192 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation
temple’s relation with the regime. Here is Yaertu warning the Qianlong em-
peror in 1739 of the Shaolin monks’ joining the “heterodox” sects. The temple,
explains the vice minister of war, is a breeding ground for rebels:
In the provinces under our supervision, such as Huguang, Shandong,
Henan, and the like, the problem of the “heterodox sects” (xiejiao) is
common. The people of Henan are particularly ignorant and easily
swayed. The villagers are agitated whenever some good-for-nothings
drift from somewhere. Daoist and Buddhist types make a name for
themselves as healers, claiming to cure illness by casting spells and
other evil magic. Otherwise they pretend to bring good fortune and
avert disaster, as they burn incense and they sacrifice to the Big Dipper;
they read Sutras and they supplicate the Buddha. Stupid men and
foolish women are immediately incited by such people into joining the
heterodox sects.
The heterodox sects are gradually transmitted from a single locality
to numerous others. Disseminated across diverse areas they attract
disciples, eventually spreading in every direction. Once the sectarians
are numerous enough, all types of evil issue. It is enough for someone to
recklessly draw an illicit plan, for disaster to follow, as the criminals
gang together....
Furthermore, the sturdy youths of Henan are accustomed to
violence, many studying the martial arts. For example, under the
pretext of teaching the martial arts, the monks of the Shaolin Temple
have been gathering worthless dregs. Violent criminal types willfully
study evil customs, which become a fashion. Heterodox sectarians target
such criminals, tempting them to join their sects, thereby increasing
their numbers.”^35The authorities’ wariness of the monastery is attested by the interroga-
tion records of suspected rebels. In 1757 a Buddhist monk named Xu Ji’an
had been arrested in Anyi County, southern Shanxi, after meeting with sec-
tarians. The unfortunate cleric, who had been too poor to purchase an ordi-
nation certificate, had been itinerant for years. Yet of all the monasteries in
which he had sojourned, it was his association with the Shaolin Temple—
some twenty years earlier!—that aroused his interrogator’s concern. All the
more so, since the search of the monk’s meager belongings yielded a Shao-
lin-related document that seemed suspiciously seditious. His notebook con-
tained the militant couplet: “Incarnated at Shaolin his divine powers great;
The benevolent one repelled the million-strong Hong army.”^36
Monk Xu told the story—with which the magistrate had not been familiar
—of the Shaolin tutelary divinity Vajrapâÿi. We have seen in chapter 4 that the
valiant god was believed to have defeated the Red Turbans (Hong jin), who
threatened the monastery. The monk explained that he had copied the Shao-