The year has passed here in Tsukuba! 
A New Year's tradition at Buddhist temples across Japan is the ringing of the Joya-no-kane (除夜の鐘) ...
... the temple bell near midnight. The bell is rung 108 times (sometimes by the temple priests, sometimes by parishioners, and really nobody keeps count) to cleanse the listener of the 108 mortal afflictions (bonno ... anger, greed, ignorance, envy, hatred, arrogance and the rest) that, in traditional Buddhist thinking, are the causes of suffering. By ringing out the old year and ringing in the new, each earthly desire will be taken away and therefore we can start the New Year with a pure mind.
Past moments ... the up and downs, happiness and sadness ... are now gone, and a new beginning rings out ... ever new and renewing.
Master Dogen wrote,
PS - Not a Soto temple this time, but many temples in Japan are live streaming like this one in Tokyo:
Gassho, Jundo
SatToday
PS - Someone wagged a finger at me on a facebook group for posting the video from Japan, very rightly I think, because some of the priests are not wearing masks! I think that is a valid objection. The priests should have all been wearing masks. It looks like all the bell ringers, and folks around the bell, were wearing masks and hand sanitizing.
tiger long.jpg
A New Year's tradition at Buddhist temples across Japan is the ringing of the Joya-no-kane (除夜の鐘) ...
... the temple bell near midnight. The bell is rung 108 times (sometimes by the temple priests, sometimes by parishioners, and really nobody keeps count) to cleanse the listener of the 108 mortal afflictions (bonno ... anger, greed, ignorance, envy, hatred, arrogance and the rest) that, in traditional Buddhist thinking, are the causes of suffering. By ringing out the old year and ringing in the new, each earthly desire will be taken away and therefore we can start the New Year with a pure mind.
Past moments ... the up and downs, happiness and sadness ... are now gone, and a new beginning rings out ... ever new and renewing.
Master Dogen wrote,
"Zazen ... is like the hammer striking emptiness,
the bell's melodious sound continues to resonate as it echoes,
endlessly before and after.
It is not limited to this moment."
the bell's melodious sound continues to resonate as it echoes,
endlessly before and after.
It is not limited to this moment."
PS - Not a Soto temple this time, but many temples in Japan are live streaming like this one in Tokyo:
Gassho, Jundo
SatToday
PS - Someone wagged a finger at me on a facebook group for posting the video from Japan, very rightly I think, because some of the priests are not wearing masks! I think that is a valid objection. The priests should have all been wearing masks. It looks like all the bell ringers, and folks around the bell, were wearing masks and hand sanitizing.
tiger long.jpg
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