Kau cim Fortune Paper Holder and Moon Blooks on the Right Wall of the 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 Kau cim (求籤) (ไม้เซียมซี) fortune paper holder, sticks, and Moon Blocks or Jiaobei (筊杯) on the right wall of the temple (Image 01). Image 02 shows the six different Kau cim divination stick holders atop the table. This type of divination is also known as lottery poetry and is called เสี่ยงทาย in Thai. Image 03 shows five sets of Moon blocks or Jiaobei. Next to the Jiaobei is a tray of Thai coins, mostly consisting of 1 baht. Image 04 shows the book atop the containers which reads, ศาลเจ้ากวนอิมเนี้ สําเพ็ง เซียมซีภาษาไทย จัดทําถวายโดย คุณสุวิมล-ด.ญ. สุนิดา สมบูรณ์นิธิผล This inscription includes the name of the shrine, as well as the name of the donor who donated this book. The book is connected to the fortune paper holder, and also contains different fortunes related to the Kau cim sticks. Image 05 shows the fortune paper holder, with 60 different fortunes. Image 06 displays the top of the paper holder with two pineapple Joss paper offerings in the middle, and on the left a sheet in the pink book. This sheet of the book has six fortunes, which have poems which relate to the fortune. All of the fortunes begin with 慈悲娘娘 at the top, meaning "Merciful Goddess Guanyin." The bottom left fortune reads in Chinese, 欲去長江水闊茫 行舟必定未順風 戶內用心在作福 看看魚水得相逢 and in Thai, เบอร์ 6 มหานทีแสนจะกว้ง แล่นเรือไปอาจพบแต่ลมขวาง จงทําจิฅใจสงบจงปล่อยวาง เหีนทีทฺกสิ่งอันจะไค้อข่างใจปอง This fortune talks about making trips on the river; if you want to leave, the waters are very wide, but you may not have stable winds. The fortune suggests that when you are at home you should carefully produce merit. If you see a jade fish, and are able to interpret this, you will encounter good wind for your journey. Other fortunes deal with the family and generosity, such as fortune number five; number one discusses the fortune-bearer having fortune and peace when the sun comes up and the wind and the clouds disperse. The other fortunes are similar to these. Image 07 shows the books below the bookcase holding the Kau cim divination sticks and Moon blocks on the first shelf. The books in the forefront read from left to right, พระแม่กวนอิมมหาโพธิส้๑ว์ กาดพ้นมือ (left), and ไภษัชยคุรุไพฆูรยประภาสปูรวประณิรานสูฅร (middle). The white booklet on the very right has a Chinese title, 德教善書免費贈閱, which just states that it is free, non-commercial and should be presented as a gift for reading, and 泰國德教會紫真閣, which is the name of the "Assembly of Virtuous Teaching of Thailand" and the Thai reads, สมาคมเผยแผ่คุณธรรม “เต๊กก่า” จีจินเกาะ. Image 08 shows the booklets on the bottom shelf. The white book on the right features two sūtras, the first one being the Mahā-prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra or colloquially known as “Heart Sutra" 般若波羅蜜多心經 on the left and the "Divine Incantation of the White-Robed Guanyin Bodhisattva" 白衣觀音大士神咒 . Below the sūtra titles it reads, 合刊, which indicates that the booklet is a combination of the two sūtras. On the left, it indicates the year of print, and reads, 佛曆二五四七年甲甲歲夏月重刊. Image 09 shows the yellow booklet on the left, which reads 眾善信敬仰 "觀音菩薩家門經" 芳名. The small writing below that reads, (怒不稱呼), which instructs readers to have a mind without anger when reciting the sūtra. The Thai indicates the donors and who the book is dedicated to. Image 10 and Image 11 show the books on bottom shelf of the bookcase next to the aforementioned bookcase. The title of the book in Image 11 is พระแม่กวนอิมมหาโพธิสัตว์ อวโลกิเตศวร ภาคพันมือ, which refers to the Thousand-Armed Guanyin (千手觀音). Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen

Bangkok (Thailand); 13.74042; 100.5064

chi; tha; eng

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0441361

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

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