Hanlu Temple · What you can do here
Woodfish
A red-brown wooden fish, floating at the monk's right hand. Tap once and it sounds once; a hundred and eight knocks make a round. The lamps, the figure and the other sitters stay where they are, so you can knock and watch. If you want a hall to sit in first, the Mahavira Hall is a good one.
How to knock
Inside, tap Woodfish in the bar along the bottom. It appears at the monk's right and the hall shifts left a little so nothing is hidden; on a phone it sits in the lower half of the screen. A click, a tap, or the space bar, enter or the down arrow — each is one knock. Too fast does not count; there is a pause between knocks.
Each knock drops the mallet with a wooden sound and a small ripple. At a hundred and eight there is a bell, a line on screen, and the count starts again from round two. Tap Back to the hall at the top left and the count is kept.
Why a fish
The usual explanation is that fish do not close their eyes, day or night, so the instrument is made in their shape — a reminder to anyone practising to keep going without slackening. It is a widely told explanation, and there are several folk versions of the story besides.
Temples use two kinds. The round one sits on a cushion and is struck with a mallet to keep time for chanting, so that everyone recites together and steadily. The long, fish-shaped one hangs in the dining hall or under the eaves and is struck to call people to a meal or an assembly. The one here is the first kind.
What is not here
No merit points, no floating "+1", no leaderboard and no streak. Nobody knows how many times you knocked, and it resets when you close the tab. Knocking is here to slow the hands and the mind down a little; when you have had enough, put it down and sit in the hall. You can also switch to beads, or bow three times.