Zen has been flourishing in the Tang Dynasty, but only Pei Xiu, Lu Gen and Pang Yun claimed to have participated in Zen. In the Song Dynasty, Zen became a fashion, and more and more laymen became teachers. There are two ways for laymen to participate in meditation: one is to ask Buddhist figures directly. Shoushan Wang, Yang Yi of Guanghui Yuanlian, Li Zunxu of Gu Yinyun, Su Shi of Dajue Huailian, Chang Zong and Huang Tingjian of Huitang are all typical examples in this respect. Second, I use my own Buddhist books to enlighten me. The books I read are mainly Mahayana classics, quotations from Zen masters and records of Zongmen lanterns. Daoyuan's The Story of Jingdezhen and Dengchuan was published by Yang Yi, and was compiled into Da Cang by Zhenzong, which was quite popular in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lou Jian wrote "Ode to the Door", saying: "In recent times, the literati did not work as hard as their predecessors, just like learning Buddhism, or they could only dabble in the classics such as Lengyan Sutra, Jue Yuan, Jingming and the Record of Passing Lights."

Although Lou's theory criticized people's ignorance at that time, it can also be seen that Chuan Deng Lu, Lengyan Jing, Jue Yuan Jing and Mo Wei Jing are equivalent to the books that Song people must read to learn Buddhism and participate in Zen. Scholars in the Song Dynasty focused on those who copied, continued and read Guo Deng Ji, which expanded the influence of this book among scholars.