With the compilation of Lamp Record by Zen Buddhism in the Song Dynasty, Mad Monks with madness and unknown inheritance who were difficult to be classified was classified into a separate category. Ever since mad monks were separately classified into “monks specializing in Zen Buddhism” in “Jingde Lamp Record,” they are called “sages” or “saints” in Lamp Records to extend their spirit. Lamp Records in early days mainly collected mad monks of former dynasty, while those in Southern Song Dynasty mainly collected sages of Song Dynasty. There is an urgent need to develop the studies on context of mad monks in literature of Zen Buddhism in academia. Therefore, this study intends to follow the historical context of mad monks from the Six Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, and extend the inspection on genealogy construction of mad monks with weird behaviors in the Song Dynasty. In addition, this study also intends to investigate Lamp Records of Zen Buddhism and the historical materials of image of sages of Zen Buddhism in the Song Dynasty in Lamp Records, in order to unravel the historical status of sages of Zen Buddhism in Zen Buddhism genealogy in the Song Dynasty and the spiritual origin of their madness image from Lamp Records genealogy to actually existing figures.
