Respecting our ancestral practice: Morning Bell Chant. Part 2

The Morning Bell Chant is an extremely rich chant, combining three major Buddhist traditions: Hwa Yen (Hwa Om) Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, and Zen Buddhism. Hwa Yen Buddhism is based on the Avatamsaka Sutra, the most comprehensive of all the Mahayana sutras and one which presents the bodhisattva ideal of universal liberation in truly cosmic terms. Hwa Yen Buddhism was both a philosophical school and a mass movement within Buddhism in China and Korea. Huge societies would form to chant the Avatamsaka Sutra, which runs to over 1600 pages in English translation. Pure Land Buddhism is still the most popular form of Buddhism in the world. The centralfigure in Pure Land Buddhism is Amitabul, the Buddha of Infinite Light, who, eons ago, established a Western Pure Land, an ideal environment in which to practice and get enlightenment, a land open to everyone who chants this Buddha's name. Original Pure Land Buddhism also involved meditation practice, and in China, around theyear 1000 there developed a Pure Land Zen School. It was probably about this time or a little later that the Morning Bell Chant, or its ancestor, was created. The chant is here divided into sections to make its structure Clear. The translation in italics isfreely adaptedfrom an early version used in the Kwan Um School ofZen. The literal meaning ofeach Chinese Korean word is given as an aid to understanding the meaning and experiencing the chant directl