Staff Legends 85
demonstrated, the attack on the monastery probably took place not in 1351 (as
the 1517 inscription has it), but rather in or around 1356, during the Red Tur-
bans’ northern offensive, in the course of which the rebels captured most of
Henan, including Kaifeng city.^7 That the monastery was plundered and even
partially destroyed by the Red Turbans (or by other bandits who took advan-
tage of the rebellion) is attested by two fourteenth-century inscriptions (one
dated probably 1371), which celebrate its restoration during the first years of
Ming rule, as well as by two epitaphs, dated 1373, for Shaolin monks who lived
through the revolt.^8
Even as fourteenth-century sources confirm that the Shaolin Monastery
was attacked during the 1350s, their version of events differs from that of the
sixteenth-century legend. Whereas the latter has a staff-wielding deity leading
the monks to victory, the former depicts a monastic defeat. According to the
early Ming sources, the bandits captured the monastery and wreaked havoc
upon it, peeling off the gold coating the Buddha images and breaking the stat-
ues in search of hidden treasures. The destruction was so thorough that the
monks were forced to abandon the monastery. Tang Hao concludes that they
could not have returned to Shaolin prior to 1359, when the government’s coun-
teroffensive, led by Chaghan Temür, forced the Red Turbans out of Henan.^9
The legend elaborates the divine standing of its staff-wielding protagonist,
as Vajrapâÿi (alias Nârâyaÿa) is elevated to the position of a Bodhisattva. Some
versions specify that he is an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokitešvara
(Guanyin), who is shown in a bubble above her fearsome avatar in Shaolin works
of art (figures 11 and 12). Even before they equipped the god with their weapon,
Shaolin monks had stressed the identity of Vajrapâÿi and Avalokitešvara. Shao-
lin’s twelfth-century abbot, Zuduan, noted, “According to the scripture, this
deity (Vajrapâÿi) is a manifestation of Avalokitešvara.”^10 As A’de points out, the
scripture in question is the influential Lotus Sutra, which teaches that the Bodhi-
sattva assumes whichever form would be conducive to spreading the dharma.
For example: “To those who can be conveyed to deliverance by the body of the
spirit who grasps the vajra (Vajrapâÿi) he preaches Dharma by displaying the
body of the spirit who grasps the vajra.”^11
Vajrapâÿi is not only elevated to a Bodhisattva rank, he is also given a
specific post: the monastery’s “guardian spirit” (qielan shen). M ing aut hor s
note that this office distinguished Shaolin from other Buddhist temples,
where another valiant deity—Guangong—held it.^12 Unlike Vajrapâÿi, Guan-
gong is not a deity of Buddhist origins. He is a third-century general whose
veneration originated in the popular religion and evolved in a Daoist ritual
context. The heroic general was probably incorporated into the Buddhist
pantheon of divinities no earlier than the Song period, when a legend
emerged of his posthumous enlightenment. According to the legend, Guan-
gong’s departed spirit was led to salvation by the historical monk Zhiyi (538–
597), whereupon in gratitude it volunteered to officiate as the guardian deity
in the latter’s monastery.^13 To this day Guangong occupies the post of tute-