འཁར་གསལ་འཆང་པའ་ཀན་ཏ་སྤྱད་པའ་ཆ་ག 2

2

should kneel before an honorable one and say three times, “Honorable one, I request your attention. Today, I, named so-and-so, request you, honorable one, to be my teacher for carrying the ringing staff.”

The honorable one then says, “Pay attention. Venerable one, after generating the mind aspiring for unsurpassed awakening, will you take up the ringing staff and utilize it properly?

“Do not hold it with dirty hands. When entering a dwelling of the saṅgha, do not rest it with its head and lower tip removed.¹⁵ When entering the homes of householders, point the lower tip behind you.

“In the morning, when conditions are right for you to go to the home of a householder to beg for alms, rattle the staff three times at their door. If no one responds when you rattle it three times, you should rattle it five times. If no one responds when you rattle it five times, you should rattle it seven times. If no one responds when you rattle it seven times, you should proceed to another household and rattle it seven times. If you are satisfied after having gone to seven households, then in that case say three times, ‘I shall eat.’

“There are twenty-five rules associated with carrying the rattling staff:

1. “Carry it to guard against snakes on the ground.

2. “Carry it because you are elderly.¹⁶

3. “Carry it to collect alms.

4. “Should you see a buddha image when entering or exiting, make some sound with it.¹⁷

5. “Do not go among the saṅgha while carrying a rattling staff.

6. “Do not walk about carrying a ringing staff after noon.

7. “Do not rest it on your shoulders hanging on to its two ends.

8. “Do not carry it on your shoulders.¹⁸

9. “Do not turn it around with your hands.¹⁹

10. “Do not go into toilets carrying a rattling staff.

11. “Do not follow the preceptor or other ordination masters when they are carrying ringing staffs.²⁰

12. “Do not take up a ringing staff and then follow a group of four or more persons carrying ringing staffs.²¹