Staff Legends 95
for the hagiographic literature of the Shaolin Monastery, or, conversely, did
Shaolin monastic legends influence novels and plays celebrating Sun Wukong?
If the Sun Wukong and Vajrapâÿi legends are related, it is likely that the
former influenced the latter. Whereas Vajrapâÿi was armed with the Shaolin
staff in the sixteenth century, the divine monkey wielded the weapon as early
as the thirteenth. The earliest extant version of his adventures, Master of the
Law, Tripitaka of the Great Tang, Procures the Scriptures (Da Tang Sanzang fashi qu
jing ji), is believed by most schola r s to have been aut hored dur ing t he Sout her n
Song,^42 approximately three hundred years before the appearance of Vajrapâÿi’s
Shaolin legend. The hagiographic literature of a Buddhist military temple was
influenced then by popular literature.
Huiming
If Sun Wukong is a supernatural being whose “As You Wish, Golden Rings
Clasped Staff ” yields to his wishes, Huiming is an ordinary cleric, whose iron
staff (tiebang) is no magic weapon. Still, Huiming’s mastery of staff fighting is
such that he employs it to save two of the most beloved figures in the history of
Chinese literature: Zhang Gong and Cui Yingying, romantic protagonists of
Wang Shifu’s (ca. 1250 –1300) zaju play Story of the Western Wing (Xixiang ji).
Wang elaborates on his protagonist’s addiction to meat no less than on his
fighting skills, combining the two vices in zestful parody. In order to spice his
vegetarian fare with flesh, he tells us, the monk goes to battle.^43
In Wang’s play, the romantic Zhang and Cui are stranded in a monastery
that is besieged by bandits. The staff-wielding Huiming saves the day by break-
ing the blockade and calling army units to the rescue. However, Wang was not
the first to assign the monk this role. Wang’s Story of the Western Wing derives
from an earlier version of the tale written in the zhugongdiao (all-keys-and-
modes) genre by Dong Jieyuan (Master Dong) (fl. 1190–1208). Sometimes
known as Dong Jieyuan’s Story of the Western Wing, this early version already fea-
tures a staff-wielding cleric named Facong, whose role is that of savior to the ro-
mantic couple. Moreover, the zhugongidao version elaborates on his mastery of
the weapon more than the zaju version does. Dong Jieyuan dedicates an entire
song suite to Facong’s virtuosity in staff fighting. In the following poem, for in-
stance, the monk relies on his staff—which he manipulates from horseback—
to defeat the bandit leader, Flying Tiger (figure 16):
Facong uses an iron staff,
Flying Tiger uses a steel axe.
One smites the monk with his axe,
One attacks the tiger with his staff.
Flying Tiger excels in offensive jabs,
Facong’s superb with defensive parries.
Facong has the upper hand,
Flying Tiger tries to escape.^44