"May the sound of this bell dispel greed, anger, delusion, and all of the hardships suffered by all beings.
A week at the Great Springs Temple in PA. Percussion crazed, I get to ring the bell (bansho) most of the mornings I was there. 18 strikes. 60 seconds apart. After each, a full bow and recite the gatha above.
And the world moved....for me; so I guess at minimum I moved.
The crack of the wood against the metal that preceded the resonant thrum of the world's chord must be what did it. Cracking a heart like cracking the shell of a macadamia nut. It took work.
And now I am back home. No bell. Just cracks.
Instead I say "May this practice dispel...." Somewhere around the 10th or 15th bow, the words drop and bones feel the truth of it. It is not MY practice, but this practice, being done not by me, but through me.
Maybe a small flake of that hard shell around the ego is what moves....taking at least one small hardship with it....
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