Open Collections

Father and Mother of Heaven and Earth Altar in the Courtyard of the Bang Khun Thian Temple (โรงเจมหาโพธิสัตว์กวนอิม) (菩薩壇)

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

Bang Khun Thian (โรงเจมหาโพธิสัตว์กวนอิม) (菩薩壇) is a three-winged Guanyin (觀音) temple in Bangkok, Thailand. The temple houses both Buddhist and Daoist deities, even though the main altar is dedicated to Guanyin. The following images show the small Father and Mother of Heaven and Earth altar to the left of the temple burner on the right side of the courtyard of the Bang Khun Thian temple (โรงเจมหาโพธิสัตว์กวนอิม) (菩薩壇). Image 01 shows a perspective of where the altar sits in relation to the temple courtyard entranceway and the right side of the courtyard. Image 02 shows a perspective of the altar from the left side. Image 03 shows a head-on shot of the altar. On either side of the altar table are two metal lanterns, and just in front of the altar island is a prayer bench. Image 04 shows a close-up of the altar island, which features depictions of the Eight Immortals (八仙), a group of immortals with unique powers in Chinese mythology. Hanging from the ceiling are two lanterns. Image 05 shows a close-up of the tiles on the back wall of the altar, which features mirroring dragons, and a lantern with an inscription that reads, 天地父【母】"Father and Mother of Heaven and Earth." On the small altar table just below this there is a large golden censer with two Chinese "Golden Flower" (金花) offerings and peacock feathers placed inside. Flanking this censer are two electric lanterns. On the bottom right corner of this altar table is the Thai inscription, จุดธูป 5 ดอก, instructing templegoers to light 5 incense sticks at this station. Image 06 shows a close-up of the top inscription on the top of the back wall of the altar, which reads from right to left, 天地父母, "Father and Mother of Heaven and Earth." On the corners it read, 北斗南辰, which is a Chinese idiom meaning "Northern Dipper, Southern Polar Star." Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen.

Bangkok (Thailand); 13.6327428; 100.4072747

chi; tha

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0443339

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

DSpace