The Monastery 17
remained visible for centuries.^33 Today visitors to the Shaolin Monastery are
shown—inside the temple—a large stone carved with the figure of the medi-
tating saint. Supposedly, this stone was brought to the temple from Bodhi-
dharma’s cave, where his shade had been engraved upon it.^34
When Shaolin monks constructed Bodhidharma’s shrine, Chan was
gaining in popularity. During the Song period it became the most influen-
tial school of Chinese Buddhism. Chan’s growing significance elevated its
putative founder into a central position in the Buddhist pantheon. The
saint’s intimate association with Shaolin had significant implications there-
fore 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 wealth. Some thirty miles northwest of Shaolin, the city of Luoyang had
served as the seat of government during much of the medieval period. It was
capital of the Eastern Han (25–220), the Wei (220–265), the Western Jin (265–
316), the Northern Wei (495–534), and the Sui (581–618), and it was chosen as
secondary capital by the Tang (618–907). Shaolin’s relative proximity to this
administrative hub enabled it to enjoy imperial 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 dy-
nasty (386–534) from Pingcheng (today’s Datong, Shanxi) to Luoyang. The fol-
lowing year, the monarch provided the Indian-born monk Batuo with funds to
establish the Shaolin Temple. Batuo, also referred to in the Chinese sources as
Fotuo, had met the emperor several years before. He had enjoyed Xiaowen’s
sponsorship ever since he arrived in Pingcheng via the silk route around 490.^35
Batuo was a teacher of Buddhist doctrine as well as a painter of Buddhist
scenes.^36 Under his able leadership Shaolin became a center of religious educa-
tion. The foreign missionary invited experts in monastic law such as Huiguang
(487–536) and Daoping (488–559) to Shaolin.^37 He established there a Sutra
Translation Hall (Fanjing Tang), where sixth-century scholars such as Ratnam-
ati (Lenamoti) and Bodhiruci (Putiliuzhi) rendered Sanskrit scriptures into
Chinese. Indeed, the fame of Shaolin’s translation academy was such that in 645
the great scholar Xuanzang (596–664) asked Emperor Taizong (r. 627–649) for
permission to reside there. In his petition—which was denied by the emperor,
who wished to keep the eminent monk near him—Xuanzang cited the achieve-
ments of Bodhiruci as the reason for his choice of the Shaolin Monastery.^38
Shaolin was but one of numerous monasteries established by the North-
ern Wei in their new capital. Emperor Xiaowen and his successors ushered in