34 Origins of a Military Tradition
Overseer (duweina), monk Huiyang.
General-in-chief (da jiangjun), monk Ta n zong.
With them, were noted for meritorious service: monk Puhui, monk
Mingsong, monk Lingxian, monk Pusheng, monk Zhishou, monk
Daoguang, monk Zhixing, monk Man, monk Feng.^55The official letter of 632 noted that following their Cypress Valley vic-
tory, several Shaolin monks had been offered official posts, which, with the
exception of Tanzong, they politely declined. It is conceivable that the monks
in question are the thirteen listed in Text 7. However, it needs to be empha-
sized that the text itself does not date from Li Shimin’s time.^56 Neither signed
nor dated, the list of thirteen heroic monks was probably compiled when the
“Shaolin Monastery Stele” was erected (728), if not later.^57 Thus even though
some names in it are doubtless accurate (notably General Tanzong’s), others
may reflect the growth of popular lore surrounding the monks’ victory.
Military Engagements or Military Training?
The legal vocabulary that enwraps the Shaolin inscriptions provides precise
information: In 621, Shaolin monks went to war for Li Shimin, the future
Tang emperor. The circumstances of their monastery being rewarded by
state property permitted no error. Officials at all government levels—from
Fig. 5. List of the thirteen heroic monks on the 728 Shaolin stele.