In many world religions, home altars are spiritual tables on which sacred images, symbols or texts are placed and honored with offerings made for venerating deities and/or ancestors by family members that generally include light from candles or lamps, incense, flowers, food, and water. In Buddhism, home altars are physical spaces that support spiritual practice, encourage devotees to attain enlightenment and show gratitude to the Buddha for showing the way to enlightenment. Buddha and Buddhist deity statues and other spiritual symbols remind devotees of the qualities of Buddha’s wisdom and compassion and serve to inspire devotees to develop these qualities as they recall Buddha’s teachings.
Chinese Taoist and Popular Religion family home altars or shrines (Kam or Kung) honor ancestors, attract blessings and avert malevolent forces and influences. Ancestor worship is a family affair to communicate with and provide greetings and support to the deceased, engage in prayer, display filial piety and make offerings to ancestor statues and/or tablets. Taoist, Popular Religion and Buddhist deities maybe placed along with images of Taoist and Buddhist priests, deified local heroes and legends. Home altar statues are blessed in an eye-opening consecration ceremony performed by a Taoist or Buddhist priest or monk to imbue with them with chi and give them life. Offerings of candles, incense and foods are placed to attract blessings of fu which they augmented by placing furniture in certain locations and using propitious colors (red and gold attracts the most fu).
In Hinduism, the home altar is the most important part of a household where all family actions and decisions are made, special events are celebrated, and members gather to perform daily prayers (puja) to show reverence and devotion through prayer, supplication, songs, ceremonial worship and rituals. Hindu statues, images of deities who protect the family and engender good fortune, are placed there along with other ritual items of devotion.
Home altars are now viewed as spiritual, and often meditational spaces to celebrate one’s family. Along with spiritual icons or statues, they include photos of loved ones, well-loved mementos or trinkets, hand-written notes, or letters. Additional spiritual elements include candles, crystals, or incense.
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Provincial Nanhai Guanyin palms at heart in anjali mudra, a mudra of offering rarely used for Nanhai Guanyin. On lotus throne at Tidal Cave on Putuo under a craggy rock outcrop with pierced openwork.
Rare provincial white hooded Nanhai Guanyin in Cave below openwork draped moss and barbed rocks holding precious scrolls, with vial and parrot. Open lotuses symbolize her purity and enlightenment, closed lotuses potential for enlightenment of others.
Carved from one piece of wood, triad depicts Nanhai Guanyin and 2 acolytes (one deteriorated) , crown centered with Amitabha Buddha in meditation bordered by flames of Buddhism.
Elegant Guanyin in meditation, gilt covered with five-lobed crown. Sacred vial on her right and parrot on left. Guanyins statues with symbols in this condition are rare and impart a feeling of serenity to the environment around them.
Nanhai Guanyin in her Cave in lalitsana, below draped moss arch holding a scrolls, next to vial of humanity’s tears and parrot, her constant companion. Small Nanhai images with these symbols are very rare.
This ancestor statue emphasizes his status as an official. official’s pose holding us his belt of office, official’s hat and boots, worn only by those who could afford them. high on his forehead which also represents his officialdom, as the word “hat” (guan) is a homophone of the word “official.” The inscriptions on the back of the chair which are too faded to read indicate it was consecrated and probably were a dedication from the family who commissioned it to placed on the home altar.
This carved ancestor figure portrayed as an official sits on a backless chair with a decorative pedestal in official’s attire: a high collared red robe, double belt above and below his ample stomach and holding a long slender curved hu-tablet, all signs of his office and status. He is vibrantly painted in red, the color of fu, as a wish for prosperity and status.
This excellently carved civilian official with gilt highlights was commissioned by a family to place on a home altar for veneration and to impress those who viewed it. The imposing ancestor figure grasps his belt of office to show his pride in passing examinations to become a civil official, which leads to a life of rank and prosperity for him and his family. Statues like this are an affirmation of persistence, success, status and power and they honor those who display these characteristics.
Rare and charming carved attendant pair to flank deities on circular pedestals presenting boxed offerings with ribbons as wish for longevity.
Provincial carving with iconic phoenix headdress, hands in karana mudra to cast out demons, negative energy and purify spaces. Image was on home altar and consecrated with a sealed cover.
Dense hardwood Queen Mother carving with phoenix in crown, holding robe across body, calmly seated on backless throne, much original polychrome and lacquer finish remains. Sealed consecrated cavity.
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