The late Zen teacher, Sunryu Susuki, recounts a story about a celebrated Zen teacher who passed away in the early 20th Century. He had outstanding, sincere disciples. He lived with them in a monastery near a small city, and they lived a life of poverty.
The disciples wanted a bell for their chanting, so they asked the teacher to buy one for the temple. He was angry about the request. "Why?" he asked them. "What is the point of reciting the sutra with a bell? It seems like you want to use the bell so people in town will appreciate our practice. If so, that is not my way! We have to practice for the sake of our understanding, not for what others may want. So, if we can chant the sutra without a bell, that is enough. There is no need to buy a bell so that others can hear it."
*In Becoming Yourself: Teachings on the Zen Way of Life. Selected and Edited by Jiryu Rutschman-Byler and Sojun Mel Weitsman.
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The students' request appeared reasonable, compliant with traditional practice. Bells are a big deal in Zen. The teacher, however, sees more in the request than they mean to divulge.
If the monks had a bell, it would resound for a long distance. I live in a small village where the local Baptist church, sitting on Main Street, has a bell that goes off at set times. One can hear the bell resounding all over the village. I like the sound of it, and it calls me back to remember the sacred. Yet, what if the church had it ring simply to call attention to the church building? And, certainly, the sound of bells in varied traditions is not for the bells merely to call attention to themselves. Bells call attention to bells to call attention to something other than bells.
The teacher does not want a bell to be an attention-getter. The teacher, likewise, knows one can perform the chanting without a bell. If you cannot engage your spiritual practice with or without any ritual objects, then is it spiritual practice? If you cannot worship in your backyard, can you in a house of worship?
The teacher's main point is to eschew attention-getting by using one's spiritual practice. One does not need to broadcast one's practice. One does not have to hide it either. Sometimes I wear a Buddhist mala around my neck and one around the wrist, sometimes a mala and a Greek Orthodox rosary together around my neck. Usually, however, I just wear a mala around my neck, but hidden under my shirt. The question is, "Why?" If it is to say, "Look at me, I'm a spiritual guy" or "See, maybe you need to consider a spiritual path for yourself," then, that is ill-advised and counter to true practice.
I came up in a self-broadcasting religion with people seeking to convert others to their way, and I came to find it an intolerable turn-off - gladly, and I left that path many years ago. I found it to be counter to the Way, which manifests mostly through silent presence. If my life does not speak the truth, how will my tongue help? If my life speaks the truth, could it be my tongue does not need to try to help? Maybe some, likely very little.
As one grows spiritually, one becomes less attached to the things - ritual, rites, holy books, sacred objects ... - of the Way, more in tune with the Way. The change does not mean throwing all forms away. One is not more spiritually mature by adopting a purely formless practice. One can keep what one wishes and appreciate the role of these forms, but the relationship to the forms changes.
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Form is a way to experience the formless. A sacred object, for example, can be a gate opening. Yet, when one is truly spiritual - inspirited - like the Sun, persons able to see that will see it. If you are intimate with the Light, you will shine. Some will see, some not. That is okay. Just let the shine shine.
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The teacher's words are reminiscent of those of Jesus in the Gospels, Matthew 6.5-6 ...
When you pray, don't be like the play-actors who cherish praying publicly on street corners and in the houses of worship where everyone can see them. For sure! that's all the blessing they'll ever get. Instead, when you pray, go off to yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Beloved in secret. Then, your Beloved, who sees everything, will bless you.
