The Bronze Bell of the Northern Song
Dynasty is the oldest original Buddhist bell collected by the
museum. It dates back to the 10th year of the reign of Xining of
the Northern Song Dynasty (1077).
The bell is 1.94 meters in height and 1,394 kilograms in weight. It
is characteristic of primitive simplicity and close to the style of
bells cast during the Tang Dynasty. The body of the bell is fairly
straight. The upper part and the lower part are almost equally
wide. An inscription cast in intaglio on the bell reads: "The
Ekottarik Agama Sutra says, the stroke of the bell may stop
all evil-doing and remove 50 billion capital crimes..." It seems
that the stroke of the bell enables human beings to accumulate
merits and do good and achieve vimukta (deliverance).