By: Bob Zeglovitch
This morning at Just Show Up, we recognized the turn of the new year with what has become a tradition for our sangha, ringing 108 bells. This is based on a Japanese Buddhist and Shinto New Year’s tradition (joya no kane) where the temple bell is rung 108 times, with the last ring coming just after midnight. The tolling represents the cleansing of 108 worldly passions, the multitude of desires and negative emotions that humanity grapples with, which lead to suffering and hinder spiritual growth.
There are different understandings on where the number 108 comes from. One is that it is the product of the six senses (sight, sound, taste, smell, touch and consciousness) times the three “feelings” or vedanas of negative, positive, and neutral (totalling 18 feelings), times the two ways these feelings can manifest as either pure or contaminated (totalling 36 passions), times the three ways each passion can be formed in either the past, present, or future—resulting in 108 defllements of mind. In other formulations, names are given to each of the defilements (e.g., capriciousness, hypocrisy, derision, etc.). In any even, each toll of the bell is taken as a release from these worldly attachments, enabling the participants to start the year anew.
In our adaptation of this ritual, we invite sangha members during the first to briefly give voice during the intervals between the first 54 bells to people or events from the past year that they want to acknowledge, or things that they would like to release—and during the remaining intervals to give voice to their hopes and wishes for the coming year. This morning, there was a beautiful mix of silence between the rings and reflections from sangha members, within the contemplative container established by this simple ritual. The spoken reflections represented a tapestry of the human condition: among other things, deaths, illness, worldly turmoil and fear, major transitions, hope, connection, and gratitude for each other and for the practice. There was a sense of bearing witness to our human experience, both collective and individual. All in all, a wonderful way to start the year.
In this new year, may all beings be safe and protected, may all beings be happy and peaceful, may all beings be healthy or at least have some ease amidst challenging physical and mental circumstances, and may all beings live their lives with ease and realize their true nature.