Why do monks knock wooden fish, and not knock other wooden chicken, wooden turtle and other things?

The legend of the wooden fish monks circulated a legend: far away in the Han Dynasty, the emperor sent Ciguang masters and two monks to the West to get the scriptures, after all the hardships, in the scriptures of the return journey, the boat across the sea, suddenly the wind and the waves, an evil fish opened its mouth towards the boat pounced on the bow of the scriptures on the big fish swallowed a mouthful of the monk, two monks leaped into the sea and the big fish to fight, and the big fish ended the life and dragged it on the bow of the boat. In an instant, the wind and waves were calm and the sun shone brightly. The body of the big fish turned into sewage and flowed into the sea, leaving only the head of the fish on the bow of the ship. Ciguang masters and disciples returned to the Buddhist temple with the head of the big fish, in order to ask for the return of the scriptures, every day to beat the head of the big fish and recite "Amitabha Buddha ......". Day after day, the big fish head was knocked to smithereens, and then had to follow the pattern of the big fish head to make a wooden one, every day to knock. In this way, knocking on the wooden fish and chanting sutras became a Buddhist habit.

On the name "wooden fish", first seen in the Tang Dynasty monk Huaihai Zenji compiled "Edicts to repair the rules of the Qing": "Wooden fish, rumor has it that the fish often wake up day and night, carving a wooden image of the shape of the hit, so the police dusk." According to this, the wooden fish when the Buddhist monks created, have warned the monks day and night do not forget the meaning of cultivation. Previously, it is rumored that the predecessor of the wooden fish is a kind of wood called "wood puff" simple wooden blocks, after the carving for the fish, called the wooden fish. Because not in the court music, it is not contained in the official history of successive generations. Wooden fish is often used in Buddhism to accompany the "Brahma Blow" (religious songs), with a strong religious color. Ming dynasty Wang Qi "three talents will be": "wood fish, carved wood for fish-shaped, empty which, knocking the sound. ...... Now the Sakyamuni's praise of Van Blow are used." Since the Ming Dynasty, it has been popular among the people, used for rapping wooden fish songs and accompanying the Kunqu Opera. Qing Dynasty Li Dou "Yangzhou Boat Records", the instruments used in the theater at that time there are wooden fish. Later, it was gradually used in song and dance accompaniment and instrumental ensemble. At present, in addition to the use of wooden fish in Buddhism, Taoism music, but also widely used in various forms of instrumental ensemble and orchestra.