Gõ Mõ

Once upon a time, there was a monk who abducted a temple near a river in a village. Whenever he had a job to go to the province, he hitchhiked by a horizontal boat. That day, on July 13, he hitchhiked to the province to preside over a ceremony of a horde of surrogates. When the boat came to the middle of the stream, he saw the waves rising and making the boat wobble and want to sink. Everyone on the boat was also panicking, at that moment, suddenly, floating on the water, a very large orca fish, with two bloodshot eyes, stared at the other Venerable. But the Venerable Master calmly sat down to recite the Buddha's name.
The fish immediately raised its head out of the water and stammered, "O passengers on the boat! You want to rest in peace, throw the evil monk down here for me, so that I can swallow him whole? Do you know? - In the past, I followed the old monk, he refused to teach me anything, just let me do whatever I wanted to do, without restraint, so I was born. lazy, just worry about eating and sleeping according to the world, don't care about worshiping, fasting and reciting the Buddha's name and taking care of the work of the temple, not only that, every time there is a party, you let us bring our robes. Because of such evils, after I die, I have to fall into the animal world, become the body of an orca, and rush there wherever I go, causing the fish and shrimp to run. gone, have nothing to eat, suffer from hunger and thirst, suffer very much, suffer more than hungry ghosts, so I only resent the old man, and you guys are innocent to me, I don't want to harm anyone".
After hearing the fish's words, the Master smiled and replied, "Hey, cruel animal! You are really stupid to say that. Don't you understand the proverb: "Smash the thorns, use the thorns to worship, or what? If you have I know that because of making such sins, you have to fall into the body of a fish, you need to repent of your sins and create good conditions, so that you can get rid of your sins and be born again, and then you will be able to get rid of the retribution. Your teacher, every time you teach you according to the precepts, and you say that you are too strict, or scold and rebuke, and let you relax without being strict, then you get used to being loose, so you have to fall into the trap of being a fish. Once you are exiled, you need to repent and report to me to chant sutras and release your sins, but if you want to eat my flesh, who will you marry to save you. and find a way to blame others. If you commit a crime against the Buddha, the Sangha will save you, but if you commit a crime against the Sangha, the Buddha will not save you. Do you understand that?"
As soon as the monk rebuked, the other orcas also sank to the bottom of the water.
Then, after seven days and nights of resounding chanting sutras to pray for salvation at the temple, the king fish immediately surfaced, dragged straight to the courtyard of the pagoda, stretched out, and headed into the temple, saying, "Master, these past few days. Thanks to the merits of the Master and the monks and nuns who prayed and chanted sutras to save me, I was able to get rid of my karma, escape the orcas and go to the world of desire before going to heaven to enjoy the pleasures of the fairies. , I would like to come here sincerely to give thanks to you and the monks and nuns, and I vow to save the body of the king fish at the temple so that every day, the monks and nuns hold a knocker on my head, to set an example for those who practice. lazy, proud, proud, conceited, refuses to close themselves to the precepts and is also to remind them of their duty to cultivate the mind and practice the Way, so as not to neglect the practice of worshiping and repenting. , recite the Buddha's name, practice meditation, close the heart, strictly adhere to the precepts.
Because of the story as mentioned above, from that day until now, the new beak is carved in the shape of a fish to make a souvenir that awakens the monk. Therefore, in Chinese as well as in Japanese, the name of this musical instrument means wood fish (wooden fish).