The Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra 勝鬘師子吼一乗大方便方広経 (SMS) is one of the earliest tathāgatagarbha scriptures. The SMS relates śūnya to tathāgatagarbha, and creates śūnya tathāgatagarbha and aśūnya tathāgatagarbha. In this paper, I discuss the peculiar interpretations of śūnya tathāgatagarbha and aśūnya tathāgatagarbha in four Chinese commentaries composed during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. All the commentaries, except the Wumingshi Shengmanjingshu 無名氏勝鬘経疏,explain śūnya in terms of defilements, i.e., the xiangkong 相空.This is obviously different from the explanation of xingkong 性空 in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. This shows that explaining śūnya in terms of xiangkong has become mainstream in Northern and Southern Dynasties Buddhism.
