Venerable Shenshan (simplified: 神山上人, traditional: 神山上人, pinyin: Shénshān Shàngrén, jyutping: san4 saan1 soeng6 jan4) is the abbot of Qingliang Temple on Mount Wutai in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Short in stature but with a voice of startling force, he is renowned throughout the wulin, and he and Xuanci, the abbot of Shaolin, are called the Dragon-Subduing and Tiger-Subduing Arhats.
Biography
Early life
At seventeen Shenshan went to Shaolin seeking ordination. The abbot of the day, Chan Master Lingmen, judged him brilliant but too proud and ambitious to accept a place beneath others, and turned him away. He entered Qingliang Temple instead and became its abbot by the age of thirty.
Qingliang Temple is far smaller than Shaolin and its martial heritage far shallower, so his standing never matched Xuanci’s. He held himself aloof from Shaolin, declaring that a monk who meddles in worldly jianghu affairs has already fallen short, and he never forgot his rejection.
The challenge at Shaolin
When Xu Chongxiao, his senior brother and a nine-sack elder of the Beggars’ Guild, is murdered, Shenshan takes the death as grounds to call Shaolin to account. After much effort he gathers eminent monks from Da Xiangguo Temple, Donglin Temple, Jingying Temple and elsewhere, and together they arrive at Shaolin.
Before the assembled monks he charges that Shaolin’s disciples are everywhere, mixed in quality and lax in discipline. He presses Xuanci over the deaths of Elder Xu and Great Master Zhiguang, both laid at the door of Qiao Feng (Xiao Feng), a Shaolin-trained fighter. Xuanci answers each charge. Monks who had shadowed Qiao Feng testify that he was elsewhere on the night of Xu’s death. Shaolin’s own manuals show that no one who has learnt the Demon-Subduing Palm can also master the Mahā Finger. The arrival of Jiumozhi cuts the inquiry short.
He remains at Shaolin through the crises that follow, witnessing Xuzhu’s punishment and the gathering of the wulin at the temple. He is among the monks who reach the Scripture Pavilion at the end of the novel and hear the nameless sweeping monk’s discourse.
Relationships
- Xuanci — abbot of Shaolin, his counterpart in fame and the object of his long resentment
- Xu Chongxiao — his senior brother, whose death he comes to Shaolin to answer
- Shenyin — a fellow monk who accompanies him
See also
- Qingliang Temple — his temple
- Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils characters