魏晉時期，以氏族為主體的社會發展漸臻成型，而在中國文化史上，這剛好也是佛教流行的時代。當佛教遇到中國，勢必與固有之價值傳統互相激盪，亦必影響及於社會文化之發展，如果把佛教在中土的普及與中古門第社會的成熟，放在同一階段來觀察，則其間相互作用之關係就是令人好奇的了。本文以個案研究之方式，選取當時較著名的世家大族－「瑯琊王氏」，就家族傳承的縱貫式線索，對其接受佛教的緣起、歷程、信仰型態與特質作一全面性的探討與說明。

In the Weijin period social development brought about the forming of clans. Culturally in the same period Buddhist thought gained broad following in China. The clash of Buddhist thought with traditional Chinese culture was bound to have an impact on the social fabric and the indigenous cultural values. Since dissemination of Buddhist ideas and the formation of clans happened in the same period, it is interesting to look how these two trends relate. This paper picks out the single case of the famous Lanye-Wang clan to trace in horizontal and vertical fashion the adaptation of Buddhist thought by this clan in a comprehensive fashion.