Serving the Emperor 35
the vice magistrate of Dengfeng County to the president of the secretariat—
examined the details of the monks’ military victory and affixed their signa-
tures to legal documents confirming it. There can be no doubt, then, that as
early as the Tang period, Shaolin monks fought.
Whereas the Shaolin monks’ participation in warfare cannot be ques-
tioned, we may still ask whether, during the medieval period, they trained for
it. Even though, at first glance, going to battle appears indistinguishable from
practicing for it, the two are quite different. Shaolin monks might or might not
have been trained for battle at their temple. For example, those monks that
fought might have received martial training outside the monastery, or else they
might have been trained ad hoc for the military engagements in which they par-
ticipated (rather than being regularly instructed in fighting as part of their
monastic regimen). It is even possible that Tang period Shaolin monks fought
despite receiving no military training.
A comparison of the available Tang and Ming evidence may clarify the
question. A wealth of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources attest not
only that Shaolin monks participated in given battles, but also that they regu-
larly practiced fighting. Late Ming visitors to the temple invariably allude to
the sight of military exercises and the sound of clanking weaponry. By that pe-
riod, Shaolin monks had developed their own fighting techniques, which had
attracted renowned military experts to their monastery. The Shaolin method
of staff fighting (gun fa) is abundantly praised in late Ming military literature.
By contrast, the Tang inscriptions do not allude to a fighting technique devel-
oped by the Shaolin monks. Indeed they do not mention how Shaolin monks
fought, or which weapons they employed in battle. Furthermore, in the poems
and travelogues of renowned Tang literati that visited Shaolin, no allusion is
made to military training at the temple.
Let us review what the “Shaolin Monastery Stele” does tell us. It alludes to
two instances in which Shaolin monks resorted to arms—the first around 610
when they warded off an attack by bandits, and the second in 621 when they
lent military support to the future Tang emperor, Li Shimin. That they partici-
pated, within a relatively short period of time, in two armed conflicts could in-
dicate that some Shaolin monks did receive regular military training. In
addition, the Shaolin inscriptions leave no doubt that one Shaolin monk (Tan-
zong) was appointed a general in Li’s army. Presumably he was thus honored
because of his outstanding fighting skills, strengthening the case for regular
martial practice at the temple. Nevertheless, in order to conclude that Tang
Shaolin monks practiced fighting, more evidence of their military training—
or at least a hint of it—is necessary.
Such a hint may be provided by a short story included in a Tang anthology
attributed to Zhang Zhuo (ca. 660–741). Its protagonist is a historical Shaolin
monk named Sengchou (480–560), whom Buddhist historiography extolled as
a master of meditation (dhyâna). Sengchou studied under Shaolin’s Indian
founder, Batuo, who reportedly exclaimed to him, “East of the Congling Moun-