Of the works of the "six schools", the foundation of indigenous Chinese Buddhist exegesis, the "Treatise on the Dharma-Nature" is the only one to have been personally addressed Kumarajiva. This article focuses on doctrinal issues in an attempt to reconstruct the general tenor of the treatise. As a part of this project, the author analyzes the ways in which the closely related concepts of the "invariability of the Dharma-Nature" (fa-hsing pu pien) and the "perfection with the appropriate" (chin tang yu chi) were at once maintained and altered by the great Central Asian exponent of prajna, Kumarajiva. The author also examines the relationship between this treatise and Tao-sheng's discussion of Nirvana and "permanent abiding"(ch'ang- chu) in an attempt to further our understanding of this central thread in the development of the Chinese Buddhist exegetical tradition.
