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

(Frankie) #1

Tang general Li Jing (571–649). See Sawyer, The Seven Military Classics, pp. 339, 341,
344–345.



  1. Included in Yuan Xingyun, Qingren shiji xulu, 1:399.

  2. The origins of the Sha Family Fist are obscure. It is possible, however, that the
    family in question was of Muslim descent. See Ma Mingda, Shuo jian cong gao, p. 210.
    9 2. Mining fantasies assume surprising twists and turns. Nineteenth-century
    Russian and Chinese gold hunters on the banks of the Amur were believed to have
    created a communist republic there. See Gamsa, “How a Republic of Chinese Red
    Beards Was Invented in Paris.”

  3. Wang Shixing (1547–1598), Yu zhi, p. 6. The Ming suspicion of miners was
    not unfounded, as mine pilfering was common. See Tong, Disorder under Heaven,
    pp. 60, 64. As noted above, in 1522–1523, Shaolin monks were drafted to fight the
    miner turned bandit Wang Tang.

  4. Zheng Ruoceng, Jiangnan jing lüe, 8b.22b. See also He Liangchen, Zhenji,
    2.27; and Mingshi, 91.2252.

  5. See Song xian zhi, p. 837; and Yunyan si, p. 16.

  6. A’de wrote of our trip in his “Funiu shan xing ji.”

  7. “Funiu shan Yunyan si ji,” transcribed in Yunyan si, pp. 38–40.

  8. Staff Legends

  9. See respectively Wu Shu, Shoubi lu, pp. 113–120; Tang Shunzhi, “Emei dao-
    ren quan ge,” in Tang Shunzhi. Jingchuan xiansheng wenji, 2.8b; Zheng Ruoceng, Ji-
    angnan jing lüe, 8b.18b; and Cheng Zongyou, Shaolin gunfa, 3.7b.

  10. Zheng Ruoceng, Jiangnan jing lüe, 8b.16b. Guzhou might have been trained
    at a monastery other than Shaolin.

  11. See Cheng Zongyou, Shaolin gunfa, 1.1b; Fu Mei, Song shu, 9.30b–31a; Shun-
    zhi Dengfeng xian zhi; and Henan fu zhi. The legend was further elaborated in eigh-
    teenth-century sources such as Jing Rizhen, Shuo Song, 8.2b, 21.26a–27a; and
    Shaolin si zhi, 1.12a–b. See also Kangxi Dengfeng xian zhi, 8.8a.

  12. The term hufa is usually applied to the four Lokapâlas, who serve as protec-
    tors of the world (each guarding one quarter of space) and the Buddhist faith.

  13. The inscription is still located at the monastery. It is transcribed in A’de,
    “Jinnaluo wang kao,” pp. 100–101. For a biography of its author, Wenzai, see Fu
    Mei, Song shu, 9.32b–33b. Wenzai cites as his source the now-lost “Jingzhu ji” (“Ad-
    mired Traces”) by a monk Ziyong.

  14. On the Red Turbans uprising, see Mote, “Rise of the Ming Dynasty,” pp. 38–
    40, 42–43; and ter Haar, White Lotus Teachings, pp. 115–123. The movement’s political
    mastermind was Liu Futong, and its religious leader was Han Shantong, who de-
    clared the imminent arrival of the Buddha Maitreya. Following Han’s capture and
    execution, his son Han Liner was installed by Liu as emperor of a new Song dynasty.

  15. Ta ng Hao, Shaolin quanshu mijue kaozheng, pp. 55–62.

  16. The inscriptions, titled “Chong zhuang fo xiang bei” (“Stele Commemorat-
    ing the [Gold] Re-Coating of the Buddha Images”) and “Chongxiu fatang bei
    ming” (“Stele Inscription Commemorating the Renovation of the Dharma-Hall”),


Notes to Pages 79–85 219

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