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Võ thiếu lâm tự, the shaolin monastery
The ShAoliN MoNAsTerY history, religion, and the chinese martial arts meir shahar e Shaolin Monastery e Shaolin Monastery History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts Meir Shahar University of Hawai‘i Press Honolulu © 2008 University of Hawai‘i Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 09 08 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shahar, Meir. The Shaolin monastery : history, religion, and the Chinese martial arts / Meir Shahar. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8248-3110-3 (alk. paper) 1. Shao lin si (Dengfeng xian, China)—History. 2. Martial arts—China. I. Title. II. Title: History, religion, and the Chinese martial arts. BQ6345.T462S52275 2008 294.3'657095118—dc22 2007032532 University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources Designed by University of Hawai‘i Press production staff Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group For Noga Zhang Hui Contents Maps and Figures ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Part I: Origins of a Military Tradition (500–900) Chapter 1: The Monastery 9 Chapter 2: Serving the Emperor 20 Part II: Systemizing Martial Practice (900–1600) Chapter 3: Defending the Nation 55 Chapter 4: Staff Legends 82 Part III: Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation (1600–1900) Chapter 5: Hand Combat 113 Chapter 6: Gymnastics 137 Chapter 7: Suspect Rebels 182 Conclusion: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts 197 Appendix: Some Editions of the Sinews Transformation Classic 203 Notes 205 Glossary 239 Works Cited 247 Index 273 vii Maps and Figures Maps 1. Location of the Shaolin Monastery 10 2. Shaolin’s contribution to Li Shimin’s campaign against Wa ng Shichong 24 3. Ming centers of monastic ghting 63 4. Some Henan sites associated with the Qing martial arts 124 Figures 1. Bodhidharma returning to the West on a 1209 Shaolin stele 15 2. The Rush-Leaf Bodhidharma on a 1624 Shaolin stele 16 3. Li Shimin’s autograph “Shimin” as copied onto the 728 Shaolin stele 27 4. Xuanzong’s imperial calligraphy on the 728 Shaolin stele 32 5. List of the thirteen heroic monks on the 728 Shaolin stele 34 6. Ninth-century Dunhuang painting of Vajrap âÿi 38 7. Vajrapâÿi’s sinewy physique in a Tang statue 39 8. Twelfth-century Shaolin stele of Nârâyaÿa (Vajrapâÿi) 41 9. The “Lifting-Sleeve Position” in Cheng Zongyou’s Shaolin Staff Method of 1621 60 10. Practice-sequence diagram from Cheng Zongyou’s Shaolin Staff Method of 1621 61 11. Abbot Wenzai’s 1517 Vajrapâÿi (Nârâyaÿa) stele 84 12. Vajrapâÿi (referred to as Kiœnara) atop Mt. Song 86 13. Vajrapâÿi’s (Kiœnara) Qing Shaolin statue 89 14. Arhat equipped with a staff; detail of an early seventeenth-century Shaolin fresco 90 15. Sun Wukong’s staff; late Ming (ca. 1625) woodblock illustration 94 16. Huiming manipulating the staff from horseback; woodblock illustration dated 1498 96 17. Late Ming woodblock illustration of Lu Zhishen manipulating th e staff 98 ix [...]... back all the way to the Buddha himself Therefore, in the course of the eighth century, Chan authors furnished their school with a past They manufactured a genealogy of Chinese—and, further back, Indian— patriarchs who connected them to the source of the Buddhist faith.20 Chan authors paid particular attention to the patriarch they claimed The Monastery 13 brought the teachings from India to China They... considered the best in China In the second phase, from the sixteenth century to the present, the monks have been perfecting their unarmed techniques, which gradually eclipsed the staff as the dominant form of Shaolin martial practice By the twenty-first century, the Shaolin method of hand combat (quan) has spread all over the world It needs be emphasized that throughout the monastery s history, the monks... munificence, securing the monastery s fortunes The first patron of the Shaolin Monastery was the devout Emperor Xiaowen (r 471–499), who in 495 transferred the capital of his Northern Wei Tuoba dynasty (386–534) from Pingcheng (today’s Datong, Shanxi) to Luoyang The following year, the monarch provided the Indian-born monk Batuo with funds to establish the Shaolin Temple Batuo, also referred to in the Chinese... in the campaigns leading to the founding of the Tang dynasty (618–907) Their heroic assistance to the dynasty earned Shaolin monks property rights that the steles were erected to safeguard The significance of Shaolin s military service to the Tang should be evaluated in the context of the dynasty’s Buddhist policies Unlike rulers of the preceding Northern Wei and Sui dynasties, “Tang emperors for the. .. central position in the Buddhist pantheon The saint’s intimate association with Shaolin had significant implications therefore for the monastery s standing: Bodhidharma bolstered Shaolin s sanctity Half a millennium later—during the Ming-Qing transition period—he also became associated with the monastery s martial tradition Patronage Bodhidharma granted Shaolin charisma; emperors endowed the monastery with... Zhengzhou airport to the Shaolin Monastery The air is heavily polluted by coal that is carried in open trucks from nearby mines The poverty of its surroundings highlights the Shaolin Monastery s significance for the region’s economy By the late 1990s the temple attracted more than a million tourists a year The lodging, food, and transportation these modern pilgrims require spurred the emergence of a... Nevertheless, Shaolin s modern history will have to await another study Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Shaolin s martial evolution has been intimately related to the fate of the modern Chinese martial arts The traumatic encounter with the modern West and the attempt to save the race by martial training; the emergence of the modern media—newspaper, film, and television industries— and their... of the Buddhist prohibition of violence secured their monastery s fortunes under the Tang The Shaolin monks’ heroic assistance to Li Shimin was not recorded by Buddhist historians, who were doubtless disconcerted by it Indeed, it was engraved in stone at the monastery not to influence the behavior of future Buddhists, but to remind Tang officials of their indebtedness to the monastery As such, the Shaolin. .. Buddhist monks who served an emperor on the battlefield The Shaolin Monastery Stele” of 728 More than a hundred engraved steles embellish the Shaolin Monastery, monuments that span the entire history of the monastery Whereas the oldest ones date from the sixth and seventh centuries, new ones are continuously being carved In 2001, a Shaolin inscription was dedicated by the best-selling novelist Jin Yong... authorities capitalized on the monastery s international renown In association with Shaolin s abbot, they initiated the biennial Shaolin Martial Arts Festival (Shaolin wushu jie), which is held simultaneously at the temple and the provincial capital The festival brings to Henan athletes and enthusiasts from around the globe It is celebrated in the Chinese national media and advertised by the China National . are the source of its re - nown. Rather, the Shaolin Monastery is world-famous because of its pre- sumed connection to the Chinese martial arts. The Westward. The ShAoliN MoNAsTerY history, religion, and the chinese martial arts meir shahar e Shaolin Monastery e Shaolin Monastery History,