The aim of this paper is to examine the reasons for the formation of the Chinese tradition of hermeneutics of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa which is based on Kumārajīva’s translation of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa, as well as the hermeneutical problems which are contained within this tradition of hermeneutics. This paper will proceed in its examination from two angles, the first being an analysis of the text of Kumārajīva’s tradition of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, and the second being a review of the interpretative methods of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa by the philosophers of the traditional schools. By a comparison between these two approaches we shall show the mutual interaction of the hermeneutics between the schools with respect to the same text of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa. Yet, due to development of differences in different hermeneutical methods or points of emphasis, there is the creation of differences in the interpretation and understanding of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa. This phenomena of the interaction between the commonalities and differences brought about the Chinese hermeneutic traditions with respect to the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa. We shall reflect on these traditions of hermeneutics as we bring them into the modern theories of hermeneutics, and by making another comparison with modern hermeneutics on the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa we can form multifaceted hermeneutic points of view toward the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa. The methods employed in this paper include: First, an overview of the text of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa, in particular an analysis of Kumārajīva’s tradition of the text, for which we shall clarify some of the important topics, as well as simultaneously looking at the specific features of Kumārajīva’s terminology and the development of the interpretations that this brought about. Second, we shall carry out an analysis of the several interpretative methods of understanding of the classic Chinese traditions, and then make a comparison with the textual and topical analysis carried out in the first part, to reveal the problems emphasized by the different interpreters. Third, we shall make a comparison between the different methods of interpreting the text, to show the commonalities and differences between the various interpreters. Finally, a review of the methodological avenues of the important modern studies of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa, placing them within the lines of modern hermeneutics, in order to reveal the phenomena of multifaceted hermeneutic approaches of a single yet multivalent Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa. Concerning a multivalent yet single text of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa, apart from Kumārajīva’s translation of Vimalakīrti-nirdeśaand the observable situation wherein the specific translation terminology of Kumārajīva’s text lead to specific kinds of interpretation, this paper will also look into three points of view, namely semantic hermeneutics, cultural hermeneutics, and life actualization hermeneutics, by examining and analyzing concrete methods within the hermeneutic process, as well as prejudices within that. This reflection not only concerns the classic Chinese interpretations, but also modern research on
