Serving the Emperor 21
military operations of his patron, the prince of Nanqiao, exclaiming that “a
monk should not be involved in warfare,” and in 645, Xuanzang declined Em-
peror Taizong’s invitation to join him on the Korean campaign, citing the vinaya
interdiction against monks entering the battlefield.^4
Whereas most Chinese monks doubtless observed the prohibition of
warfare, there were some who—despite Buddhist attempts to gloss over the
issue—did not. During the medieval period, some monks fought, but infor-
mation on them in Buddhist sources is scarce. Buddhist authors were reluc-
tant to record transgressions of the monastic code, preferring to ignore
fighting monks. The canon’s vast historiographical corpus contains only
scant references to monastic involvement in warfare. In those rare cases
where Buddhist participation in war is mentioned, it is explained by coer-
cion on the part of secular authorities. We are told, for example, that the
fifth-century Northern Liang monks who fought the Northern Wei invaders
were sent forcibly to battle.^5
If we were to rely on their own testimony, we would thus be under the im-
pression that medieval monks rarely, if ever, fought. However, what Buddhist
authors tend to hide, other writers reveal. The Confucian compilers of the
Chinese histories recorded with relish instances of Buddhist involvement in
armed revolts—they proved the dangers inherent in the foreign faith. For
the chaotic decade of Sui-Tang transition alone (the 610s) they noted no
fewer than five revolts in which monks were involved.^6 This rebellious activ-
ity—often with messianic overtones—continued well into the Tang period
(618–907). In 815 a monk named Yuanjing (ca. 735–815) from a monastery
adjacent to Shaolin, the Monastery of the Central Peak (Zhongyue si), played
a leading role in Li Shidao’s (?–815) attempted coup d’état. When the revolt
failed, Yuanjing was subjected to the customary torture. A soldier tried to
break his shinbones with a sledgehammer, but for some reason failed. The
fierce monk then offered assistance by spreading his legs, at the same time
sneering scornfully: “You can’t even break a fellah’s shin, and you call your-
self a tough guy, bah!”^7
And then there is archaeological evidence. Late Tang manuscripts dis-
covered at the famed Dunhuang Caves in Gansu reveal that monks had taken
an active role in fighting along China’s northwestern borders. Dunhuang
monks were drafted for military service under Chinese and Tibetan rule
alike.^8 One manuscript, for example, discloses that monks played a major
role in the “Return to Allegiance Army” (Guiyi jun) which, under the com-
mand of the Chinese adventurer Zhang Yichao (fl. 850), brought Turfan
under Chinese rule.^9
As to Shaolin, its martial aspect is first attested to by another archaeolog-
ical source: epigraphy. Engraved steles dating from the medieval period re-
cord at least two instances in which Shaolin monks resorted to arms: The
first was in the last years of the Sui dynasty (ca. 610), when they warded off an
attack by bandits. The second was approximately a decade later, when they