This is a study tracing and examining Kumārajīva's translation of ”suchness” (shixiang) in the ”Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra” and its influences on his disciple Seng Zhao and Tiantai master Zhiyi who is the principal founder of this Chinese Buddhist school. First, I will discuss Kumārajīva's translation of ”suchness” (shixiang) with regard to its possible meanings in related Sanskrit texts. Second, I will deal with Kumārajīva's and his disciples' exegeses of this term. Third, I will try to reveal Zhiyi's particular way of explaining this Sutra text with the specific focus on Kumārajīva's terminology of translation. Based on this, I try to interpret Zhiyi's sense and understanding of the crucial compound-terms ”zhongdao-shixiang” and ”zhongdao-foxing.” In his commentaries to the Vimalakirtinidesasutra, Zhiyi explains his understanding of the ”middle way” (zhongdao), by relating it to the meanings of ”suchness” (shixiang) and ”Buddha-nature” (foxing), which does not occur in his works on the Lotus-sutra in such a way. Based on this observation, I try to specify Zhiyi's hermeneutical approach to this particular Sutra text.
