What the bell is for
- It marks a boundary. Before the bell, you're arriving. After it, you're practicing. A clear edge makes it easier to stop doing everything else.
- It holds the time for you. Once the closing bell is set, there's nothing to check. That's the main reason to use a timer at all.
- It ends the session gently. A struck bell fades slowly. Following the sound as it disappears is a better way out of a sit than an alarm tone.
How traditions use bells
Practice differs from place to place, and none of it is the one correct form.
- In San Francisco Zen Center's online zendo, three bells open a period of zazen and a single bell ends morning zazen; two bells mark the change from sitting to walking meditation [1].
- At Zen Center San Diego, three bells begin a sitting period and two bells end it [2].
- In the Plum Village tradition, a sitting period opens with three sounds of the bell, with at least three long breaths between them, and closes with two sounds a second or two apart. More broadly, bells there are a reminder to come back to the body and the breath [3].
If you practice within a tradition, follow its form. If you don't, a single bell to begin and one or a few to end works well.
Choosing a bell sound
- A soft start and a long tail. Struck bowls and small bells begin gently and fade slowly. Beeps and alarm tones do the opposite.
- Loud enough to hear across the room, and no louder. Test it before you sit. You want to notice it without flinching.
- The same sound every time. After a few weeks, the opening bell becomes a cue in its own right.
Do you need an opening bell?
It gives the start of practice a clear edge, so it's worth using well. Some people sit, settle for a minute or two, and only then start the timer, so the opening bell marks the start of practice rather than the moment they sat down. Others start the timer straight away and use the bell as the moment they stop adjusting. Try both for a week each.
Interval bells
Some timers ring during a session as well: every few minutes, at the halfway point, or to signal a change to walking meditation. They're useful if your practice has phases, or if you want a regular check on whether you've drifted. They also interrupt. If you don't know that you need them, start without.
Echo doesn't have interval bells.
After the closing bell
Don't get up on the first sound. Let it fade completely, take a few breaths, widen your attention to the room, and then move. The minute after the bell is part of the session.
Bells in Echo
In Echo, a bell sounds when the session begins and again when it ends. In between there's silence, or rain or wind if you've chosen them.