Open Collections

Main Guanyin Altar 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 main altar set on the back wall of the temple. Image 01 shows an overview of the altar set on the back wall of the temple. In front of the set is a prayer cushion. The image painted below the altar cases depicts dragons and clouds, and a fiery pearl. Image 02 shows a close up of the middle altar case, with the inscription on top reading “觀音大士,” meaning "Bodhisattva Guanyin." Image 03 shows the inscription on the right, reading “觀音座上滿座蓮花,” "On Guanyin's seat, the lotus flowers are in full bloom." Image 04 shows the inscription on the left, reading “大士瓶中一瓶玉金,” "The bottle [referring to the one that Guanyin is holding] is filled with jade and gold." Image 03 and Image 04 are parallel inscriptions, and together they mean "Bodhisattva Guanyin seated on a lotus flower, and the whole bottle (she holds) is filled with jade and gold." Image 05, Image 06, Image 07 shows the offerings in front of the altar box, featuring flowers, a crystal pagodas and lotus flowers, strings of pearls, silver and gold lotus buds, Joss paper offerings (金紙), a bottle of water, vases, and a small vase in the middle that reads, “大悲水,” "the water of great mercy." The inscription that wraps around this small vase is a Dhāraṇīi titled, "Dhāraṇī of the Great Compassionate Thousand-handed, Thousand-eyed Bodhisattva Avalokitêśvara"千手千眼觀世音菩薩大悲心陀羅尼. This Dhāraṇī in particular is oriented towards laypeople. This photo also shows a close-up of the figures at the bottom of the altar box. All of the figures, except for the white Guanyin on the right side, may be part of the same set. Image 08 shows Guanyin figures sitting atop the throne of lotus flowers from a closer perspective. Image 09 shows a close-up of the middle seated Crowned Guanyin, who has jewels and beads strung around her neck. Image 10 shows the altar on the right. Image 11 shows the inscription above the altar, reading from right to left, “太子爺公.” Image 12 and Image 13 shows a close-up of a child-like Buddha figure in the altar box flanked by two golden horses. Image 14 shows the inscription to the left of the box, reading from top to bottom “爺宮顯赫鴻恩不濊渡。。。,” "the deity is showing awe-inspiring and great grace which does not cease and saves [all beings]..." . Image 15 shows the inscription to the right of the box, with the visible characters reading from top to bottom, 太子廟. Image 16, Image 17, Image 18 show the offerings in front of the altar box, featuring a golden horse on waves with the inscription, “hato สีทองอะครีลิคฮาโต้,” meaning "hato acrylic gold color" as well as beads around its ears, a coke can, and other items on a silver tray. The vase in the frame has the Sanxing deities, or 三星, "Three Stars." They are the gods of Jupiter, Ursa Major, and Canopus, or Fu Lu Shou 福祿寿. Image 19 shows the left most altar box, featuring three deities. There is an inscription to the right, but the only characters intelligible from this photo are “帝君.” Image 20 shows the inscription on the top, reading from right to left, “悶聖帝君.” Image 21 shows a close up of the items in front of the altar box, featuring flowers, vases, a silver horse with jewelry on its legs, which is similar to the altar on the right; as well as the same vase as the altar on the right, depicting the Sanxing deities (三星). Image 22 and Image 23 show a close-up of the five deities in the altar box, with one golden lion. Image 24 shows the cloth banners hanging above the main altar box, reading “慈悲娘娘,” meaning "Merciful Bodhisattva Guanyin" on the top and “癸卯年吉日立,”“auspiciously established in the 40th year of the 60 year cycle [1963 or 2023]" on the right side. 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

10.14288/1.0441364

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

DSpace