宗教活動有其社會功能，僧人入世雖以宣傳佛教思想為初衷，各種經讖活動同時能增加寺院收入，服務並滿足大眾需求，且有安定人心和教化社會的功效。《儒林外史》雖以刻劃儒林景象為主，然亦著墨僧人的描寫。其中，偏重描寫入世的僧人，雖與吳敬梓累舉不第、長期居處民間有關，而影響讀者對明清僧人乃至佛教的認識，連帶使佛和法的尊崇性受到質疑與挑戰，但卻貼近世俗人士對佛教的理解。尤其吳敬梓能洞悉明代佛教出現墮落腐化之因，係由於僧侶成員來源蕪雜，復以在家惡習未改，而非宗教內涵的缺失，適才以老和尚與惡和尚兩種典型，透過善惡有報之理，寄寓個人對佛心慈悲的認知。

Religious activities had their social function, and although the original purpose of the monks’ worldly engagement was to promote Buddhist thought, various ceremonies could increase the temple’s income, serve and satisfy people’s needs, and have the effects of reassuring people and enlightening the society. Ru Lin Wai Shi mainly depicted the phenomenon of scholar circle, but it also involved the description of the monks, especially those who served in the real world. This had somehting to do with Wu Jing Zi’s constant failures in the imperial examination and long-term residence with vulgarized people, and accordingly it affected the readers’ understanding of monks in the Ming and Ching Dynasties and even the Buddhism. It also made the reverence of Buddha and Dharma being questioned and challenged, but it came close to secular people’s understanding of Buddhism. Wu Jing Zi discerned that the reason why Buddhism became depraved in the Ming Dynasty was that the sources of monks were complicated and their former vicious habits were not corrected, and it had nothing to do with the deficiency of religion’s connotation. By means of two types of old and bad monks, it conveyed the arguement that kindness and evil would be repaid and it also expressed his perception that the mind of Buddha was merciful.