16 Origins of a Military Tradition
Bodhidharma’s veneration at the Shaolin Monastery culminated in
1125 with the construction of a special temple in his honor. Since the patri-
arch was believed to have spent most of his time in solitary meditation, his
shrine was built approximately a half-mile northwest of the monastery
proper. Commonly known as the “First Patriarch’s Hermitage” (Chuzu an),
it has been preserved to this day. Gaily ornamented with reliefs of birds, fish,
and Buddhist deities, it is considered a masterpiece of Song stone carving.^31
With the establishment of Bodhidharma’s shrine, “a kind of pilgrimage
or sight-seeing circuit” emerged on Mt. Song.^32 It included the sites associ-
ated with the saint: the Shaolin Monastery, the “First Patriarch’s Hermitage,”
and—most sacred of all—the cave where Bodhidharma had supposedly
meditated. Since he was said to have sat motionless for nine years, Bodhi-
dharma’s shadow was even imprinted on the cave’s wall, where his image had
Fig. 2. The Rush-Leaf
Bodhidharma on a 1624
Shaolin stele.