Imperial Preface to the Revised Dharma Enumeration

The Buddha’s Dharma is as vast as the realm of reality itself, as ultimate as empty space. It transcends words and concepts — how could it be confined by numbers or measures? Yet, just as there are countless origins of illness and myriad prescriptions to match them, to clearly describe the methods of cure, one must prescribe the right remedy for the symptoms. This is why the teachings are divided into three vehicles and five natures, and why the distinctions of meaning must be identified.

The Yogācāra school (Vijñānavāda) exhaustively analyzes the hundred dharmas and the eight consciousnesses of the five categories to reveal their essence. Nāgārjuna and Aśvaghoṣa dissect the three subtle and six coarse aspects of the single mind’s function. This is not a matter of chasing after details — it is precisely to trace back to the root. Even bodhisattvas at the stage of virtual enlightenment still wander within the net of illusion; even the most ultimate sages must fully realize the wisdom acquired after enlightenment.

In this sense, comparing the teachings to “counting the grains of sand in the sea” or “counting treasures with a deed in hand” — these are merely one-sided views.

The twelve divisions of the teachings are as vast as an ocean. Their commentaries and treatises are extensive, and their terminology is tangled and complex. Without a clear eye and a wise heart, one could never read through the entire canon and synthesize its key points, organize its order — how else could those seeking the source recognize the tributaries, or those gazing at the Dipper know the constellations? This is precisely the painstaking intention of the compilers of *The Numerical Catalogue of Doctrinal Teachings* — a work that should not be forgotten.

This book has circulated widely in Buddhist scriptures for a long time. Later, a scholar from the Xianshou (Huayan) school, Qianxi Shen, revised and clarified it, renaming it *Xianshou’s Numerical Catalogue*. Subsequently, a scholar from the Tiantai school, Xinyuan Jing, made further meticulous revisions, adding relevant terms from the hundred schools that intersected with Buddhist texts. He continued to collect and append them, calling it *The Numerical Catalogue of Doctrinal Teachings*. The book was thus edited three times, each version more detailed. Yet, despite being refined to near perfection, it still bore the traces of differing views on breadth and detail between editions, requiring further proofreading, deletions, and supplements.

Thus, I commanded the Dharma masters Chao Hai, Tong Li, Guang Chi, and others to reconcile the perspectives of nature and appearance, establish a balanced view between the Xianshou, Tiantai, and exclusive faith schools, deliberate on the texts, and submit the revised version for examination. It took more than a year to complete. They presented the finished work for my review.

Its arrangement begins with the single mind and ends with the 84,000 Dharma gates — perfectly encompassing the entire great canon’s teachings: their openings and closings, totalities and particulars, similarities and differences, and names. The reader need not search through the entire canon at all; it all appears clearly in the mind’s eye. Compared to previous editions, this one is truly more precise and concise.

Those who read this book should understand: from the totality arises the particular; because of the particular, the totality is established. Principle follows phenomena — the causes-and-conditions of one and many are without limit. Phenomena dissolve into principle — the thousand differences interpenetrate without obstruction. We use numbers to mark the journey, and through the teachings, we illuminate the mind. To expound the full extent is not truly “many” — this is the “one” within the many. To indicate the essential outline is not truly “one” — this is the “many” within the one. Lift the net, and every mesh comes back correctly; grasp the robe, and every thread follows in order.

It is like the 108 beads of Mañjuśrī — revolving, they always return to a single string. Like the thousand hands and eyes of Mahasthamaprapta — gathering, they are still a single mind. This work is not only the unifying thread of numerical teachings; it is, in fact, the golden key of the doctrinal teachings themselves. It is what is called: the present Dharma, right here, fully manifest.

If, however, one clings to the totality and gets stuck in principle, remains blind to illness and lost regarding the path, this not only betrays the great vow to study all Dharma doors, but also contradicts the compassionate mind of universally liberating sentient beings. Boundless afflictions — when will they ever be cut off? Supreme enlightenment — what understanding of attainment could there be?

Let those who are committed to the doctrinal teachings never neglect this book. So I write this preface.

Finished on the night of the full moon, in the seventh month of the thirteenth year of the Yongzheng reign.