[Buddha-l] bells

[Gary Gach]

[ am looking for leads as well as any ' answers ']

in my practice, we use bells (typically metal bowls,
with cloth-covered stick).   meditation on the bell can be on
impermanence, the interconnectedness of the sound with the environment, et
cetera etc &c, but most typically is as the voice of the buddha reminding
us to (return to) the present moment

i'm curious about two historical aspects of this.
1) any references to the buddha ( or sangha ) using bells, and for this
purpose?
2) any influence of buddhist use of bell meditation on later christian use
? ( "In AD 400, Paulinus of Nola introduced church bells into the
Christian Church" ...but why? how? etc )
3) any other parallels ( zikhr, for example ? )

_()_


   Gary Gach
   http://word.to

p s
Congratulations, Dayamati, on noble office evacuation.

Chinese character for "understanding" = 2 pictograms:
[ broom ] over [ heart/mind]

A clean sweep !!