晉末年，孫恩利用天師道，發動了一場動搖東晉國本的叛亂。本文第二章主要在探究天師道的教團組織、末日思想、節慶在孫恩的起兵中扮演著怎樣的角色？ 本文第三章在討論劉裕的崛起與孫恩起兵的關連性。孫恩擾亂東晉吳會地區數年，一度兵臨首都建康城下。這除了他有大批信眾的因素之外，總責平亂的北府都督劉牢之刻意放任，消極應對亦是重要原因。劉裕以征討孫恩的英雄登上歷史的舞台，他許多重要部屬在此時便已開始追隨他。 劉裕以征討天師道崛起，但是他的生母、繼母以及表兄弟的家族中，都有信仰天師道的跡象，他新京口集團的成員之中，亦有許多天師道信徒，甚至有本為孫恩黨羽者，投入他帳下。而東晉末年的道經之中的讖語指稱「劉氏復興，李弘復出」，應即是支持劉裕的天師道信徒，為塑造劉裕「奉天承運」的天命所作。 During the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, with his manipulation of the religious Taoist groups and the end-of-the-world thought, Sun En initiated rebelled on a Taoist''s festival and damaged Eastern Jin Dynasty seriously. The rebellions of Sun En disturbed the south-eastern China for several years and once the Sun En groups almost conquered Jiankang, the capital city of Eastern Jin. This is not only because of the considerably large number of Sun''s followers, but also due to the indulgence and passiveness of Liu Lao Tsz, the chief inspector of the Northern Region Government who was in charge of ceasing the rebellion. Meanwhile, Liu Yu, the general of the Northern Region Government, was on the rise during the campaign. However, it shows that the relationship of Liu Yu and Taoism was significant since there was a large number of Liu Yu''s family members and followers were Taoists and there were also traitors of Sun''s Group who joined Liu Yu''s army.
