明末以來，濟公信仰逐漸興起，至清末民初大盛於中國。以往學者大都認爲，這受到小說、戲曲的影響。其實，在此之外，對濟公信仰流行最重要推手應是扶乩團體。本文利用《南屏佛祖救生度化寶懺》、《虎跑佛祖藏殿志》等資料，描繪清末民初濟公鸞堂的崛起及盛行的過程：即由浙江富陽濟公鸞堂恒濟壇與杭州吳山永濟壇藉由宣教與杭州西湖謁祖所帶動的。民國四年，他們更在上海設立集雲軒，作爲活動據點，隔一年設立「中國濟生會」，進一步推行賑濟活動。隨着中國濟生會的成功開展，贏得社會名聲，集雲軒不僅組織固本團，每年春秋朝拜西湖濟公塔墓，更自立宗派「南屏派」，向外佈教，吸引王一亭等不少名人加入該壇與會，進而參與佛教活動。不過，他們始終維持世俗身份，與僧侶有所區隔。雖然他們被視爲居士，但其地位是與僧侶並列，而不是傳統佛教價值下低於僧侶的居士。

The cult of Jigong began to develop in the late Ming dynasty and flourished all over China by the late Qing and early Republican periods. Heretofore most scholars have assumed that the spread of this cult was influenced by novels and plays on the Jigong theme, but apart from these factors the strongest forces propagating this deity were spirit-writing associations. This paper employs the Precious Litany of the Buddha-Patriarch of Southern Screen [Hill] for the Rescue of Sentient Beings and for Saving Transformation (Nanping Fozu jiusheng duhua baochan) as well as the Gazetteer of the Hidden Palace of the Buddha-Patriarch of Running-Tiger [Hill] (Hupao Fozu zangdian zhi) to describe the emergence and flourishing of spirit-writing cults in the late Qing and early Republican periods. This process was furthered by the efforts of two Jigong spiritwriting groups to spread their teachings and organize pilgrimages to the West Lake in Hangzhou, where the historical Jigong had passed his life: the Shrine of Perpetual Relief (Hengji tan) in Fuyang and the Shrine of Eternal Relief (Yongji tan) in Wushan (Hangzhou), both in Zhejiang province. In 1915, they established the Pavilion of Gathered Clouds (Jiyun xuan) in Shanghai as a basis for their operations there. A year later they founded the Chinese Society for the Relief of Sentient Beings (Zhongguo jishenghui) to further promote their charitable relief activities. The success and widespread recognition of the Society helped solidify the organizational structure of the Pavilion of Gathered Clouds and allowed it to widen its activities to include pilgrimages every spring and autumn to Jigong's stupa at West Lake and even to claim its own denominational identity as the “Southern Screen Branch” (Nanpingpai). The group proselytized actively and attracted well-known personages such as Wang Yiting into its ranks. Even though they cooperated with Buddhist organizations, the group remained lay-based and kept its distance from the sangha. So, although the group was regarded as lay Buddhist, it was not subordinate to the sangha, as other lay associations frequently were.