This is a semiotic study of a corpus of texts that Kum raj va (344-413 CE), Param rtha (499 569 CE) and Xuanzang (599 664 CE) transmitted from India to China, featuring a critical reading of the Dazhidu Lun (T1509, Mah -Praj p ramit -upade a- stra), San Wuxing Lun (T1617, Try-asvabh va-prakara.na), and Guangbai Lun (T1571, Catu.h ataka- stra-k rika). Focusing its attention on the Mah y na Buddhist notion of samat , it identifies a Buddhist semiotics which anticipates Derrida's invocation of the notion of the Same in his deconstruction of binary oppositions.