Archive for July, 2007
Chuông sự quan tâm
(by Patrick)
Working in Huế, Việt Nam is a lesson in mindfulness. Working and living outside your regular patterns and habits leads you to pay attention and assess everything; your diet, your exercise, your perceptions and expectations, your profession and goals in particular. The discipline of librarianship. At home we are questioning the [...]
Thien Mu Wind trigram
Thien Mu Wind trigram
Originally uploaded by librariantech1
The bottom of this great bell has the eight trigrams of the I Ching. This is the Wind Trigram. The Wind Trigram speaks to spontaneous movement: knowing whether to advance, retreat or remain neutral in a situation according to gut feelings. Each trigram speaks to a component [...]
Thich Nhất Hạnh
Thich Nhất Hạnh, a Zen monk, and native of Huế; has written on the bell in his monastery:
Body, speech and mind in perfect harmony
I send my heart along with the sound of the bell.
May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness
and transcend all anxiety and sorrow.
Listening to the bell, I feel the afflictions in me begin to [...]
Shaping the Nothingness of the bell
Shaping the Nothingness of the bell
Originally uploaded by librariantech1
So, several weeks later, after the IT Seminar, when we finally had the time, Terry, Pat, Hung, Phuong, Phi and I set out on Saturday morning motorbikes to discover a bronze foundry village in Huế that makes bells. I was determined I would buy a bell, [...]
Finishing at bell at the foundry
Finishing at bell at the foundry
Originally uploaded by librariantech1
The bell will be cast, in one continuous casting with Buddhist monks saying prayers after which the bell will cool and need to be cleaned up and buffed. They won’t know how it sounds until it is finished. Each bell is unique and has its [...]
Phi and Hung read the bell
Phi and Hung read the bell
Originally uploaded by librariantech1
Hung and Phi read the dedication of a bell. It was cast for a temple in the south of Việt Nam. This foundry makes bells for temples all around Việt Nam and around the world.
Bells at the foundry
Bells at the foundry
Originally uploaded by librariantech1
The foundry had some beautiful bells, but too big to hang in my grove of hemlocks at my home in Storrs, Connecticut. I was looking for something in the range of 8 to 10 kilograms with a pure, clean tone.
Dragons support the bell
Dragons support the bell
Originally uploaded by librariantech1
The dragon on this one was particularly fine. Dragons, which live in the heavens, always hold up the bell.
My bell
My bell
Originally uploaded by librariantech1
I decided that we should return to the shop we had passed on our first bicycle outing and see what they had. The store had a few bells to choose from. It was quite interesting how differently each sounded. While I was deciding (and it took me a [...]
Storrs, Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
Originally uploaded by librariantech1
I will ring it three times and stop to hear its sound and perhaps “In the garden of my heart, the flower of peace blooms beautifully.” I expect it should last forever, a bell cast in an ancient village on the banks of the Perfume River. I hope I [...]
