Bonsho | The bell of a Buddhist temple

The bell is a facility found in Buddhist temples. It is rung in the morning and evening to announce the time or when there is an event. Fewer temples have bells these days, but there are temples that allow visitors to ring the bell.

There is a custom to ring the Buddhist temple bell 108 times on the night of New Year's Eve to drive away evil spirits in Japan. The bell is rung the same number of times as the 108 worldly desires that humans have, but the last bell is rung only after the New Year. It is believed that the sound of the Buddhist temple bell gets rid of worldly desires and purifies the mind. However, the sound of bells is increasingly considered noise these days, and opportunities to hear the bells are decreasing. We are now more materially wealthy than in the past, but are we lacking in spiritual wealth?