After many hardships, the master and apprentice finally got the true scriptures, but on their way back by boat, suddenly there was a storm and waves. A vicious fish pounced on the boat with its mouth open, and the scriptures on the bow were swallowed by the big fish. Two disciples went into the sea to fight the big fish, and finally settled the big fish and dragged its body to the boat. At the same time, it was calm in an instant, and the body of the big fish turned into sewage and flowed to the sea, leaving only one fish head at the bow. Master and apprentice took the fish head back to the temple. In order to get back the scriptures, they beat fish heads and recite the names of Buddha every day. So day after day, year after year, the fish head was broken. Later, they made a wooden hammer every day according to the shape of the big fish head. After a long time, it becomes a habit.
Legend is called legend, which is good as a story, but from a rational point of view and historical level, the origin and function of wooden fish are quite convincing.
We generally think that wooden fish is created by Buddhism, but according to experts' research, wooden fish actually comes from Taoism, because wooden fish is also the most commonly used fish-shaped musical instrument in Taoism, which is divided into two kinds of rectangles. However, the statement that wooden fish originated from Buddhism is not clearly recorded in the literature, but it is recorded in Taoist scriptures, which is an instrument for Taoism to set up a fast in order to gather believers to lecture. According to the literature, Muyu came from the Tang and Ming Dynasties and was later borrowed by Buddhism.
It is generally believed that monks knock wooden fish for two main purposes. One is to master the rhythm of chanting, and the other is special, because even some monks don't know why they knock wooden fish. Why do they knock wooden fish? Can't you make it look like other animals? We might as well listen to the old monk. Legend has it that a good man asked a monk, "What's the use of knocking wooden fish?" The monk immediately replied, "The benefactor doesn't know that we knock wooden fish to gather other monks." Then the good man asked, "then why make it in the shape of a fish?" Can't the shapes of other animals work? "
The monk didn't know how to answer. After the good man left, he asked the abbot the old monk with this question. The old monk hit the nail on the head: "Fish is never visible to the eyes." So what exactly does this sentence mean? In fact, there has been an explanation since ancient times: "Fish don't close their eyes day and night, but also want practitioners to forget to eat and sleep day and night, so as to achieve enlightenment", which means that fish never close their eyes and rest, so practitioners should stay up late and concentrate on Buddhism and Taoism like fish. But fish live in water, so we can't see it often and think about it often, so we make our own image into a wooden fish and make a sound with a mallet to remind monks and nuns for a long time.
This explanation is not only convincing, but also enlightening. The role of wooden fish, why wooden fish is the shape of fish, is actually a problem. To sum up, there are only two words: "self-alarm".