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Chapter 1 – Sutra 18-19: The five senses and the mind have six, or there are four kinds of categories. Among these, by adding the four designs of the four perceptible senses, the total becomes 28. By multiplying these 28 with the twelve kinds such as many, few, numerous, and few in number, the total becomes 336. This counting of distinctions is from the perspective of location; in reality, due to the illumination of light, the obscurity, the diversity of subjects, and the peculiarities of destruction and preservation, an innumerable variety of distinctions arises with a fluxic nature.
Q. - The distinctions of many, few, etc., mentioned earlier apply only to the specifics of the subject, while the other categories only refer to the general; how can they be included in the conceptual framework?
A. - The conceptual framework is considered to be of two types: pragmatic and noumenal. The twelve distinctions of many, few, etc., should be understood as belonging to the pragmatic conceptual framework and not the noumenal. Because in the noumenal framework, the essence-nature-activity is solely represented as zero, and thus there is no possibility of categorization related to many, few, etc.
Q. - What is the difference between the pragmatic and noumenal frameworks?
A. - The conceptual framework that merely grasped the general is noumenal, and that which continually queries about new specifics, and encounters injustices, is pragmatic. In other words, only that conceptual understanding should not be considered pragmatic which leads to the consideration of other particulars afterwards.