Hearing the Distant Temple Bell Toll: A Discussion of Bell Imagery in Taixu’s Poetry

This article explores the literary significance of the bell as an important image in the poetry of Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947), a renowned modern Chinese Buddhist reformer and poet–monk. While the bell has long-held symbolic meaning in Buddhist ritual and Chinese literary traditions, its role in poetry has often been overlooked in favor of material culture studies. This article addresses that discrepancy by examining how Taixu inherited and reinterpreted classical bell imagery to articulate his personal emotions and religious philosophy. Following close analysis of more than sixty of his poems, it argues that Taixu used the bell not merely as a traditional image but also as a vehicle for expressing two core Buddhist concepts: mental purification and transcendence of the mundane. The article also highlights his creative pairing of the bell with other classical Chinese images—such as sunsets, moonlight, mountains, and forests—to form complex imagery groups. Taixu’s skillful execution of this technique exemplifies the considerable literary talent and spiritual insight that enabled him to blend Buddhist doctrine with poetic expression to remarkable effect. Overall, his poetic corpus may be considered as both a continuation and a transformation of classical Chinese poetry traditions, affirming his identity as a modern poet–monk who possessed profound esthetic and philosophical vision.