Nine Buddas

[Amigo]

I took a break from my work and drove outside to have lunch. On my way back, I passed this very old temple.



So I stop and enter.



And this fan and a line of Buddas greet me.



Inside I find this.



Bells. Whenever I see bells, I think of the 'mind of the person who rings the bell'.

What goes through the mind of a person, who rings such bells? What is he thinking?

What would I be thinking if I were to ring those bells? How will it sound? What kind of sound will I be making?

WHAT DOES A PERSON WHO RINGS A BELL THINK ABOUT?



There's a Budda looking at me.



What's that?!
-
-



Another Budda, hidden in the shadow. Looking at me.



This one, also looking at me.



And this one.



This one under the tree.



And behind the stairs.

And I'm thinking,

"How many Buddas are looking at me right now?"

So I started to count them. And I counted 6.

And I turned around and I saw this.



And I noticed this.



The tiles. Look. Somebody's looking at me.



It's pretty amazing, this old temple... I have no idea when it was built, or who built it... I wanted to ask one of the monks, but I didn't, because my interest changed from 'When and Who built it?' to 'Why?'.

Why would anyone build a temple right here?



To worship Budda.



To give the people something to believe in.



To give me a place to sit and be looked upon by nine Buddas.

Yes. There were nine Buddas.

[Amigo]

Has anyone rung (?) one of those bells at temples?

It's not easy to make that ringing sound...

You hit the bell with a wooden pole, and you really have to hit it well, to get that resonating GONG~~~ sound, that's not cracking or off tune.

There's certain force you have to use... hit at the certain speed... at certain place... and in certain way...

You can't know what that perfect 'certain speed' or 'certain force' or 'certain place' is... you have to hit it many many times to get the 'hang' of it.

And when you ring the bell, you have to be really patient and calm... You can't be hitting it like crazy... you hit one after another, and the interval between the hits may be as long as couple of minutes.

You want the first ring to disappear into... thin air... and then hit the next one... or if you're going to hit twice in a row, you gotta hit it in that perfect interval which harmonizes the two rings, not destroy each other...

[Amigo]

They say a bell reflects the mind of the person who rings it.

[Amigo]

You see, ultimately, there is ONLY ONE perfect thing to do at a given moment, for a given job, and for a person who rings the bell, the perfect thing to do is to ring the bell.

Therefore, the perfect thing to think about when ringing the bell, is about ringing the bell...

BUT

An ordinary person who rings the bell... does not think about ringing the bell when he's ringing the bell... he's thinking about his wife... his job... himself...

He's thinking,

"It's my job to ring the bell, so here I am, ringing the bell."

He's thinking,

"Oh, it's time to ring the bell, so I better ring the bell."

He's thinking all sorts of things, EXCEPT

Ringing the bell...

[Amigo]

I was at this temple, ringing the bell...

And I got to a point, where I'm REALLY concentrating to hit the bell with a PERFECT strike, so that the sound will be most pleasant.

And to do that, it took a LOT of effort... I was sweating and I was breathing heavily... The time it took for me to hit one ring after another was very long... and I had to control my thoughts and my body really hard not to disturb my concentration... which was solely on ringing the bell.

It was intense.

--------------------------------

I see people come to temple and ring bells.

It's supposed to be a symbol of some kind, may be for good luck.

But I see NOBODY giving any thought before hitting it. They just come and grab the wooden pole and hit the crap out of the bell!! So... ignorant...

The sound they make is nothing but a ringing of metal.

Which makes me recall one of the verse in the Bible about... Love... faith... hope... amongst which love is the greatest. Something like that...

[Amigo]

I'm going home now... enough ringing for one day.

[fjp999]

[COLOR="Purple"]Beautiful pictures and thoughts.

Many in Japan thought I would make a good monk.

I enjoy the quiet times. The waves of a ringing bell, the details of the spirit of the path... it is surprising to me that not only many bang the crap out of the bell but barely notice their breath. Such a precious thing, your breath. We should enjoy each breath but we just bang the crap out of it all without appreciation.[/COLOR]

[marshlander]

I am pleased you have a job where you can write on the internet all day and take breaks to go and ring bells and take such beautiful photographs. Where can I get a job like yours?

[Amigo]

A quick check on the internet before work begins...

Today is ISO day.

I got ISO auditor coming in in about 5 minutes. She's gonna be here all day, pointing out all the things I'm doing wrong with my company.

I'm gonna end up with at least 5 CARs, and at the end of it, she will tell me to correct all the mistakes and fax her the corrected documents within 30 days.

All day, I have to refrain myself from punching her in the face, and even worse, I have to have lunch with her.

I'll have to make the 'polite' face all day, and I have to talk to her nicely all day.

And already I'm tired...

God... I hate ISO day...

[fjp999]

I am pleased you have a job where you can write on the internet all day and take breaks to go and ring bells and take such beautiful photographs. Where can I get a job like yours?

[COLOR="Purple"]MARSH not JUST ring bells!!!

but yes. we would all enjoy hearing about your job

I can understand you being tired from all that cumming frustration but when you have some time you could maybe explain what all those initials mean [/COLOR]