At the tip of the staff there are usually a few dangling rings. This stanza speaks of two such rings. The short staff I use during retreat interviews has six rings. Wandering monks shook their staff and jangled the rings as they approached houses, letting people know ahead of time that a monk with a begging bowl was passing through.

In these verses, the bowl and staff have special symbolic meaning, as do the dragon and tiger, which the bowl and staff subdue and tame. First, the dragon and tiger symbolize the practitioner himself. An ordinary human being is filled with powerful energies, desires, ambitions and attachments. Yet, if a practitioner possesses only a staff and bowl, then he has reached a stage where he no longer has many attachments or powerful desires. His ferocious ambitions have been tamed. Subduing the dragon and taming the tiger refer to overcoming the attachment to power which is found within all of us. A practitioner who possesses only a bowl and staff has left behind the desire for power and wealth. He has also left behind his family and friends.

Second, subduing the dragon and taming the tiger refer to the practitioner's ability to overcome the most powerful human beings, ghosts and deities. In order to accomplish this, he must give up everything. If he still relies on or possesses things, then he cannot subdue or tame anything. Instead, he will be subdued and tamed by that which he relies on. A king may subdue his people, but he relies on his power and army to do so. In fact, it is the king who is subdued by his power. Only the person who relies on nothing subdues everything.

Many times in Chinese history, emperors would send messages to monks, saying, "Come to me!"

Sometimes a monk would simply reply, "No."

An emperor might threaten, "I'll have your head cut off if you don't come!"

The monk would return a calm message, "My head is here, my neck is waiting. Cut it off if it pleases you."