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Main Guanyin (觀音) Altar in 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 main Guanyin 觀音 altar in the Nanpu Temple (南埔宮). Image 01 and Image 02 show overviews of the altar. According to the temple caretaker, this Guanyin statue is particularly special, because she is in the meditation position depicting the narrative of Guanyin meditating like the Buddha in cave. The altar is constructed to look like a stylized cave for this reason. The inscription on the banner above the altar reads, 金玉滿堂 "gold and jade shall fill the hall." Above of the altar reads the inscription with the name of this Guanyin, 慈悲娘娘 "Mother Guanyin." In the temples, Thai people usually refer to her as "a'niang 阿娘" rather than "niangniang 娘娘". The small inscription on right of this plaque reads, 民國甲年(?)月立 and the left inscription is not quite clear, although it is likely a donor name followed by 喜敬, "respectfully bestowed." Image 03 shows a close-up of the main Guanyin figure, seated in the meditative pose. The temple caretaker said that the statue was recently repainted, but it is over two hundres years old. There are pearls strung around her neck and strings of pearls at the base of her feet. The temple caretaker added that Guanyin likes pearls because she wears them and they are both beautiful and hard to find. Image 04 shows the figure to the right of the large Guanyin. Image 05 shows another similar figure to the left. Both have their hands in the añjali mudrā position. Image 06 shows the strings of pearls and Phuang Malai (พวงมาลัย) flower garlands, or Thai flower offerings hung at the base of Guanyin's feet. Image 07 shows the altar table in front of the large Guanyin. Image 08 shows the items on the left of the table, including another Guanyin in the meditative position, with a Phuang Malai garland wrapped around her robes, a Guanyin figure inside a clear case with beaded offerings, and other seated Guanyin figures in the back. Both sides of the table have golden fish, flowers, and Chinese "Golden Flower" (金花) offerings. They can be seen in this picture. The temple caretaker specified that one week before the Chinese New Year (春節), they change out these golden flowers, and burn the old ones. Image 09 shows the items on the right side of the table, including five seated Guanyin figures all on golden trays, as well as plant offerings. The Golden Flower offering can be seen in this picture. Image 10 shows the censer in the middle of the table, with a pink ribbon, as well as "Golden Flower" offerings, peacock feathers, and decorated incense sticks placed inside. On the middle incense stick is the four character idiom or Chengyu (成語), 生意興隆 "May your business prosper," and there is a pagoda above this inscription, and a 福 character at the very bottom, which means "fortune." On either side of the censer are guardian lion statues (石獅), known in the West colloquially as Foo Dogs. Image 11 shows the lantern on the left side of the altar, reading 南無阿弥陀佛 “Devotion to Amitabha Buddha" on the large banner, and 觀音娘娘 on the smaller banners around the lantern, meaning "Mother Guanyin." Image 12 shows the lantern on the right side of the altar, which has the same inscriptions as its left counterpart. Image 13 shows the altar from the left perspective. The temple caretaker stated that she is very efficacious in granting wishes, but that those who got what they wanted and did not come back to offer proper prayer saw Guanyin in their dreams. Supposedly, King Rama V, or King Chulalongkorn (จุฬาลงกรณ์) (1853-1910) visited the temple, and lit five incense sticks. When he tried to take one out, Guanyin did not let him. Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen.

Bangkok (Thailand); 13.721964; 100.492967

chi; tha

Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0443942

Non UBC

Faculty; Graduate; Undergraduate

DSpace