Gymnastics 173
tradition. Even though they still credit Vajrapâÿi with their staff method, in
the imagination of most Shaolin monks the Indian saint has overshadowed the
Indian deity as the source of their military vocation. This perception was mir-
rored in popular fiction beginning with Liu Tieyun’s (1857–1909) Travels of Lao
Can (Laocan youji), which traced Shaolin hand combat through Huike to the
Indian patriarch.^112 Shaolin monks eventually accepted the Daoist legend of
Bodhidharma as the progenitor of their martial arts.
Religious Syncretism and the Martial Arts
That the Buddhist Shaolin Temple’s martial arts should be attributed to a
Buddhist saint by a Daoist is a measure of Ming syncretism. “The three reli-
gions unite into one” (Sanjiao heyi) was the slogan of the late Ming, which
Fig. 35. The Shaolin “Bodhidharma Cane” (courtesy Kung Fu Tai Chi
magazine).