一切經音義 29.63

English (machine translation) 29.63

Language: English

29.63

Dharma conch (法蠃): Has the fanqie *lú* + *hé* (蠃). Note: The conch is a musical instrument of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. It is shaped like a large snail, as big as a cup, white as snow, with a hole at the top through which one blows to produce a beautiful sound heard over several leagues. The *Shuowen [jiezi]* says: 'An aquatic shelled mollusk. Derived from 虫 with 𣎆 as phonetic.' The scripture writes 螺, which is a vulgar character and incorrect. Here, 'Dharma conch' uses the beautiful sound of preaching the Dharma as a metaphor for the sound of that conch.

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一切經音義 — 慧琳, Classical Chinese