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Temple Caretaker's Desk in the Right Corner of the Nanpu Temple (南埔宮) (ศาลเจ้าแม่อาเหนียว)

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

The Nanpu Temple (南埔宮) (ศาลเจ้าแม่อาเหนียว) is a one-room Guanyin 觀音 temple in Bangkok, Thailand. According to the temple caretaker, the temple is over two hundred years old and is one of the five oldest shrines in Bangkok. It was originally constructed from the wood of the boats used to by China immigrants who moved into this neighborhood in Thailand. The temple is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The temple has regular chanting groups of mostly women that come every Thursday and chant in Chinese. The temple is run by a committee, but the name and nature of the organization is largely unknown; the temple caretaker said that the committee members are picked from the neighborhood using divination tactics and visit the temple only once a month. The temple caretaker specified that the majority of the people who live in the immediate proximity of the temple are family, and that they are "descendants of Guanyin." It is unclear whether he meant descendants from those who established the Guanyin shrine or literally descendants of Guanyin herself. He continually referred to the community around the shrine by this name. The temple is also said to have a decent amount of tourist activity. Fieldwork participants visited two times over the course of 2023. During the first visit in May of 2023, the temple caretaker made specific note to bring attention to the valuable incense pots given by King Rama V or King Chulalongkorn (จุฬาลงกรณ์) (1853-1910)(1868-1910), as well as antique ceramic plates from China that they held in their cupboard. Many people offer to buy these items, but the caretaker never dared to sell them, believing that his fate would be similar of the two past temple caretakers, who Guanyin supposedly took in their sleep as they were cheating the temple out of donation money. When fieldwork participants visited again in December 2023, however, these items had vanished. The following images show the temple caretaker's desk in the front right corner of the Nanpu Gong (南埔宮) (Image 01). The temple caretaker can be seen in the right section of the picture. On top of his desk is a TV, and above that a window with a calendar. Image 02 shows a close up of the divination paper holder associated with the Kau Cim (求籤) divination sticks (not pictured), called Qiu Qian (求籤) or ไม้เซียมซี in Thai. To find your fortune, you must rattle the Kau cim sticks until one falls to the ground (methods vary geographically). In some Chinese Buddhist temples, you must confirm the fortune by throwing the crescent-shaped wooden moons called Moon Blocks, or Jiaobei (筊杯) a maximum of three times to receive confirmation. A confirmation divination signal is when one moon block lands face up and the other lands face down. If both moons are face down, this is a non-confirmation. In some groups, both moons facing up means the god in question is laughing at you. The top of the divination paper holder reads 敬奉 "respectfully bestowed to" on the very right, 先嚴" former strict one" [the deceased father] Chen Huansong 陳煥松 on the top right, and 先慈 "former compassionate one [deceased mother]" Lin Chanyin 林嬋音 on the bottom right, and identifies the names of donors on the left from the Chen (陳) family, 陳惠芳 (a female name) (top), 陳惠香 (a female name) (middle), 陳惠榮 (a male name) (bottom). There is a sign above this in Thai, but it is unintelligible. Image 03 shows the temple caretaker. He was 78 at the time this picture was taken (December 2023) and he has lived in the temple for over twenty years. He was appointed by the temple committee and was chosen as caretaker because he "happened to live in the area." He said that the last two temple caretakers passed away while sleeping, because they were cheating the shrine by stealing donation money. He stated, "It's very important to be honest when working with Guanyin, otherwise she will take your life." He is not paid regularly by the temple committee, but when he needs money for food or upkeep, the owner gives him funds. He uses the television at his desk to show movies to Guanyin, saying that she likes to watch them. He commented that he often gives her one or two nights of movies, and when fieldwork participants visited he was playing a medical drama tv show for her. Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen and Saly Sirothphiphat.

Bangkok (Thailand); 13.721964; 100.492967

chi; tha

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0443934

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

DSpace