At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the political affairs under the control of eunuchs became increasingly corrupt, and emperors, eunuchs and nobles were extravagant and greedy, plundering and annexing land crazily, which led to the situation that "food is the most important thing for the people" in this area and aroused farmers' resistance and struggle. Mine supervision and taxation made it flood all over the country, exacting exorbitant taxes and levies, squeezing urban handicrafts and commerce, destroying the budding capitalist relations of production in some areas and arousing opposition from emerging citizens. Some North Korean officials and intellectuals in the opposition have keenly felt that "the sky is falling" and the crisis is everywhere. In order to reform abuses and ease contradictions, they accused North Korea of corruption and demanded reform. In the 22nd year of Wanli (1594), Gu Xiancheng, an outspoken official, was dismissed for criticizing the opinions of Ming Shenzong and Zhu Yijun and returned to his hometown of Wuxi, Jiangsu. However, he did not return to the mountains in seclusion. But with his younger brother Gu Yuncheng in the thirty-second year of Wanli (1604), he proposed to rebuild Donglin Academy in the east of Wuxi, gather people to give lectures, closely link reading and giving lectures with caring for state affairs, and take "listening to reading in the wind and rain, the family, the country and the world care about everything" as the academic purpose. Donglin Academy's lecture and reading activities, which are combined with discussing state affairs, have been supported by landlords, bureaucrats, intellectuals and businessmen who are dissatisfied with reality in society, and also by some honest officials in the imperial court such as Zhao Nanxing. Many people of different schools were also "overwhelmed by news" (biography of Gu Xiancheng in Ming Dynasty), and Donglin Academy became the public opinion orientation at that time. As an academic group, Lindong School gradually developed into a political faction, and was denounced as "Lindong Party" by those in power.

Although Lindong School "lives in the forest near the water", it still "aims at the world" and focuses on the rise and fall of the country. Their political opinions are mainly expressed through personal activities, which can be summarized as the following aspects: First, they attack and oppose the autocratic chaos of big eunuchs and bureaucrats and advocate the reform of state affairs. They pointed out: "The person who is poisoned today is Zhongjuan (eunuch), and the person who is poisoned with Zhongjuan is actually the outer court (cabinet)" (Biography of Shi Menglin in Ming Dynasty); He advocated unifying all political affairs to six states, handing over public opinions to palace officials, and actively participating in and leading the struggle against eunuch autocracy. It is proposed to open up local political power, make use of and give full play to the power of people of insight among local gentry, and develop social economy. Qian Yiben, known as one of the "Eight Gentlemen of Lindong", also put forward the idea of "breaking the routine and holding an open election". Secondly, attack the drawbacks of the imperial examination, advocate recruiting talented people regardless of rank, and innovate the management of officials. Gu Xiancheng clearly pointed out that the selection of candidates in imperial examinations should be divorced from convention. "Scholars also choose high and low, expensive and cheap, but they are only right." ("Gao Jing Zang Draft" Volume II) Gu Yuncheng proposed to publicly commend "people who lead an honest and clean life and love the people". They demanded that "all the scholars in the world should think of sages and not hesitate to use them differently" (Volume 343 of Records of Wanli in Ming Dynasty). Therefore, in the second year of the Apocalypse (1622), Gao Panlong published "Different Personnel", which strongly impacted the feudal hierarchy and the ethical concept of pecking. Third, we should oppose arbitrary expropriation. Yao Ximeng, who was examined by the Hanlin Academy, said in the article "The Generation Plays Local Advantages and Disadvantages": In the counties of Sanwu, the fiscal taxes have always been very heavy. Since the rise of Manchuria in Northeast China, the Ministry of Household Affairs has been criticized, so it was named "Jiapai", and the poor complained bitterly and even sold their children and wives. Therefore, it is advocated to implement the policy of "benefiting businessmen" and simplify the tax collection procedures. Based on the political principle of benefiting the country and the people, Lin Dong scholars boldly put forward the slogan "The right and wrong in the world should be heard" with democratic ideas. Gu Xiancheng also angrily denounced the imperial court: "When outsiders come, there will be mistakes in the temple; Outsiders, the palace view will think it is "(biography of Gu Xiancheng in Ming Dynasty) expressed the attitude of Lindong scholars against the imperial court. They also opposed the evil deeds of eunuchs. Yu Maoheng exposed the evil of Liang Yong, the tax supervisor of Shaanxi Province, and Li Sancai exposed the evil of Chen Zengzhi, the tax supervisor of Anhui Province, and strongly demanded to recover the right of mining tax from eunuchs. Lindong School's just actions and some propositions against eunuchs were supported by the people, but they were brutally suppressed by the forces of "eunuchs" represented by Wei Zhongxian.

The Lindong School, represented by Gu Xianzhai and Gao Panlong, engaged in academic research while satirizing current politics and judging figures. During the Wanli period, in the academic field, the disadvantages of empty talk about mind and nature in Wang Yangming's theory became more and more obvious. In his later period, Wang Men learned to use Wang Yangming's theory of "no good or evil as the heart", advocated "the integration of three religions", absorbed Buddhist thoughts and spread Zen style. While affirming the "sudden awakening" of Yang Ming's theory of mind to Zhu Houxue, Gu Xiancheng also severely criticized the harm of "to conscience". They believe that Wang Yangming's view that "mind is reason" takes people's hearts as the standard to measure right and wrong, which will inevitably lead to "leading the world to do nothing." Oppose Wang Xue's empty talk and advocate "valuing practice". Qian Yiben said: "Learning is not practice, but empty talk." (Lin Dong Research, Volume 59, Case 2 of Confucianism in Ming Dynasty) In Lin Dong's Covenant, it is clearly stipulated that its academic purpose is "bowing and practicing" and "speaking before acting". They also launched a debate about "Tao is good" and "no good and no evil" around ontology and the relationship between ontology and Kung Fu. Zhou Rudeng and Guan Zhidao of Wang Xue in Taizhou once divided ontology and kung fu into two parts according to Wang Yangming's theory of "no good or evil as the mind" and Zhou Dunyi, a scholar in Song Dynasty's view on the infinity of Tai Chi. Gu Xiancheng and Gao Panlong regard "goodness" as the foundation of the world and advocate the unity of noumenon and kung fu. Criticizing "no good and no evil" is actually to abolish the standard of right and wrong, thinking that this is a kind of killing the world with academics, and advocating that literati should "live above the temple and do everything for the monarch; Stay away from the rivers and lakes, and things will be for the people. He not only opposed Wang Yangming's view of "respecting things" or "respecting heart", but also disagreed with Zhu's view that "supreme goodness" was the fundamental principle of feudal morality. He advocated that there was no distinction between heaven and earth, and it was also reasonable to emphasize "every grass and tree".

Lindong School attaches great importance to the methods of academic research and advocates the combination of lectures and lectures. Like-minded friends often get together to discuss their learning experiences, "or fine-tune the past, or consider the present, or study allusions, or interview people", and combine academic exchanges with social reality and politics. Their gathering was also accompanied by certain ceremonies, and there were eleven customs and ceremonies in the records of Donglin Academy. This kind of academic research method, which combines teaching and confirming each other, has been passed down from generation to generation, and scholars have gathered, which has become an unprecedented event in Wuzhong since ancient times. It was also imitated by beginners such as Gu, Huang Zongxi and Fang Yizhi in Qing Dynasty, and developed into a new generation of academic atmosphere emphasizing practice and demonstration.

Besides Gu Xiancheng and, other famous scholars of Lindong School include Qian Yiben, Sun, Shi Menglin, Liu Yongcheng, Xue Fujiao, Ye Maocai, Xu, Liu, Huang Zunsu and Chen. They also attacked Wang Yangming's theory academically and supported Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism. However, their respective academic views are not consistent and different from Zhu Cheng's theory. Lin Dong scholars dare to break through the shackles of Neo-Confucianism and advocate "useful learning", which is an important academic feature that distinguishes Lin Dong School from Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties.