The Unreality
of Time and Space
The Buddhist theory
of momentariness implies that every duration in time consists of
point-instants which following on one another. Every extension in
space consists of point instants arising in very close nearness and
in very rapid succession to each other giving the impression of
stability to things we detect. There is no Time, Space and Motion
over and above these point instants. Entities that are constructed
from these point instants are by our imagination.
The realist
considered both Time and Space as two all embracing receptacles
containing each of them the entire universe. They are unique in
themselves and the names given to them are proper names and not
general terms. Different times are parts of the same Time, so are
divided spaces part of the same Space. It is therefore the objects
that are situated in them that are divided. Space and Time are two
separate realities. In early Buddhism, space was considered a real
element of the universe. It was considered to be unchanging,
eternal, an all embracing element.
The Buddhist logician denied the reality of
both Time and Space. To be real, a thing has to possess separate
efficiency of its own. Space and Time does not possess such
quality. They cannot be separated from things existing in them.
Hence, they are not separate entities. It is because of our
productive imagination that we are able to distinguish between the
things and its receptacle. Every point instant may be viewed as a
particle of Time or Space and as a quality based on our differing
mental attitudes. When a point instant, the ultimate real is cut
loose from our imagination it is without quality, timeless and is
not divisible. To the Buddhist logicians, only subtle time of the
point instants is real. Space and gross time are not separate
entities. They are a priori intuitions, and not objects of the five
types of sense experience. Hence it is nothing but an illusion of
the intellect. Their empirical origin cannot be conceived, but they
can be dialectically destroyed on the score that duration and
extension commonly used in everyday life contains contradictions
and cannot be accepted as objectively real.
To the realists, empirical
things have a limited real extension. They are created by nature,
by the will of sentient beings or the power of God and are made up
of atoms to form real entities. This individual entity resides
simultaneously in their own multitude of atoms, i.e. a reality that
is residing at once in many places. To the Buddhist, this whole,
this extension is a fiction as one real thing cannot reside in many
places at once. The whole is dependent on the simultaneous
appearance of its parts for its existence. Only these parts, the
point-instants are real.
The realist also believes that stability and
duration can be proven by the fact that things endures and produces
gradually a series of sensation one after another through our
ability of Recognition. For example, cognition of the pattern,
‘this is that same person I have seen before’. To the Buddhist,
there is already a linguistic
fallacy in the judgment. The element ‘this’ refer to the present, a
sensation and to a real object. The element ‘that’ refers to the
past, it is produced by our imagination from our memory. The
element ‘this’ and ‘that’ are two completely different elements
which have nothing in common. Their unity cannot be reconciled. If
such things could be identical, there is no reason why the whole
Universe should not be composed of identical things.
The function of memory is
limited to the past and cannot grasp the present moment. So is
sensation, whose function is limited to the present and cannot
apprehend the past. Memory and sensation have their own field of
actions and results. They cannot work in the field of the other.
Recognition should not be distinguished from thought constructed
memory which is not a direct reflex of reality. Thus recognition
does not prove the existence of duration.
The realists
also argued that time exist because it has
dimension. It can be measured in terms of moments, days, months,
and years. Nagarjuna pointed out that it is not possible to measure
time. He maintained that non-enduring or non-static time cannot be
measured, because it cannot be manipulated. Enduring or static
time, although can be manipulated, does not exist. It is a creation
of our intellect. To the Buddhists, time is composed of moments.
Two or more things cannot be related unless they are in
simultaneous coexistent. Hence, if present and future are held to
be dependently related to the past, then both present and future
should exist in the past. Otherwise they cannot be contingently
related. If a thing can exists for more than a moment, than there
is no reason why it cannot survive and exist for eternity, which is
not possible. On the other hand, present and future could not exist
without being contingent on the past. Hence, according to
Nagarjuna, there is no justification for the recognition of a
present and a future time. If a thing can have real duration
through several moments, it would represent a real unity existing
at once at different times.
Thus to the
Buddhist, ultimate reality is timeless, spaceless and also
motionless in the sense of having no duration, extension and no
movement. It is a mathematical point-instant, an action of
efficiency.