pumpkinstrokemarrow

The better ones are hand forged from bronze and are placed outside Buddhist temples in Tibet and elsewhere. You rub the handles with the palms of your hands and if the water dances you get a wish.

When the lady of the shop demonstrated it all looked very easy. But at least I could be sure the thing worked and so persevered for the week or so it has taken me to make the water dance. First off, placed it on a small concrete slab, something less than a foot square, on the dining table. Cover the slab with a tea towel to stop the bowl being scratched. After a while I was getting interesting ringing noises. When the tone hit the right pitch the surface of the water did indeed start to vibrate, working in from four corners. But no dancing.

Second attempt, mount the slab in the vice of my woodwork bench and try again. Same result. Much ringing but no dancing. And I am putting in a lot more effort than the lady of the shop. Hands starting to get a bit tender. At least the ringing is outside and not on BH nerves.

Third attempt, use a couple of sheets of paper instead of the tea towel. Slight improvement.

Fourth attempt, put a roof tile on top of the slab and the paper on top of the roof tile. Tile is slightly curved and the contact area much lower than it had been on the slab direct. Almost immediately we get dancing. Not over the whole surface of the bowl, but maybe a third. Water dancing up to maybe two inches. Tone much lower than that I was getting before. And I am not having to work nearly so hard. Can sustain the dancing for maybe a minute or so.

Next step is to get it to dance all over. Said to be a useful aid to control and to meditation as well as to making wishes.

A relative of the singing bowl. See http://www.frankperry.co.uk/Singing%20Bowls.htm for the full story. Or perhaps http://www.bodhisattva.com/singing_bowl_history.htm.