After Tan-luan became a monk, he read many books including Four Treatise ("Madhyamaka-karika [Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way]," "Dvadasanikaya Shastra [Twelve Gate Treatise]," "Commentary on the Great Wisdom Sutra, " and "Shatashastra [One Hundred Verses Treatise]") by Nagarjuna and his disciples, and the Sutra of the Great Nirvana, to learn about buddhata.
出家して、龍樹系の四論（『中論』、『十二門論』、『大智度論』、『百論』）や『涅槃経』の仏性義を学んだ。