morning bell and evening drum -- reminders(chén zhōng mù gǔ)

morning bell and evening drum -- reminders

Morning bell and evening drum, Chinese idiom, Pinyin is ch é nzh ō NGM ù g ǔ, meaning metaphor can make people wake up. It's from in the mountains by Li Xian of Tang Dynasty.

Idiom explanation

Part of speech: it is composed of two partial phrases "morning bell" and "evening drum", while "morning" and "evening" are opposite, and "bell" and "drum" are similar, which is very wonderful. Dusk: evening. According to Buddhist rules, the temple plays drums at night and rings bells in the morning. Metaphor can make people wake up.

The origin of Idioms

Li Xian in the Tang Dynasty wrote a poem in the mountains: "the morning bell and evening drum can't reach the ear, the moon is lonely and the clouds are long."

Idiom usage

Such as Lu You's "one hundred years of great prosperity, the world is full of sorrow, the morning bell and the evening drum are endless". It also refers to one of the 48 scenic spots in Jinling. It also refers to the time reporting method in ancient times (except the Han and Wei dynasties). But I can see Danxia green wall near and far Ying Pavilion, morning bell and evening drum, mist Luo fan building. (song · Ouyang Xiu's Lushan Mountain High poem)

Idioms and allusions

The ancients divided the day and night into 12 hours, in the order of dizhi (ZiChou Yinmao), each hour being equivalent to two hours today. When the time is measured by a watch or a bronze pot, the drum is used to tell the time so that the public can know. However, the spread of drums was limited. When Emperor Qi Wu (483-493), in order to make the sound of telling the time heard in the palace, he hung a big bronze bell in the Jingyang building. Instead, he only played drums at night to tell the time. In order to make the bell sound spread further, in addition to the larger the bronze bell, a higher bell tower was built, opposite to the drum tower. Because the entry "morning bell and evening drum" is homonymous: Chen Zhongmu is ancient. Many people think that temples ring bells in the morning and drums in the evening. In fact, no matter sooner or later, the temple has to ring the bell and beat the drum. The difference is that in the morning, the bell is rung first and then the drum is rung; in the evening, the drum is rung first and then the bell is rung. This was learned after asking the eminent monks in the temple. Morning bell and evening drum and morning drum and evening bell and evening bell are indeed ancient ways of telling the time. However, they are not used as a way to get rid of the old and welcome the new on New Year's Eve, but they collide every morning and evening. The sound of bells and drums in the city tower can be used not only to tell the time, but also as a way of city management. It is a temple rule to gather people (monks) to participate in Zen. They are different in nature. there are rules in every dynasty for the tower to tell the time and the bell to beat the drum. Such as the implementation of the Tang Dynasty morning bell and evening drum, drum, the city gate closed, curfew; bell, the city gate opened, ten thousand households activities. People are used to it. The biography of Li WA, written by Bai Juyi's younger brother Bai Xingjian, says: "at the end of the day, drums are everywhere. Mu said: "the drum has already started. You should return quickly. Don't break the ban. One ban is night ban. As soon as the drum rings, pedestrians are forbidden in the street. Violators are called "night offenders" and should be detained. However, in the Han and Wei dynasties, the way to tell the time was morning drum and evening bell, which was just the opposite of the Tang Dynasty. Cai Yong in the Han Dynasty wrote "dogmatism": drum to move the public, bell to stop the public. If the night is over, the drum will start; if the day is over, the bell will stop. dripper is an ancient timekeeping instrument, which leaks by night and by day according to the scale. If the night is over, the time of the night will be over and the day will be bright; if the day is over, the time of the day will be over and the night will come. In the Han Dynasty, beating drums to welcome the morning was because the drums were exciting and urged people to work. As early as the pre Qin period, the drum had been used as a Zhuang sound, and it was necessary to beat the drum before going to war, such as "beating the drum, boring it and actively using the army" recorded in the book of songs.

Chinese PinYin : chén zhōng mù gǔ