Gymnastics 175
tice the gymnastic exercises of the “Purple Coagulation Man of the Way.”^115
Syncretism permitted self-styled Daoists to study Buddhist-related fighting, just
as it encouraged monks to investigate Daoist-related gymnastics. A climate of
religious exchange might have contributed therefore to the integration of dao-
yin and hand combat.
A fictional counterpart of the Shaolin fighting monks might illustrate their
readiness to absorb Daoist-inspired techniques. We have seen in previous chap-
ters that the literary evolution of the simian warrior Sun Wukong shared signifi-
cant similarities with the development of the Shaolin martial arts. Throughout
the early versions of his Journey to the West, the “Monkey Novice Monk” had been
armed like the Shaolin monks with a staff. Then, in the 1592 novel, he tried his
hand in fist fighting just when historical Shaolin monks were beginning to ex-
plore it. Significantly, in the Ming version, Monkey was initiated into Daoist im-
mortality teachings as well. A Daoist master disclosed to him not only the magic
techniques of transformation and cloud soaring, but also the mysteries of con-
cocting the inner elixir. Evidently, the author perceived no contradiction be-
tween his simian protagonist’s mastering Daoist immortality techniques and his
ascending to the Western Paradise as a Buddha.^116 It is likely t hat Shaolin monk s
likew ise felt no compunct ion in eng ag ing in g y mna st ic exercises t hat bore a d is -
tinctive Daoist flavor. Syncretism might have provided, therefore, an intellec-
tual foundation for the late Ming evolution of empty-handed fighting.
That Ming Shaolin monks cherished the syncretistic inclusiveness of their
age is visually attested. Among the monastery’s art treasures is a sixteenth-
century stele titled “The Primordial Unity of the Three Religions and the Nine
Schools [of pre-Qin thought],” which renders the contemporary religious
trend by a fusion of headdresses. It features an adept who wears both a Confu-
cian cap and a Daoist kerchief at the same time as he displays the Buddhist ton-
sure (figure 36). It has been pointed out that tolerance of other faiths does not
preclude their being considered inferior to one’s own.^117 This is certainly true
of the Shaolin stele that reserves the pride of center to the Buddhist shaven
pate, while relegating the other religions’ emblematic headgears to the sides.
Even as they accepted the validity of other spiritual paths, Shaolin monks prob-
ably regarded their own as superior.
Mythological Structure
The tendency to define novel fighting techniques in reference to Shaolin’s es-
tablished reputation is best exemplified by the seventeenth-century Internal
School Fist (Neijia Quan), which was taught by Wang Zhengnan (1617–1669)
in Zhejiang. Huang Zongxi (1610–1695) and his son Huang Baijia (1643–?)—
who left us the earliest accounts of the school—contrasted it with the Shaolin
method, which they designated “external.” In his 1669 epitaph for Wang
Zhengnan, Huang Zongxi wrote that “Shaolin is famous for its hand combat.