When we ca down just now, we stopped looking at the plaques and thus didn't pay any attention to the beams. We didn't realize that there was such a big thing hanging there, but now that we had looked up and seen it, we were covered in a cold sweat.
This floor was too high, so when we pointed our flashlights up, we could only tell that the thing looked like a big bell with a lot of things stuck on it. They seed to be spells and paper money. I was amazed at how those paper-like things didn't rot after so many years, but after careful observation, I felt that they seed to be made of silks and satins. If they had silver and gold threads woven into them, they could be preserved for a long ti.
"What the hell? Whos going to ring such a high bell? Fatty touched the back of the head. We saw sothing fall from inside the bell and hit the surface of the hot spring, sending out ripples. "It's too hot. Is this bell lting?"
I squinted. The cold firework had gone out completely by now, so the waters surface was out of sight. I swept my flashlight over the ceiling, thinking that it was quite normal to have a bell in a tower. Black Glasses whispered from the side, "The twenty-fourth volu of Ekottara gama (1) says: Prince nanda flicked his fingers from side to side and imdiately went up to the lecture hall. He was holding a hamr and saying: Ill hit this faith-instilling drum today, and all of Tathagatas disciples shall gather." (2)
"What do you an flicked his fingers from side to side?"
When I asked this, Black Glasses said, "I can't rember the middle part, but this is a Brahma bell (3). There seems to be sothing inside of it."
Looking at the spells above, it didnt seem particularly auspicious. It actually looked more like a kind of burial system, but I had never heard of a hanging bell burial. Fatty said, "In feng shui, the bell represents termination. Is this the last level? Are we at the end?"
I gave a noncommittal hum and suddenly thought of sothing. After Poker-Face ca out of the bronze door, he told that he had seen the Ultimate. Did I hear wrong at that ti? Did he actually see a bell back then and was anxious after seeing one here now?
I thought about it and felt that it shouldnt be the case. But he had never said this conclusion, and I was too lazy to ask.
After hesitating on whether to go up and have a look, Poker-Face eventually said, "There are three statues on each floor, but theres only one on this floor. Its not normal."
I nodded, "This towers designer revealed a special kind of fastidiousness. I think that the bell hanging above, the underwater thing, and this statue are the three gods of this level. But these three gods may be different from the ones above. Two of the gods were probably zombies at the ti."
****
TN Notes:
(1) An early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese translation is extant (Taish Tripiaka 125). The title Ekottara gama literally ans "Numbered Discourses". Its one of the four gamas of the Stra Piaka located in the Chinese Buddhist Canon. English wiki here (limited info). Chinese wiki here (lots of info).
(2) Prince nanda was Buddhas cousin and his closest disciple. Wiki link here. Tathagata is Buddha's na for himself. It has many layers of aning Sanskrit: thus gone, having been Brahman, gone to the absolute, etc.
(3) Braham bells can also be called Sanskrit bells. Its said that by hearing the sound of the bell, people can open their minds and break free from their worries. Brahman ans purity. Can look sothing like this:
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