80 Systemizing Martial Practice
with the exception of a six-foot-tall Ming stele situated at the edge of a corn-
field. Dated 1518, it narrates the monastery’s history from its Tang founding
through the fifteenth century.^97
A small hamlet is situated at the site of the Upper Yunyan Monastery. Its
people, who welcomed us with hot water and sugar, showed us a pressed-earth
terrace, where, they said, the monks had practiced fighting. During the Qing
period some monks returned to the monastery, where martial training appar-
ently lasted through the 1950s.
Conclusion
The late Ming was the heyday of Chinese monastic armies. Fighting monks
could be found in every corner of the empire, from Shanxi to Fujian, from Zhe-
jiang to Yunnan. The state’s tolerance of them was due in part to the decline of
the professional Ming army, which compelled the government to employ other
military forces, including monastic troops.
Of all monastic armies, Shaolin’s was considered the best. Beginning in
the first decades of the sixteenth century and all through the dynasty’s last
years, Shaolin monks rendered dependable military service to the state. They
participated in local campaigns against Henan outlaws and bandits and fought
marauding pirates along China’s southeastern coast. Their contribution to na-
tional defense earned Shaolin monks not only resounding applause but also
state patronage. The late Ming witnessed spectacular growth at the monastery,
as high-ranking officials and members of the imperial family vied with each
other in supporting its renowned fighting monks.
If their relations with the state resembled those of their Tang ancestors in
that in both instances military service resulted in state patronage, the differ-
ence between Ming and Tang Shaolin monks concerned fighting technique.
There is no evidence that seventh-century Shaolin monks—who presumably
carried to battle common Tang weaponry—had created their own combat
method. By contrast, Ming period Shaolin monks developed a quintessential
staff technique, which is described in detail in contemporary literature. This
fighting method did not emerge at the monastery in one day. It was the prod-
uct of a lengthy evolution, which culminated in the sixteenth century, when it
was abundantly praised by military experts.
The techniques of the Shaolin staff were invested in some cases with
spiritual significance. Cheng Zongyou expressed the hope that his manual
would lead his readers to the shore of enlightenment. For him, the arduous
process of martial self-cultivation was indistinguishable from the quest for
religious liberation. Evidently, the Shaolin martial arts served as a tool for
Buddhist self-realization.
The Ming period saw the emergence not only of a unique Shaolin martial
art, but also of a martial arts community to which Shaolin monks belonged.