Buddhist works such as The Tripitaka, Biography of Kumarajiva in Liang Gaoseng Zhuan(Biography of Eminent Monks of the Liang Dynasty) all mentioned a poetic gatha by Kumarajiva: To Sramana Fahe. The two versions of this gatha are same in main theme but slightly different in words. The third line of this gatha is conposed of two words Ailuan(sad phoenix) and Gutong(lone tung tree). For a long time, because of the deflection at the understanding of these two words by some scholars, the orginal intention of the whole gatha had been grossly misinterpreted and the dramatic misinterpretation of this gatha also mislead the proper evaluation of the accomplishment of Kumarajiva’s life and his moral character. Starting with the textual research of the words Ailuan and Gutong, this paper makes a discriminant analysis on the verse Ailuan Gutong Shang(A sad phoenix is perching upon a lone tung tree), restores the whole original intention of the gatha and makes an accurate and fair judgement of Kumarajiva’s life and his contribution.
