A major difficulty in studying Popular Buddhism, especially for a historical study, is the lack of historical documents. By definition, Popular Buddhism has more to do with common people than with the elites and hence it is rarely mentioned in official history or literal works of the elites. The case of Yingjiao, a liturgical form of Buddhism, in mid-Hunan is, perhaps, an exception. The area in mid-Hunan where we could find Yingjiao is known as Meishan. It was inhabited by native tribes of the Miao and the Yao. Meishan had remained relatively independent and was incorporated into the Chinese imperial empire only in the Song. It is believed that Chan Buddhism played an important role in sinicizing the native tribes of Meishan. This essay argues that the Chan monks in mid-Hunan had made use of Buddhist liturgies and dharma assembly (Fahui) to covert native tribes which later on developed into a popular form of liturgical Buddhism that came to be called ‘Yingjiao’. It is a popular form of Buddhism that assimilates elements of Daoism and local popular religion called Shijiao. This essay adopts an approach of historical anthropology to study the history of Yingiao which will throw light on the formation of Popular Buddhism not only in mid-Hunan but also, to some extent, Popular Buddhism in general.
