Serving the Emperor 39
weapon (figure 7).^64 “Vajrapâÿi’s images,” notes an art historian, “carry but
scanty dress, no doubt in order to permit full exhibition of the extravagantly
exaggerated muscles.”^65 His naked strength has likely been one reason for
Vajrapâÿi’s appeal to martial artists—whether the fictional monk Sengchou
or the historical Shaolin warriors.
Chinese literature highlighted the raw strength that emanated from the
divine warrior’s icon. Here is a sixteenth-century author describing a pair of
Vajrapâÿi’s molten statues:
One has an iron face and steel whiskers as if alive;
One has bushy brows and round eyes that seem real.
On the left, the fist bones like raw iron jut out;
On the right, the palms are cragged like crude bronze.Fig. 7. Vajrapâÿi’s muscular physique in a Tang statue.