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I'm putting this in the Magic section because I'm pretty sure it may tie in with Tibetan Buddhism...possibly into Tantric forms. And I don't know much about Tantric Buddhism, except that it's a more all-embracing path and that I probably don't want to be messing around with it, without knowing what I'm doing (as magic is part of it).
So I've had the thought to purchase a small brass bell. This is related to Bell, as his actual name is the ringing of a bell, and not the word, "Bell". I just recently found my original bell -- a small sterling silver charm that makes a faint, high-pitched, continual ringing, when worn. I'm hoping for something a bit louder and more substantial, though. Last year I found several little ones of different tones at a nearby Nepali/Tibetan store, and so have been thinking of going back there -- specifically buying a bell for the purpose of clearing my thoughts, and possibly summoning (exhuming?) Bell.
I'm writing in to ask if there are reasons why I
should not get a bell. For example, I've heard of tingsha (stirrup bells) being used in certain cases, to summon Hungry Ghosts to accept an offering. I'm not really wanting to summon Hungry Ghosts at this point. <!-- s

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--> I'm not sure in this context if the bell is just a bell, or if the bell was created for a specific purpose and will work only for that specific purpose. For instance, my stone fetishes have a tendency to actually work; this is likely because they were created with an intention and then empowered with the same intention...even though I was unaware of their effects during certain times of my life, I certainly recognized it in hindsight.
From what I can tell, from my interactions and dreams, tantra may be a good qualifier as an actual path that would include my mode of thought (there is no lack of sexuality from Bell in some of the recurrent imaginings with him, which is pretty not-straitlaced-Buddhist)...however this is a weird thing with the whole close student-teacher relationship thing going on, to the point that it makes me wary of one who would claim to be a teacher. (This, in turn, probably stems off of my weird relationship with an old sensei.) I've just done a bit of searching online and found that there are also paths within my own ethnic group which are devoted to tantric texts, though as said before, I'm new to this.
Any research leads or experiential advice would be welcome -- I'll make sure to ask if you say something I don't understand. I've already read through _A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism_ (by John Powers) some years ago -- one of the few texts from the library that I actually read all the way through. <!-- s

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--> Beyond this, though, my focus in this field has been scatter-shot; I've recently been trying to focus on Daoism, but then school got in the way...