Toh 335The Noble Sūtra on the Ringing Staff

Summary

In this short sūtra, the Buddha first instructs the monks to carry the ringing staff and then provides a brief introduction
to its significance. In response to Venerable Mahākāśyapa’s queries, the Buddha gives a more detailed explanation of the
attributes of the staff and the benefits that can be derived from holding it. In the course of his exposition, he also
elucidates the rich symbolism of its parts, such as the four prongs and the twelve rings. Finally, the Buddha explains
that while the ringing staff is carried by all buddhas of the past, present, and future, the number of prongs on the
staff might vary.

Acknowledgements

The sūtra was translated by the Sarasvatī Translation Team, whose members thank Peter Skilling for
having kindly provided several publications and his unpublished article related to the ringing staff. They
acknowledge with love and gratitude the privilege of having had, as team editor, Steven Rhodes, who passed
away in 2017. They are also grateful to Eleanor Brunnen who stepped in to help with the editing.

This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the
Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

Buddhism is replete with symbolic objects, ranging from the well-known eight-spoked wheel representing the eightfold
path of noble beings to esoteric maṇḍalas that represent entire pure universes. The subject matter of this sūtra
is one such article known as “the ringing staff” (Skt. khakkhara,
Tib. ’khar gsil, Ch. xizhang), which is one of the requisites of a fully ordained monastic. Though textual sources report the existence of the
renunciant’s staff in India prior to the time of the Buddha, the staff used by Buddhist monastics is unique.
Buddhist texts associate the ringing staff and teachings on its symbolic significance with the Buddha himself.
In South Asian Buddhism, Vinaya texts as well as pilgrims’ accounts furnish references to the ringing staff, and
its representations can be found in visual art. In Central, East, and Southeast Asia as well as in Tibet, an
even wider range of evidence attests to its presence in Buddhist cultures.

When a monastic shakes the staff during alms rounds, the ringing sounds produced by its rings alert householders to
the presence of a monastic collecting alms. Beyond its practical usage, the staff reminds a monastic of salient
points that pertain to the spiritual path leading to awakening. In addition, the components, combined in
intricate ways, are themselves laden with symbolic significance.

Underscoring its great importance as an emblem of Buddhist renunciation, Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna spoke the following
lines in a teaching entitled “The Riches of the Noble Ones and the Khakkhara Staff,” which was delivered to the
saṇgha at Nyethang Or, his retreat near Lhasa:

“Wherever this [staff] is upheld is a central region;

In the borderlands, none uphold it,

Nor is it the domain of householders.

Householders are [drowning] in suffering,

Whereas the upholders of [the staff] dwell in happiness.

So, depart from your home and uphold it.”

Vinaya texts preserve scattered accounts of traditions related to the ringing staff’s origin, structure, material,
and uses. Two sūtras in the General Sūtra
section of the Kangyur are focused on the subject of the ringing staff. The first (Toh 335), which is translated
in the following pages, is the longer of the two. It discusses the religious significance and symbolism of the
ringing staff.
The Rite
for the Protocols Associated with Carrying the Ringing Staff
(Toh 336), on the other hand,
presents a simple ritual for a monk to receive a ringing
staff as well as an elaborate set of twenty-five rules stipulating how a ringing staff is to be properly used.

A single text in the Taishō edition of the Chinese Tripiṭaka includes material found in both Toh 335 and Toh 336. The
De daoti cheng xizhang jing (得道梯橙錫杖經,
Taishō 785), the translation of
which is dated to the Jin Dynasty (317–420 ce), contains a version of
The Sūtra on the Ringing Staff, which enumerates two sets of twenty-five
rules for how to use the staff. A short intervening section, which has no Tibetan parallel
that we are aware of, provides further instructions on handling the staff. Writing in 1643 or 1644, the Chinese
Buddhist monk Hongzan, following an earlier Chinese tradition, declared Taishō 785 to be an apocryphal
text.

Regardless of whether the De daoti cheng xizhang jing was wholly or
partially composed in China, there are several factors that support the case
that The Sūtra on the Ringing Staff (Toh 335) is a Tibetan translation of the
corresponding section within it. First of all, the Tibetan sūtra is close to the relevant section of the
Chinese, with differences being found generally in specific short phrases. The Tibetan sūtra lacks the customary
Sanskrit title, and most versions lack a translator’s colophon. Moreover, the Dunhuang manuscript of The Sūtra on the Ringing Staff and The Rite for the Protocols
Associated with Carrying the Ringing Staff contains a colophon that states that both the sūtra
and the rite were translated from the Chinese by the well-known translator Chödrup.

On the other hand, the thirteenth century Tibetan scholar Chomden Rikpai Raltri (bcom ldan
rig pa’i ral gri, 1227–1305), lists this text and Toh 336, which he calls “the longer and shorter ringing
staff sūtras” (’khar sil gyi mdo che chung gnyis) among twenty-one canonical
texts translated from Khotanese. This seems to contradict the evidence from the Dunhuang colophon, and may possibly
be a reference to alternative translations that have not been preserved. Whatever the case, the general notion that these
texts evolved in Khotan from earlier material brought from India, before being transmitted to both China and Tibet,
seems by no means unlikely.

The present translation is based on the Degé Kangyur, with reference to variants in other versions noted in the
Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and to the Dunhuang manuscript, as well
as a comparison with the relevant sections of the Chinese in the Taishō
edition of De daoti cheng xizhang jing. Only significant differences between the Chinese
and the Tibetan versions of the sūtra have been noted.

The Translation

The Noble Sūtra

The Ringing Staff

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Once, the Blessed One said to the monks, “You shall carry this ringing staff. Why? Because past buddhas have carried
this ringing staff and future buddhas will carry this ringing staff. Present buddhas also carry this ringing
staff; having now attained awakening, I carry the ringing staff. In a similar manner, past, future,
and present buddhas instruct the listeners, ‘You shall carry the ringing staff.’ So now, having attained
awakening, I also teach you in accordance with the Dharma of the buddhas, and you too shall carry the ringing
staff. Why?

“The ringing staff is also called the staff of gnosis. It is also called the staff of
excellent qualities. Because it signifies the gnosis of noble beings, it is called the staff
of gnosis. Because it builds the foundation of excellent qualities, it is called the staff of excellent
qualities.

“This ringing staff signifies that the holder is a sublime being belonging to the lineage of noble beings, it is an
emblem that points to the Dharma of the path, and it is a practice that facilitates
recollection. Therefore, you should carry it according to the Dharma.”

Then Venerable Mahākāśyapa rose from his seat, adjusted his robes, draped his upper robe over one shoulder, joined
his palms, and knelt on the ground. He inquired of the Blessed One, “Blessed One, why is it called a ‘ringing
staff’? How should it be carried? May the Blessed One explain. We will practice as instructed.”

The Blessed One said to Kāśyapa, “Listen well, keep it in mind, and I shall explain.

“The ringing staff brings relief. Those who rely upon this ringing staff will eliminate afflictions and emerge from the
three realms. Therefore, it is said to bring relief.

“The ringing staff causes illumination. Those who hold the ringing staff will attain the illumination of wisdom.
Therefore, it is said to cause illumination.

“The ringing staff brings about irreversibility. Those who hold the ringing staff will emerge from the
three realms of existence and also be unattached. Therefore, it is said to bring about irreversibility of
spiritual progress.

“The ringing staff causes understanding. What does the ringing staff cause one to comprehend? One will understand
suffering, emptiness, and the fetters that are afflictions of the three realms, and one will clearly realize the
four truths and the twelve links of dependent origination. Therefore, it is said to cause understanding.

“The ringing staff eliminates pride. Those who hold the ringing staff will give up acting pridefully. Therefore, it is
said to eliminate pride.

“The ringing staff keeps others at a distance. Those who hold this ringing staff will distance themselves from the five sensual objects.
Therefore, they will give up the fetters of craving for sensual objects, discard the five aggregates, give up the
five states of existence, approach nirvāṇa, and also expel conditioning karma far away. Therefore, it is said to
keep others at a distance.

“The ringing staff adopts. By adopting the precious discipline, meditative stabilization, and wisdom of the buddhas,
those who hold the ringing staff will attain freedom. Therefore, it is said to adopt.

“The ringing staff brings accomplishment. By becoming accomplished in the collections of the Buddha’s teachings and practicing
them as taught, those who hold the ringing staff will not fall back but
become excellent. Therefore, it is said that it brings accomplishment.”

“Kāśyapa,” the Blessed One concluded, “since the meanings of the term ringing staff are vast and
multifarious, they cannot be described fully, but for the time being you should comprehend them in that way.”

Kāśyapa then asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, if the meanings of the ringing staff are so, what are
the reasons for this whole range of meanings, from ‘staff of gnosis’ to ‘it is a practice aimed at the application
of recollection’? Could
the Blessed One explain?”

The Blessed One replied, “The ringing staff causes the accomplishment of the practice of gnosis; causes the
accomplishment of vast learning; engenders an unhindered understanding of worldly and transcendent wisdom,
virtue and nonvirtue, the conditioned and unconditioned, and the contaminated and uncontaminated; and it causes
the accomplishment of wisdom. Therefore, it is called the staff of gnosis.

“Practicing the strict observance of discipline, patience, the cultivation of meditative concentration with a
single-pointed mind devoid of distraction, and constant meritorious actions, as if their head or
turban had caught fire, those who hold the ringing staff do not forsake these practices even for an instant.
Therefore, it is called the staff of excellent qualities.

“Those who hold this ringing staff will become perfect in the sixteen kinds of practice: (1–4) the four truths of
suffering, origin, cessation, and the path; (5–8) the four immeasurable states of love, compassion, joy, and
equanimity; (9–12) the four meditative concentrations: the first meditative concentration, second meditative
concentration, third meditative concentration, and fourth meditative concentration; and (13–16) the four
formless states of meditative attainment: the sphere of infinite space, the sphere of infinite consciousness,
the sphere of nothingness, and the sphere of neither perception nor absence of perception. In
addition, they will become perfect in the thirty-seven practices—namely, the thirty-seven aids to awakening—and
they will discern these dharmas with clarity. Because they actualize them physically, they do not pursue words. They frolic in
these dharmas and are free to enter the gateways to liberation of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness at
will and without difficulty. Such persons are called noble
beings.

“Possessing such qualities internally, they hold the ringing staff externally. Because of this, it is beyond doubt
that such persons are perfect in the excellent qualities of noble beings: discipline, patience, meditative
concentration, wisdom, the threefold knowledge, the six types of supernatural knowledge, and the eight kinds of
liberation. Because the ringing staff engenders respect by signifying that such persons are noble beings, it is
called the sign of a noble being.

“As for the expression ‘that which signifies that the holder is a sublime being,’ because of possessing the nature of
gnosis within, a person is said to be ‘sublime.’ The ringing staff engenders respect by signifying that the
person is a noble being. It thereby shows that, because of possessing the nature of gnosis that is
present within a noble being, the holder accomplishes the foundation of excellent qualities, strives for
increasingly higher qualities, and accomplishes them well. Therefore, it is called that which
signifies that the holder is a sublime being.

“It makes known that ‘this clear-minded person, having practiced by means of wisdom, will enter before long the path
leading to a peaceful and secluded state beyond conditioning, namely the bliss of nirvāṇa, the ultimate place.’
Therefore, the ringing staff is called the emblem that points to the Dharma of the
path.

“As for the expression ‘it is a practice that facilitates recollection,’ this ringing staff
has three levels. Just by seeing the structure of the three segments, having recollected the suffering of the
three lower states of existence, one will cultivate discipline, meditative stabilization, and wisdom;
having recollected the three misfortunes—aging, sickness, and death—one will dispel the three poisons:
attachment, hatred, and ignorance; and having recollected the three realms as impermanent, one will generate
belief in and respect for the Three Jewels, eliminate the three realms of existence, discard the three
contaminations, purify the three kinds of karma, wish to possess the threefold
knowledge, enter the three liberations, obtain the three states of the six recollections, and realize the three gnoses that take one far. Hence, it is presented in its
structure of three segments.

“Furthermore, it is made with four prongs. For the purpose of severing the four types of birth, recollecting the four
truths, cultivating the four immeasurable states, entering the four meditative concentrations, purifying the
four states of meditative attainment, revealing the four applications of mindfulness, teaching the four kinds of
exertion, and obtaining the four bases of
supernatural power, it is made with four prongs.

“With the central wooden shaft included, it is shown to have five aspects. For the purpose of forsaking the five
views, discarding the disturbances of the suffering of saṃsāra of the five
states of existence, cultivating the five faculties, possessing the five powers, eliminating the five
hindrances, dismantling the five aggregates, and attaining the Dharma body having five parts, it is shown to
have five aspects.

“It is taught that there are twelve rings so that one will recall the twelve links of dependent origination and will
do so without being impeded, one will cultivate the meditative concentrations of the twelve doors, and one will recollect with a
flawless mind.

“It is taught to have seven parts—the combination of the three levels and the four prongs—so that one will recollect
the Dharma of the seven branches of the awakening of the Tathāgata and accomplish the seven treasures of noble
beings.

“With the lower tip included, it is shown to have eight parts. It is for the purpose of teaching the eight branches
of the path, attaining the eight kinds of liberation, and dispelling the eight inopportune states that the eight
parts are shown.

“That is the brief meaning of the ringing staff. Therefore, you should retain it well.”

Kāśyapa promised the Blessed One, “Blessed One, it shall be done just as it has been taught in the noble statements.”

Mahākāśyapa then inquired again of the Blessed One, “Blessed One, are all the teachings of the tathāgatas of the three
times the same?”

The Blessed One replied, “For some, the staff is the same but the usage is different. On account of that, during the
time of some, it is made with four prongs, and during the time of others, it is made with two prongs. The number
of rings does not vary. As for me, I have taught that it should be made with four prongs and twelve rings.

“The two-prong design was established by the Tathāgata Kāśyapa. This meaning was established for the sake of sentient
beings recollecting the two truths: conventional truth and ultimate truth.”

At that time, after the Blessed One had spoken these words, Venerable Mahākāśyapa, the entourage of 1,200 followers, and the
large congregation were delighted and gave praise respectfully.

This concludes The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Ringing Staff.

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Texts

Chinese Texts

Secondary Literature

Chomden Rikpai Raltri

bcom ldan rigs pa’i ral gri
བཅོམ་ལྡན་རིགས་པའི་རལ་གྲི།