The Shaolin Monastery. History, Religion and the Chinese Martial Arts

164 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation

does not escape. Massaging it, it lasts. When the qi is stored at the center

it does not spill to the sides. When the qi accumulates, strength (li)

naturally accumulates; when the qi is replete, strength naturally fills the

entire body. This is what Mencius called: “[The qi] is in the highest

degree, vast and unyielding, filling the space between Heaven and

Earth. It is my flood-like qi.”^83

Despite some Buddhist and even Confucian allusions (the former’s vajra; the
latter’s “flood-like qi”), the text’s Daoist orientation is unmistakable. “Guard-
ing the Center” (shouzhong) is a Daoist method of concentrative meditation,^84
which is accompanied here by the common daoyin techniques of qi circula-
tion and massaging. Furthermore, the forging of “internal robustness” in-
volves irradiation by the heavenly bodies, as the Sinews Transformation Classic
resorts to the medieval Daoist methods of energy absorption:

The sun’s essence, the moon’s spirit—these two cosmic energies (qi) mix

together, giving birth to the myriad things. Among the ancients, those

who excelled in absorbing these energies had all, after lengthy practice,

attained immortality. The method is secret, and most people do not

know it. Even if they do know it, lacking firm will and constant mind,

they are wasting in vain their time. Therefore, those who have mastered

it are few.

All those who engage in internal training, from the early stages of

training until they master the technique—indeed throughout their lives

(and whether busy or not)—refrain from involvement in worldly

matters. If one does not temporarily suspend his absorption practice,

then it should not be difficult for him to obtain the immortals’ way.

Those who practice absorption, inhale the essence of yin and yang

to increase their spiritual consciousness (shenzhi). Thus stagnant

substances are gradually eliminated, and pure ones increase daily. The

myriad diseases are prevented, and great benefit accrues.

This is the absorption method: The sun’s essence should be inhaled

at the first of the lunar month, when the moon is in its earliest, and its qi

has been renewed. It is possible then to inhale the sun’s essence. The

moon’s spirit should be inhaled at the fifteenth of the lunar month,

when the metal and water elements are at their fullest, and the moon’s

qi at its most prosperous. It is possible then to inhale the moon’s spirit.^85

Within a century of its compilation, the Sinews Transformation Classic’s method
of forging an invulnerable body was already widely practiced, as attested by
both martial arts literature and popular fiction. Chang Naizhou (fl. 1740) al-
luded to the late Ming manual in his own military writings, as did Wu Jingzi
(1701–1754) in his novel Unofficial History of the Scholars. It is noteworthy that
both authors apparently assumed their readers’ familiarity with the teachings