THE MEANING OF THE BELL - MOM - FREE.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.

    The history of the Bell, the Drum, the Mo, in the Buddhist house, from time to time, has not been fully documented. But people based on the inscriptions recorded in the early sculptures of Buddhism, in India and countries with Buddhist culture such as Sri Lanka, Burma, Tibet. , Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, Korea ... to continue to manufacture new types of Bell, Drum, and Mo to adapt to the needs of the times.

Bells, Drums, and Mo, are popular and indispensable musical instruments in Buddhist ceremonies, at each temple before the ceremony and after the end of the ceremony. Bells, Drums, Mo are sounds that bring creative energy, to assist the Buddha's son to express his solemn praise and respect for the Buddha.

The main purpose of the Bell, the Drum, and the Mo is to keep the watch for all people chanting in the ceremonies, in rhythmic and serene manner, to pay respect to the Three Jewels and to live by the teachings of Buddha, but diligent on the path of liberation and enlightenment.

At the beginning of the ceremony, people often ring the bell, beat the drum, or knock. This is a job that implies the request of the Buddha to prove it, and at the same time it is a reminder for all present present to return to Mindfulness, where the main hall.

 Bell

The Most Increased A-Ham has written this:
Every time you hear the temple bell ringing, the punishments in the evil paths are temporarily stopped, all beings who are subject to those punishments will be temporarily happy.

In the sympathetic story, it is also written that:
In the old days, Buddha Lau Luu Ton, at the Tu-da-la Institute of Can Truc, had created a blue stone bell that beat at times when the sun had just risen. When the bell rang, in the sunlight there were Buddhas appearing, speaking 12 sets of sutras, making the listeners witness the unspeakable result.

Ministry of Kim-cang-chi also wrote:
King Hieu Cao Hoang De of the Tang dynasty, because of listening to the words of Song Te Khuu's naughty words, he killed the loyal servant named Hoa Chau, so when he died, he was killed in hell. One day someone was brutally killed (suddenly died), the spirit went astray into that hell, saw a criminal who was being restrained and shackled and beaten and beaten miserably. The king called the violent man to tell him: 'Thanks to you, returning to the earthly world, telling my Queen that you should cast an offering bell and do good deeds. When he returned to earthly life, the sadistic man worshiped the Queen and conveyed the message of King Hieu Cao. Upon hearing this, the Queen immediately went to Thanh Luong pagoda to make a vow to cast a bell to make offerings and pray for Hieu Cao Emperor (this volume is in the "White stick", the 87th page of page 68). In the Shurangama Sutra,

There are 3 types of bells, commonly used in monasteries, the Great Rosary, the Common Sayings and the General Blessings.

Great pink general:  A large bell, this bell is also called U Minh bell, often beat at the beginning of the day and late night. Hitting at the beginning of the day is meant to remind people of impermanence very quickly, to beat at the end of the night means to awaken people to diligently practice to transcend the cycle of sin and darkness of suffering. in samsara.
This way of hitting bells often hits 108 hours, the purpose to represent the meaning of eliminating 108 basic defilements of beings. Therefore, in the verse of the bell verse, there is a saying: once listening to the bell, 108 disturbing emotions are lessened, the intellect is more large.

Tell them in common:  Also known as the general Sangha, that is, the kind of bell used to inform the news during mass assemblies, life-long meetings  and ceremonies, or ants, etc. in monasteries.

General blessing: The  type of bell used to hit the case in the verses of repetition, beginning and end of the sentence or signaling for the beginning, the end of the ceremony, and also for harmony for the chanting, ceremony Buddha gives rhythm, regularity, directing people to recite in a single path is: Chi mind.

 Knock

In the book "The practice of purifying the law of air", on the carpentry chapter, it is written:
Tuong Tuong fish always wake up and never sleep and are very active. Therefore, when creating the magic of the fish, the time of sculpting style of the fish in the shape of a fish means: because the sound of the horse can awaken the soul makes people fall in love ...!

In the main book of the Tang Dynasty, it is also written that:
A white man came and asked an elder in Thien-architecture: Why do monks in the monks hang?
The elder answered: Because to wake them up at the monks and nuns.
The white man asked, "Why did you sculpt a fish?"
The old man could not answer, and the white man immediately asked Mr. Ngo-Bien, This day explained that: Fishes are species who never close their eyes and enjoy activities, also because they want to let the austerity day and night forget sleeping, trying to practice, quickly witnessing the result, so hanging and knocking and sculpting fish is also the same idea.

There are two types: the carved oval oval with the head of the fish and the carved shaped shaped cigarette shaped like a long lying fish. The above-mentioned oval type is used to beat while chanting, while the oval-shaped piece is often used in houses and to report the age of boys.

Marking has two ideas:

One is so that when reciting the mantra is rhythmically regular, not cluttered and thus retaining solemnity and especially to keep the chanting person from being distracted by the mind, to focus on the Dharma.

The other is to alert the mind of the reciting person from being drowned, and it is also because of this that the straps, the body often carved the type of fish, is a species that never sleeps always sober.

That's why the typist called "Browse them". This name means pleasing them during chanting, so reciting it is not easy, if you do not have rules and confusion, and do not direct the person to chant in a single way, and hardest mindfulness, ultimately the ceremony did not reap the fruits. It is the right to Duy-na, because he holds the ruler and runs the ceremony, so he must pay more attention.
Marking at their homes also meant to announce the age of the boys, gather, etc. In the forest and religious centers like using tables, festivals, etc.

  Empty

Drums are one of the musical instruments, often made of stone, tree, copper, etc. Old in India used to tell time, to warn. When the Buddha was still in the world, used it to gather them Sangha-slapped, listen to the Dharma ... The Five Laws section states: "Buddhas-slap-slaps, they are not practicing any time." Buddha's language: weakness and weakness, ancient weaknesses… ”. Ancient China used it in festivals, prom ... The type is big, small, hanging or put on a shelf ... Big drum called pipe drum, small called application drum, hanging to beat is called hanging drum ...

From the Tang dynasty later, according to the retreat of Zen, drum was one of the methods used to signal the early morning and evening. Later, Chinese Buddhism took the step further, combining the rhythm and the sound of the drum with the words of praise and universality into the music, called "the technique of offering, solemnly directing the ash", using sound to be a Buddha, to assist the masses to devote their heart to the Three Jewels.

Who brought the drum to the monastery? What year? Chainsaw is available to make a possible hypothesis. However, based on the translation of the Zen Master Dai Dien and Han Du during the Tang Dynasty of Tang Dynasty in 820, we see bells and drums have been widely used in Buddhist rituals. Therefore, at least we can predict that before 820 drums were brought into the temple to be used as a magic tool.

Today, there are a few rituals of praise in the Central and South that use small drums to support the Master in their chanting. These types of chanting are probably also influenced by Chinese Buddhism, since Chinese Buddhist recitations have their canopy, and this small drum (known as Vietnamese drum) regarded as a type of air magic.

Bat-elegant drum fighting and symbolic meaning:

- Enter the first 2 hours: denote the TURNS of the world (worldly and worldly, the worldly, without hindrance).
- 3 consecutive hours (1 hour at a time): symbolizing the first stage of taking refuge in TAM BAO, vow to eliminate the three poisons: greed, hatred.
- 7 hours later (because of the 7th and 8th sound rushed, counted into 1 hour), symbolizing the BUDDHISM OF BUDDHISM OF BUDDHIST STRENGTH, the method of inviting Buddha to the Court.
- If these 7 hours into 8 hours: symbolizes the phrase "MA HA BASE BA LA MAS DAM DA" or BUDDHISM BUDDHIST BUDDHISM PROVINCE, ie the legal solution to the Buddha.
- Finally, ending 4 hours: symbolizing the TORMY certificate.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.14/6/2020.