172 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation
that their fighting techniques had been credited to Bodhidharma, whom he
knew to be the source of their Chan teachings. However, as much as confusion
might have contributed to it, his legend was primarily due to his Daoist heri-
tage. As early as the medieval period, Daoist authors attributed daoyin gymnas-
tic techniques to the Buddhist saint. The eleventh-century Daoist encyclopedia
Seven Slips from a Cloudy Satchel (Yunji qiqian) includes a treatise of embryonic
respiration that is ascribed to Bodhidharma, and the Song History lists two
breathing and gymnastic manuals (now lost) under his name: Bodhidharma’s
Formula of Embryonic Respiration (Putidamo taixi jue) and Monk Bodhidharma’s Vi-
sualization Method (Seng Putidamo cunxiang fa).^106 The Indian saint’s Daoist liter-
ature must have enjoyed considerable popularity, as is suggested by the criticism
that had been leveled against it. The Yuan monk Pudu (1255–1330) warned his
lay devotees not to consume the fake Bodhidharma scriptures.^107
Daoist authors might have alluded to Bodhidharma because of his position
as patriarch of a school that influenced their teachings. It has been pointed out
that Chan contributed to the evolution of Daoist meditation, especially in inner
alchemy circles. One stage of the inner alchemical process is known as the “Bar-
rier of Nine Years,” in reference to the legend of Bodhidharma meditating in
front of a wall for that length of time.^108 However, i n add it ion to b ei ng a C ha n s y m -
bol, the foreign monk might have represented broader Indian influences. In that
case, the attribution of daoyin exercises to Bodhidharma might mirror the au-
thors’ awareness of possible yogic contributions to Daoist gymnastics. Scholars
have noted that mutual borrowings between daoyin calisthenics and Indian yoga
are not implausible. Some Tang texts mention “Brahamanic gymnastics” (Po-
luomen daoyin) and “Indian massage” (Tianzhu anmo). However, which elements of
the Indian tradition might have influenced Chinese gymnastics, and how exten-
sive their contribution might have been, goes beyond the scope of this study.^109
Whichever the reason for the Daoist interest in the Buddhist saint, the Shao-
lin monks had never associated him with their martial arts. All through the seven-
teenth century, they clearly distinguished between Bodhidharma, whom they
venerated as the patriarch of the Chan school, and Vajrapâÿi, whom they wor-
shiped as the divine progenitor of their fighting techniques. It was no earlier then
the mid-Qing that Shaolin monks gradually absorbed the Daoist legend of the
Chan master as the source of their martial tradition. As the Sinews Transformation
Classic became widely popular in military circles, and as the monks themselves
began to practice it, they started attributing their methods to the Indian saint.
Weituo’s twelve exercises were ascribed to Bodhidharma by the mid-1850s (when
Wang Zuyuan obtained them at the temple), and several decades later another
t r a i n i ng r out i ne, “ T he E i ght e en A rh a t s H a nd ” (S h ib a L uoh a n shou), w a s a s s i g ne d
to him as well.^110 Nowadays, the Shaolin arsenal features a weapon that bears the
saint’s name: The “Bodhidharma Cane” (Damo zhang) is a T-shaped instrument,
the bottom point of which is often capped with a metal spike (figure 35).^111
Beyond his association with specific techniques and weapons, Bodhi-
dharma gradually emerged as the ultimate ancestor of the monastery’s martial