中国宋元时代有众多学德卓著的临济宗禅僧东渡日本,也有很多在中国禅林受法的日本禅僧归国弘传临济禅法。他们在朝廷、幕府或地方武士建造的寺院传法、培养弟子,扩大临济宗在社会的流通范围。这一过程,经历了从早期由日本禅僧弘传所谓“兼修禅”到以宋元禅僧为主弘传“纯粹 In the Song and Yuan dynasties, there were a large number of well-known Linzong monks east of Japan, and many of the Zen Buddhists who returned to Japan to study in the Zen Buddhism of China were Hong Kong. The monastic law they had built in the court, shogunate or local warrior disciples cultivated their disciples and expanded the scope of Rinzai’s circulation in society. This process has gone through from the early Buddhist Zen monk Hongzhi so-called ”Buddhist meditation“ to the monk-based Song and Yuan dynasties ”pure"