Open Collections

Xuanwu (玄武) Altar in the Niao Shi Temple (鳥石寺) (ศาลเจ้า โอวเจียะ หยี่อาเนี้ยเก็ง) (Sanchao O Jia Yi Ania Keng)

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

The Niao Shi Temple (鳥石寺) (ศาลเจ้า โอวเจียะ หยี่อาเนี้ยเก็ง) (Sanchao O Jia Yi Ania Keng) is a Guanyin (觀音) temple in a quiet neighborhood in Bangkok, Thailand. According to the temple caretaker, the temple was established 200 years ago by Teochew Chinese (唐人) (ชาวเถิง) people. The temple is run by a committee whose membership is passed hereditarily, but at the time fieldwork participants visited in May 2023, there was only one surviving committee member, whom the temple caretaker deemed "too old to walk." The temple is known in the neighborhood for effecting miracles. The caretaker told participants stories of how people who wish to sell their land bring signs reading "SOLD" and leave it in the temple, and then their property is sold, after which the templegoers come back and burn the sales certificate. Some other templegoers claimed that they put the names of ill family members under Guanyin altar, and their family members miraculously recovered. It was said that the CEO of a large grocery store chain called Makro came to pray at this temple when he was a taxi driver, and as he regularly prayed, he became more and more wealthy. He now returns to the temple once a month to donate and help the caretaker renovate certain spaces. There are two regular chanting groups of roughly 60-70 people who frequent the temple. The groups are made up of both older men and women who wear white and speak Chinese. Each of these groups comes around only once a month. The temple is open from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday. The following images show the Xuanwu (玄天) altar in the Niao Shi Temple (鳥石寺). Xuanwu, or Xuantian is a deity in Chinese religion. Among the Thai people, Xuanwu is known as Chao Pho Suea, or the Tiger God. Among the Teochew people (唐人) (ชาวเถิง), he is known as Tua Lao Yah (大老爷 "Big Deity"). Image 01 shows an overview. Below each of the tigers on the floor reads, เฮง, meaning "lucky." Image 02 shows the inscription above the altar, which reads from left to right, 玄天上帝 (Xuantian Shangdi). Image 03 shows the items on top of the altar space, which includes a golden censer with a red bow at the forefront. There are several sets of Chinese "Golden Flowers" (金花) placed inside, as well as peacock feathers. There are four tiger figures, and the large Xuanwu figure. On either side of the Xuanwu figure are completed puzzles depicting blue tigers. Image 04 shows a close-up of the left puzzle and Image 05 shows the right puzzle. Image 06 and Image 07 show the tiger figures at the base of the altar on the left and the right respectively. Both tigers have a golden tray placed in front of them. Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen

Bangkok (Thailand); 13.719533; 100.482269

chi; tha

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0441496

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

DSpace