Curiously, the clearest indication that late Ming Shaolin monks were turning their attention to hand combat is provided by the most vocal expo- nent of their staff method, Cheng Zongyou. In his Shaolin Staff Method (ca. 1610), the staff expert has a hypothetical interlocutor ask: Why do Shaolin monks practice bare-handed fighting? Cheng’s answer acknowledges that some monks were seriously engaged in hand combat, even as it leaves no doubt that, for them, it was a newly acquired fighting style. Furthermore, Cheng explains that throughout China, empty-handed techniques are not yet widely practiced, which is precisely why Shaolin monks explore them— they wish to develop hand combat to the same level of perfection as their an- cient staff method. Cheng’s reply associates the Shaolin investigation of the novel martial art with Buddhist self-cultivation:
Someone may ask: “As to the staff, the Shaolin [method] is admired. Today there are many Shaolin monks who practice hand combat (quan), and do not practice staff. Why is that?
I answer: The Shaolin staff is called the Yakoa (Yecha) [method]. It is a sacred transmission from the Kiœnara King ( Jinnaluo wang) (Shaolin’s tutelary deity, Vajrapâÿi). To this day it is known as “unsur- passed wisdom (Bodhi)” (wushang puti). By contrast, hand combat is not yet popular in the land (quan you wei shengxing hainei). Those [Shaolin monks] who specialize in it, do so in order to transform it, like the staff, [into a vehicle] for reaching the other shore [of enlightenment].”4