Book 1: Chapter 196


    When we came down just now, we stopped looking at the ques 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 shlights up, we could only tell that the thing looked like a big bell with a lot of things stuck on it. They seemed 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 seemed to be made of silks and satins. If they had silver and gold threads woven into them, they could be preserved for a long time.


    "What the hell? Whos going to ring such a high bell? Fatty touched the back of the head. We saw something fall from inside the bell and hit the surface of the hot spring, sending out ripples. "It''s too hot. Is this bell melting?"


    I squinted. The cold firework had gone outpletely by now, so the waters surface was out of sight. I swept my shlight over the ceiling, thinking that it was quite normal to have a bell in a tower. ck sses whispered from the side, "The twenty-fourth volume of Ekottara gama (1) says: Prince nanda flicked his fingers from side to side and immediately went up to the lecture hall. He was holding a hammer and saying: Ill hit this faith-instilling drum today, and all of Tathagatas disciples shall gather." (2)


    "What do you mean flicked his fingers from side to side?"


    When I asked this, ck sses said, "I can''t remember the middle part, but this is a Brahma bell (3). There seems to be something inside of it."


    Looking at the spells above, it didnt seem particrly 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 thest level? Are we at the end?"


    I gave a nomittal hum and suddenly thought of something. After Poker-Face came out of the bronze door, he told me that he had seen the Ultimate. Did I hear wrong at that time? 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 toozy 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 time."


    ****


    TN Notes:


    (1) An early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese trantion is extant (Taish Tripiaka 125). The title Ekottara gama literally means "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 name for himself. It has manyyers of meaning  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 means purity. Can look something like this: