Some people criticize that as the Shingon-ritsu sect directly succeeded to the temples of Nanto Bukkyo and to its branch temples such as Yakushi-ji Temple, Saidai-ji Temple (Nara City) and provincial monasteries of various provinces, and it was merely a movement of Nanto Bukkyo under the conventional system as were the movement in the Nara period including the activities by Gyoki.
これに対する批判として、真言律宗は薬師寺・西大寺_(奈良市)や諸国の国分寺などの南都仏教寺院及びその系列をそのまま継承しており、奈良時代の行基などと同様の南都仏教における既成体制内での動きに過ぎない、とする意見も出されている。