Ding! Goes My Torso…

I’ve been to approximately 342 temples since I’ve been in Asia. That’s only a slight exaggeration, as they are EVERYwhere.

But my trip to the Long Sơn Pagoda in Nha Trang last month was special: I got ding’d! I sat inside of a bell while a Buddhist monk chanted some incantations and ding’d me.

I’d never seen this before. In fact, I figured if you ever got ding’d while sitting inside a bell (that is, if you ever decided to sit inside a bell in the first place), your eardrums would shatter or something.

But no, the ding of the bell from inside sounds exactly the same as it does from the outside. And of course, there’s the beautiful chanting on top of it. I wish I knew what he was saying.

I loved this experience, as it wasn’t a tourist trap or attraction. It was a just a monk doin’ his thang, and I got to be a part of it for a moment.