開元釋教錄 11.8

11.8

As for the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, it is the teaching expounded by the Mahāyāna. The lord of the teaching who is able to expound it is the Dharmakāya, eternally abiding, without cessation and without arising. The principle that is expounded is the vast and extensive suchness, which abandons names and transcends marks. Broadly it comprises the three distinct piṭakas, while specifically it consists of the twelve divisions. Beginning with the initial aspiration of the mind and culminating in the ten stages; doctrines of the three clarities and eight liberations; texts on the six perfections and four means of embracing—such classifications are what constitute this piṭaka. Beginning from the dingmao year of Emperor Ming of the Han down to the gengwu year of our Kaiyuan era, those currently circulating total 686 works, in 2,745 fascicles and 258 cases, gathered together into the Mahāyāna Dharma-piṭaka. The general and specific classifications and regulations are fully set forth below.