In addition, Todai-ji Temple was regarded as a place for learning about the six sects in Nanto, and then as the center of the Kegon sect or study on the Kegon sect, on which emphasis was put in the Heian period and thereafter, when the temple was called a place for 'interdisciplinary study on the eight sects' including the Tendai and the Shingon sects, by attracting attention from people in power of the times and the common people with its principal image representing the philosophy, the statue of Birushana Buddha.
また、いわゆる南都六宗の教学、さらに平安時代以降は、天台宗、真言宗などが同居して「八宗兼学」と呼ばれながら、なかでも重視した華厳経華厳経学の中心地とも見られ、その教えを体現する本尊の東大寺盧舎那仏像盧舎那仏像でもって、時の権力者や、庶民からの信仰をあつめてきた。