[Buddha-l] Chinese Zen connections with the martial arts

[curt]

Aside from specific instances of Zen-Samurai relatedness,
or lack thereof, there is something inherently militaristic
about monasticism. A monastery is basically a large garrison
of men who are already organized in a highly hierarchical
way - and who are trained to, above all else, follow orders.
All they need is weapons and you've got yourself a very
nice little army of your own. A guy named Frederich Engels
noted the tendency of Monasteries to be "called up" to provide
troops to put down peasant uprisings during the so-called
"Peasant Wars" (but I think that Engels guy might have been
a communist!). Also, Christian monks played an important role
in the violent suppression of Paganism during Late Antiquity,
at least according to two recent books:
"Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries"
by Ramsay McMullen:
http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/macmullen.html
and "There is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ"
by Michael Gaddis:
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9582.html
- Curt