Huang Chengxiang of the Ming Dynasty wrote in a poem about the
Maha Nunnery:
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"A morning stroke of the bell came
from the main gate.
??????? Red clouds
descended onto the green pines.
??????? My fluffy hair
on the temples rested on the pillows.
?I was surprised to have my
lunch as my breakfast."
The poem helped to build up a great reputation for the bronze
bell of the Maha Nunnery. The bell is 1.60 meters in height, 0.95
meter in rim diameter and 600 kilograms in weight. It was cast with
part of the Heart Sutra in the 25th year of the reign of
Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1546). The bell was cast for
the Maha Nunnery by Zhao Zheng, a eunuch of the Firewood Office and
Seal- Holding Office of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. After his
death, Zhao Zheng was buried in the Maha Nunnery, about half a
kilometer east to the pagoda of the Cishou Si (Temple of Kindness
and Longevity) at Balizhuang Village in the west suburbs of
Beijing. The stone carvings of the Diamond Sutra made on
the Vajra Hall in the east courtyard of the Maha Nunnery remain
intact. The bronze bell of the Maha Nunnery is an important
cultural relic for the study of the history of eunuchs of the Ming
Dynasty and the history of the Maha Nunnery.