འཁར་གསལ་འཆང་པའ་ཀན་ཏ་སྤྱད་པའ་ཆ་ག intro.5

intro.5

The Rite for the Protocols Associated with Carrying the Ringing Staff does not contain the common framework expected of a text belonging to the sūtra genre. Rather, it looks like a supplementary text dealing with practical matters. One single text in the Taishō edition of the Chinese Tripiṭaka includes materials found in both Toh 335 and Toh 336. The De daoti cheng xizhang jing (得道梯橙錫杖經, Taishō 785) was translated in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317–420 ce). It contains a Chinese version of the Sūtra on the Rattling Staff that concludes with the rejoicing of the teaching’s audience.⁶ It then proceeds to present additional materials, among which a list of twenty-five rules related to the way of carrying the ringing staff is found. For the purpose of clarity, we will call this “the list in the Chinese sūtra.” After the end of the sūtra, the translator adds an appendix that gives a second list of twenty-five rules. We will call this “the list in the Chinese appendix.” The list of twenty-five rules in the appendix is said to be “translated based on the Indian Tripiṭaka to make the future reader aware of its origin.”⁷ The Chinese translation indicates that there was an opinion that regarded the twenty-five rules and the Sūtra on the Rattling Staff as belonging to the same text. At the same time, the translator of the Chinese version also tells us that an independently circulated version of the twenty-five rules enjoyed canonical status.