A Study On Buddhist Yiyi During The Period Of Northern Dynasties In Shanxi Province

Buddhist yiyi, once widely spread over the Yellow River basin, is a Buddhist society where Buddhist devotee to religious activities such as statue movements. We cannot find the record of this kind of organization in traditional historical text, but we learn about it from some historical materials such as the recordation of Buddhism statues. As one of the corn centers of the Northern dynasties, Shanxi province preserves a lot of historical materials about Buddhist yiyi.The available historical materials suggest that Buddhist yiyi was very popular in Shanxi province during the Northern dynasties, other than a special phenomenon that there was only somewhere that had Buddhist yiyi within a short time. Depending on the identity and status of the organizer and leader, the Buddhist yiyi can be classified into three types, respectively dominated by Buddhist, government and populace.In the Buddhist yiyi dominated by Buddhist, Buddhist acted as Yi-master, organizer, leader or in particular case, member. Instructed and setted up by some monks in temple, Buddhist yiyi had a closer relation with temple. Some Buddhist yiyis were auxiliary organization of temple because of their closer relationship, but not all Buddhist yiyis can be viewed as an auxiliary organization of temple.Based on the same religion belief, Buddhist yiyi dominated by populace, became the medium linking different group from different regions and classes, thus relieving the misunderstanding and conflict among the member.However, with the influences of Buddhist yiyi expanding, governor realized the challenge and began to take action to limit it. Meanwhile, the right to organize and set up Buddhist yiyi was expropriated by the government. This kind of Buddhist yiyi became a field linking government with religion. Gradually Buddhist yiyi lost its vitality at the price of taking itself under government’s wing.