42 Origins of a Military Tradition
According to the scripture, this deity (Nârâyaÿa) is a manifestation of
Avalokitešvara (Guanyin). If a person who compassionately nourishes all
living beings employs this [deity’s] charm, it will increase his body’s
strength (zengzhang shen li). It fulfills all vows, being most efficacious....
Therefore those who study Nârâyaÿa’s hand-symbolism (mudrâ), t hose
who seek his spell (mantra), and those who search for his image are
numerous. Thus we have erected this stele to spread this transmission.
Stele re-erected (chong shang) by Shaolin’s abbot Zuduan.^71Even though Zuduan’s stele quotes from the Sutra of the Assembled Charms, its
understanding of the powers bestowed by Nârâyaÿa differs. The Sutra prom-
ises the possessor of Nârâyaÿa’s charm that he will be endowed with “bound-
less powers” that are not embodied in his person. They are abstract magic
influences to which presumably he has access. By contrast, the Shaolin
stele—like Zhang Zhuo’s story of the Shaolin cleric Sengchou—localizes
Nârâyaÿa’s strength within the practitioner’s physique. Zuduan promises his
Shaolin readers not intangible magic abilities but “an increase of [their]
body’s strength” (zengzhang shen li). He vouches that their sinews and bones
would grow stronger.
The Shaolin stele reveals, therefore, how martial monks transformed a
magic formula to suit their physical training agenda. Fighting monks such as
Sengchou in Zhang Zhuo’s anecdote were not interested in ethereal magic
abilities. Their objective was more concrete: They required tougher muscles
that would enable them to better perform their military exercises. Zuduan’s
Shaolin stele attests that they sought this physical goal with the ancient pro-
vider of Buddhist magic power, Nârâyaÿa.
Even though it dates from the Jin, Zuduan’s stele shows that the Shaolin cult
of Nârâyaÿa originated prior to that period. The stele is presented as “re-erected
by Zuduan,” suggesting that the monastery had featured a similar icon of this
martial deity in earlier times. How much earlier it is impossible to say. However,
considering the evidence of Zhang Zhuo’s story, it is conceivable that during the
Tang period, Shaolin monks worshiped Nârâyaÿa. If so, martial mythology had
been related to monastic martial practice as early as medieval times.
Meat, Wine, and Fighting Monks
One element in Zhang Zhuo’s story remains to be noted: the connection be-
tween fighting and the consumption of meat. As a prerequisite for strengthen-
ing Sengchou, Vajrapâÿi demands that his devotee violate a primary article of
his faith by consuming animal flesh. When the monk refuses, the Buddhist
god himself shoves the forbidden food down his throat. The association of mar-
tial monks with meat was to remain a permanent feature of martial arts litera-
ture. Novels, plays, and more recently films and television serials have invariably