First of all, understanding the relationship between arts and crafts and religion is also an important content in art theory. Primitive arts and crafts and religion are closely related in origin. Many things that belong to artistic activities from today's point of view, such as singing and dancing, painting, sculpture, architecture and so on. It is a religious activity or witchcraft activity in primitive society, not a pure aesthetic activity. Primitive people's belief and worship of religion and witchcraft is an important reason for the emergence and development of primitive religious art. In ancient times, due to the emphasis on ghosts and gods, the focus of artistic concepts tended to be arts and crafts, mostly painting in caves, cliffs or crevices in rocks, in inaccessible places, mostly animals, obviously not for aesthetic or decorative purposes, but a primitive witchcraft concept. As Mr. Lu Xun said, "There is a reason to paint cattle, for bison or hunting bison, banning bison, etc." . In other words, primitive painting has a certain practical or utilitarian purpose and is not the product of modern graffiti. At that time, the application of arts and crafts in the environment was also very simple, specifically the imaginary animal patterns, a few sketches, and the materials were also very simple, and there was no systematic concept. Therefore, when discussing the application of arts and crafts in religion, we must first correctly realize that they are inseparable, and the religious art color is accompanied by the origin and development of arts and crafts. The characteristics of religious art are both religious and aesthetic. It is an art form with rich spiritual connotation. It first established the primary role of arts and crafts in human life, and its modeling was concise and purposeful, representing a kind of respectful thought. It embodies the organic combination of ancient arts and crafts with primitive religion and human life.

Now we can think that primitive religion is the cradle of arts and crafts. In China, archaeologists analyzed the homographs of witchcraft and dance in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and also came to the conclusion that song and dance originated from witchcraft. The appearance of primitive painting and plastic arts is directly related to the concept of reproductive worship of primitive people. In China, fish patterns painted on painted pottery by ancestors are also the product of reproductive worship. Many well-known scholars have discussed this. The fish patterns and painted pottery with fish faces on Banpo in Yangshao period are a blessing to the descendants of the clan. Thus formed the preliminary outline of painting and plastic arts. At that time, the level of understanding was low, and many abstract ideas could not be explained scientifically. People naturally use an unconscious artistic way to summarize the world around them. Of course, the imprisonment of thought still existed at that time, and the tension of artistic expression was far from being formed, mainly from the fear of nature and new things. The earliest sculpture art of mankind is also related to the reproductive worship of primitive people. They don't know much about life, it's too mysterious. It is the pressure that nature imposes on human beings, or it is a kind of sustenance or a kind of fear. At that time, it was progress to express reverence for life simply by sculpture art, which shows that the application of arts and crafts in religion at that time was simple, a bit like babbling. The consciousness is not comprehensive and the expression is single.

With the civilization of people's thoughts, the application of arts and crafts in religion has become more and more complicated and developed almost at the same time. With the eyes of modern people, the affinity between them can't be seen at all. The formation of religious art is the progress of arts and crafts. The combination of these two arts reflects people's practical activities of "mastering" themselves and "mastering" the world. Arts and crafts are mainly used to express the characteristics of religious thinking in its religious application, social progress and human class. There has been a breakthrough in the application of arts and crafts in religion. In order to show off their achievements and confuse the people, the rulers built a large number of religious buildings, set up Buddha statues and created the theory of "the son of heaven". With the help of social reality, religious art has developed rapidly, and with the help of arts and crafts, a large-scale religious art group has gradually formed, resulting in many influential arts and crafts, such as sitting in meditation in the open air in the Northern Wei Dynasty to ward off evil spirits, and what's more, the maturity of the arts and crafts in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes \ Longmen \ vividly depicts religious culture, abandons the perceptual knowledge or random imagination of human thinking in the past, and puts people's feelings, will and wishes into concrete image descriptions. Because everything in the eyes of religion is infinite, it is impossible to express infinity by material means, so religious artistic expression often reduces spiritual imagination to material imagination, and because arts and crafts are widely used in religious culture, religious art is more intuitive, perceptual and vivid, and people are willing to accept it. For example, "Jade Emperor", "Guanyin" and "Buddha" are all portrayed by artistic means in accordance with the inherent mode of religious opinions, shaping representative religious symbols with religious characteristics. It can be said that religion can influence people's lives, and a more vivid image is expressed through arts and crafts.

Due to the differences in time, region, economy, culture and technology, national habits and aesthetic standards, the application of arts and crafts in religion presents distinct characteristics. Historically, the application of arts and crafts in religion reached a climax in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, because artists first developed their special skills in religious art, which determined the formation of religious art in the following years. The grand scale and great creative intention of religion at that time, such as grotto statues, Buddha statues and Buddha statues. Based on Mahayana classics, it greatly expanded the application and development of painting and sculpture in religion. On the one hand, it is the artist's painstaking efforts, which combines foreign art such as local and national characteristics. At the same time, the accumulation of life and the signing of lifestyle have pushed religious art to the peak, and the daubing method has stimulated the requirements of three-dimensional expression. By imitating the naked or thin-sleeved Buddha statues in India, people gradually become familiar with the anatomical structure of the human body and prompt to paint portraits. In particular, Buddha statues are more free, arts and crafts are more active in the use of religion, and the themes are infinitely expanded. Even Buddhist stories enrich the life of art. At the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the stone carvings, Buddha statues and pottery figurines in paintings all showed a little spiritual characteristics. There are a lot of descriptions of life fragments in religious paintings, and the shaping of various images in sculptures, such as Lohan, Lux, Bodhisattva, benefactor, etc., have promoted the relationship between religion and human beings. The growing religious image is a realistic factor in the wide application of arts and crafts in religion. Later, the Sui Dynasty was a buffer period for the development of religious art to reach its climax. A large number of arts and crafts have been expanded and applied in religious arts, creating more unique religious cultural products. In the Tang Dynasty, the religious application of arts and crafts tended to be secularized, and the development of arts and crafts was mainly religious art. For example, the group images of Fengxian Temple, as a model work of immortals, were of great value in shaping the image (especially the face of Rushenafo and the imp at the foot of the God King), the composition relationship of the group images and the artistic generalization ability of the group images. Immortal, Lohan, Bodhisattva, King of God, King Kong and other images, and strive to shape all kinds of idealized personality and temperament. Although these types are common in sculptures in the Tang Dynasty, such as the gorgeous, dignified and reserved expression of Bodhisattva, the majestic and powerful expression of the king of God and the muscular appearance of King Kong, they are all very violent and rustic. However, carving them on such a huge scale and volume is enough to become a new pioneering work. Among these images, Ananda's simple appearance and kind and pure realism of personality undoubtedly have unique artistic value, representing the model of arts and crafts in religious application, mastering the correct proportion and anatomical knowledge of the human body, and creating the art of round carving that can be seen everywhere. In terms of craft style, the ideal pursuit and technique are truly unified, with rich colors, lively and vigorous lines and solid and powerful modeling. Profound and complicated composition is applied to religious art, such as the pure land change, Vimalakīrti change, Nirvana change and demon change in the west. They are all works with distinctive themes, rich and complex contents and touching feelings, and they are all created through exquisite craftsmanship and vivid imagination.

The application of arts and crafts in religion is becoming more and more mature. Only by understanding the relationship between religion and art can artists work with ease. As a result of religious interpretation, because religion is directed at the people, most of these works come from people's artists. After the evolution of the times, the realistic factors of arts and crafts have penetrated into religious art for a long time, and gradually overcome the simplicity of religion. The concept of artistry is different from religion itself, rather than simply attaching art and craft to religious rules. The artist's understanding of beauty has created a kind and elegant bodhisattva, a healthy and beautiful Guanyin, a brave king Lux, an argumentative Vimalakīrti, a painful Buddhist disciple, a devout believer and a flying musician. And pay attention to the symmetrical sitting posture of the Buddha statue and the patterned cassock pattern to make it appear. It also has a non-human mystery. At the same time, craft decoration is also very effective in enhancing the solemn atmosphere of religious art, gradually forming the traditional content of religious art, and the application of arts and crafts in religion is more and more extensive, such as material selection, clay, stone carving, wood carving, copper casting, cast iron and so on. And the craft techniques are ever-changing, such as painting and dry paint sculpture. It is even more amazing to depict contemporary works of religious art with advanced craft materials and methods. For example, the Lingyin Copper Hall of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou is all made of copper, and the architectural technique is no longer a single traditional building block. Carving tiles under the eaves, raising the wings, moving the Buddha's four mountains inward, and integrating the Millennium Zen into the square hall are the pinnacle of infinite performance of arts and crafts in religious applications, so that the audience can truly feel the world of religious culture. This is a model of the combination of art and religion. Thirty-six large bronze sculpture murals of Xi's Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Xuanzang's Seeking the Method, are made of purple and gold, with rich and warm colors and smooth and rigorous lines, which make the connotation of the works reach a high level and are known as the treasures handed down from ancient times in Buddhism. With the progress of science and technology and materials, the application of modern arts and crafts in religion tends to express religious culture and thoughts through comprehensive technology, so as to achieve the best results. The above example is made by etching metal with computer combined with modern photography technology.

The application of arts and crafts in religion, especially in today's increasingly depressed religion, tends to use arts and crafts and advanced technology to maintain its position. Compared with the origin of art, the relationship of attachment seems to be reversed. This is the result of social development and the improvement of people's ideological level. The mature form of arts and crafts makes it more widely used. Today, people are pursuing metaphysical artistic effects, and art tends to be secular. What people miss more is the religious miracle of art created by ancestors in the past. The application of arts and crafts in religion has changed from interdependence at the beginning to unity of opposites at present. It is precisely because there are many similarities between religion and art that in the whole historical development process, religion and art go hand in hand, influence each other, penetrate each other and develop continuously.