White Copper Bell Life-protecting Disciple Bead Charm

A bell sounds once in a Daoist temple and it is meant for the living to hear. At a given point in the rite the officiant shakes it, and the sound is clear enough to carry, used to summon the generals, purify the altar and send the gods on their way. This bell has a name of its own: the emperor bell. The handle is shaped as a sword or as a ring, the body is cast with the taboo names of the Three Pure Ones, and it is shaken with the hand on the handle and the mouth down. The handle is a sword and the bell is a bell; the two are made in one piece and each does its own work.

This pair is the disciple beads for a mala. Disciple beads hang below the guru bead in two short strands, a few beads each, there to keep the count and to finish the end. The small bell pendants hang at the tips and touch lightly as you walk, very quiet, nothing like the bell at a rite. They come two to a pair, one on each side, so the strand balances. The number is not fixed; five or ten are both used.

The body is cast, and the wall has to be even. A thick wall dulls the note; a thin one dents at a knock. After casting comes the sand cleaning and the polishing, and the rim is where the work shows, because a rim out of round scatters the sound. White copper rings sharper and shorter than brass, with less depth. A bell this small has no real sustain; it is a sound, not a tone. The rim edge is rounded off, since an unrounded edge cuts the cord. Casting needs a two-part mold with the seam at the sides, invisible once polished. As for the sound, strike it once and you know; a dull one should go back.

Two versions, with different characters cast on the body: one carries the taboo names of the Three Pure Ones, the other the words protect life. The form is the same, both small pendants. Hung at the end of a strand, the length has to be tried: too long and it swings against the wrist, too short and it disappears. Two on one strand, one to each side, or the strand hangs off center. The two should be close in weight; one heavy and one light will tilt the run. The cord passes through the bell’s loop and is tied with a double knot, never a single, which slips. The taboo-name version is denser in characters; the protect-life version has fewer and more open space.

The bell is hollow and fears pressure. Do not sit on the strand, because a dent hoarsens the note for good. Take it off to bathe; water that gets into the chamber does not dry easily. Wipe it with a dry cloth, pinching the body rather than the rim, since the rim is thin and a pinch deforms it. If it does dent, push from the inside with a round-tipped needle; it comes back partway and never fully round. The clapper is hung in separately and can be replaced if lost, but not with iron wire. A drop does worse than a press.