Alerting the Masses

Abstract

This article traces the history of Buddhist temple bells during the Song dynasty, through bell inscriptions and records that have been preserved despite the disappearance of the majority of the bells themselves. These texts bear witness to the amounts of time, money, and effort that were spent to realise the production of a bell, making it one of the most prominent and precious objects in the context of Buddhist material culture. Moreover, they demonstrate that bells not only functioned as important means to regulate the lives of Buddhist monks and nuns inside the temple, but were also sonic guides for the wider local community, and in particular Buddhist lay devotees. As such, bells afford a fascinating glimpse into the ways in which temples communicated with the outside world.