Abstract: The understanding of the history of Chinese Buddhism has always been restricted by elite scholars' academic interpretation of classics, while the folk class' practical application of classics has been ignored. Due to the different ways of using and explaining classics of these two different social strata, there have formed different meanings of classics and different development paths as well. With the absence of authority and the immersion of faith, people at the grassroot level have completely subverted the original system of classical interpretation and invented so-called folk Buddhism. The interaction between elite Buddhism and folk Buddhism and the co-existence of elegance and vulgarity has shaped the internal structure of Chinese Buddhism. We may not only explain this phenomenon from the perspective of classical interpretation and its practical variation, but also interpret academically the belief-type Buddhism via classical interpreting approaches so as to gain a new understanding of the history of Chinese Buddhism.

Key words: classical interpretation, folk Buddhist, elegance and vulgarity, philosophy of faith