鹿谷故事館

在寶興宮的龍邊門上有一口巨大的銅鐘，虎邊門上有一座碩大的鼓。古時候的鐘有分四種:一、樂鐘:如同現代的樂器一樣，用來休閒娛樂的演奏。二、朝鐘:是古代政府機關用來集合群眾，宣示政令用。三、法鐘:佛道兩教所用的鐘。四:報時鐘:顧名思義，這鐘是用來報時用的。

There are a huge copper bell on the top of the dragon side entrance and a giant bell on the top of tiger side entrance. In the ancient, there are four types of bell, first, musical bell: it’s just like modern instrument for entertainment；second, morning bell: the authority uses it to gather people to clarify something in the public；third, religion bell: it’s used in the Buddhism temple and Taoism temples；fourth, time clock, it’s just like the clocks which we use now.

    寶興宮的銅鐘即是佛教道教所謂的法鍾，它的出處典故；例如，南朝庚信《陪駕幸終南山和宇文月史》所說：「戍樓鳴夕鼓，山寺響晨鐘。」；唐張繼《楓橋夜泊》：「姑蘇城外寒山寺，夜半鐘聲到客船。」

    這鼓跟鐘並非每天都敲，只有在初一、十五及有其它廟宇的神尊駕臨的時候才敲。在初一、十五按暮鼓、晨鐘的順序，及早晨時先敲鐘後敲鼓，一鐘聲後敲兩鼓鐘，如此循環一百零八響。黃昏便是鼓先敲，兩鼓聲後配上一鐘聲，也是依序敲一百零八響。這一百零八的數字有兩種涵義，一百零八乃是九的倍數，九乃是陽數之極，一百零八是禮制中最大的，此代表著無比的威儀及尊崇；另有一個說法，這指的是天上一百零八顆星宿，即所謂「三十六天罡、十七十二地煞。」。

    The bell of BaoXing Temple is religion bell of Buddhism and Taoism. However, people don’t strike the bell and drum. Only on the first and fifteenth of every month of lunar calendar and other deities of temples visit. On the first or fifteenth of every month in the lunar calendar, the sequence of striking bell and drum is to strike the bell once at first then the drum twice in the morning. The times of striking is 108. In the evening, people strike the drum twice at the beginning then the bell once. The times of striking is also 108. However when other deities visit the temple, the bell and the drum will strike at the same time many until the visitors enter the gate of the temple. The number of 108 is the biggest one of the system of rites which represents awe-inspiration and respect. In the other way, the108 means the stars in the sky which means 36 sky stars and 72 land star.

    因應時代的進步，廟裡的暮鼓晨鐘用電子儀器設定，用機器敲打，但似乎多了點科技的冰冷味，但卻少了點人文的溫度。或許有天來場依古法的「暮鼓晨鐘」，讓一波波的鐘鼓音浪連結起今天與古時的時空。

    Accompany with the progress of modern technology, Taiwanese apply to the electronic equipment to strike the bells and drums by the machines. However, it seems contains more cold technology than the warm humanity. Maybe someday we could hold a traditional 「Dawn Drum and Morning Bell」, making a connection between the nowadays and ancient.