Staff Legends 87
lary deity in most Chinese Buddhist temples, whereas Vajrapâÿi holds this of-
fice at the Shaolin Monastery.^14
Even as Vajrapâÿi’s divinity is magnified, it is hidden behind the façade of a
lowly menial. The staff-wielding hero begins his career as a kitchen hand, clad
in rags. Unnoticed by his fellow monks, he is a saint in disguise. Walking bare-
foot and wearing thin trousers, his appearance is not merely humble, it also con-
tradicts monastic regulations. The future guardian spirit disregards Buddhist
tonsure, flaunting “disheveled hair.” As such, the tutelary god of the Shaolin
martial arts resembles other Chinese holy fools, whose divinity is masked behind
shabby clothes and eccentric behavior. Hidden saints such as Daoji, nicknamed
Crazy Ji ( Jidian), disregard appearances and accepted norms of behavior.^15
Vajrapâÿi’s myth is particularly reminiscent of Huineng’s (638–713). Ac-
cording to the ninth-century Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, the great
Chan master began his illustrious career as a scullion treading the pestle in
the monastery’s kitchen.^16 His hagiography might therefore have influenced
the Shaolin myth, whose protagonist carries a souvenir from his kitchen
days, a stove poker (huogun). In the muscular saint’s hands the kitchen uten-
sil is transformed into a fighting staff, whereby his menial origins are skill-
fully associated with Shaolin’s quintessential weapon.
Vajrapâÿi’s transformation from a vajra-holding deity into a staff-wielding
one was accompanied by an accidental yet far-reaching change in his identity.
All through the 1520s Shaolin monks referred to their tutelary deity as Vajrapâÿi
or, using his other name, Nârâyaÿa. However, several decades later, they started
calling him Kiœnara ( Jinnaluo), which name originally designated semidivine/
semihuman heavenly musicians.^17 In Hindu and Buddhist literature alike, the
Kiœnaras have nothing to do with warfare, and the only reason for their associ-
ation with the Shaolin martial arts was the similarity of their Chinese name, Jin-
naluo, with Nârâyaÿa’s, Naluoyan. As A’de suggests, Shaolin monks confused
the two deities, transforming Vajrapâÿi ( Jingang shen), through his other name
Nârâyaÿa (Naluoyan), into Kiœnara ( Jinnaluo).^18
The earliest evidence of a change in Vajrapâÿi’s identity dates from 1575,
when a Shaolin inscription alluded to the monastery’s staff-wielding hero as
Kiœnara. In accordance with the Lotus Sutra, which mentions four Kiœnara
kings, the stele depicts four tutelary divinities, each armed with a staff.^19 In
1610, Cheng Zongyou continued the new tradition, alluding to the progenitor
of Shaolin fighting as Kiœnara. Cheng’s narrative makes an explicit connec-
tion between the god’s and the monks’ fighting technique:
During the Zhizheng period (1341–1367) of the Yuan Dynasty the Red
Troops (Hong jun) revolted. The monastery was badly ravaged by this
sect. Luckily, just then somebody came out of the monastery’s kitchen
and reassured the monks saying: “You should all be calm. I will ward
them off myself.” Wielding a divine staff (shen gun), he threw himself
into the stove. Then, breaking out, he emerged from [the stove], and