About
Time
What Does
Buddhism Teach About Time?
By Barbara
O'Brien
We all know what time is. Or do we? Read
some explanations of time from the perspective
of physics,
and you may wonder. Well, Buddhist teaching about time can be a bit
daunting, also.
This essay will look at time in two ways.
First is an explanation of measurements of time in Buddhist
scriptures. Second is a basic explanation of how time is understood
from the perspective of enlightenment.
Measures of Time
There are two Sanskrit words for
measurements of time found in Buddhist scripture, ksana and kalpa.
A ksana is a
tiny unit of time, approximately one seventy-fifth of a second. I
understand this is a generous amount of time compared to a
nanosecond. But for purposes of understanding the sutras, it
probably isn't necessary to measure ksana
precisely.
Basically, a ksana is an imperceptibly
small amount of time, and all kinds of things happen within the
space of a ksana that elude our conscious awareness. For example,
it is said there are 900 arisings and ceasings within each ksana. I
suspect the number 900 is not meant to be precise but rather is a
poetic way of saying "a lot."
A kalpa is
an aeon. There are small, medium, great, and uncountable
(asamhyeya) kalpas. Over the
centuries various scholars have attempted to quantify kalpas in
various ways. Usually, when a sutra mentions kalpas, it means a
really, really, really long time.
The Buddha described a mountain even bigger
than Mount Everest. Once every hundred years, someone wipes the
mountain with a small piece of silk. The mountain will be worn away
before the kalpa ends, the Buddha said.
The Three Times and Three Time
Periods
Along with ksanas and kalpas, you may run
into mention of "the three times" or "the three periods of time."
These can mean one of two things. Sometimes it just means past,
present, and future. But sometimes the three time periods or three
ages are something else entirely.
Sometimes "three periods of time" refers to
the Former Day, Middle Day, and Latter Day of the Law (or
Dharma).
The Former Day is the thousand-year period after the life of the
Buddha in which dharma is taught and practiced correctly. The
Middle Day is the next thousand years (or so), in which dharma is
practiced and understood superficially. The Latter Day lasts for
10,000 years, and in this time the dharma completely
degenerates.
You might notice that, chronologically
speaking, we are now into the Latter Day. Is this important? It
depends. In some schools the three periods of time are considered
important and discussed quite a bit. In others they are pretty much
ignored.
But What Is Time,
Anyway?
These measurements may seem irrelevant in
light of the way Buddhism explains the nature of time. Very
basically, in most schools of Buddhism it is understood that the
way we experience time -- as flowing from past to present to future
-- is an illusion. Further, it could be said that the liberation
of Nirvana
is liberation from time and
space.
Beyond that, teachings on the nature of
time tend to be on an advanced level, and in this brief essay we
can do no more than stick a tip of the toe into very deep
water.
For example, in Dzogchen -- the central
practice of the Nyingma
school of Tibetan Buddhism --
teachers speak of four dimensions of time. These are past, present,
future, and timeless time. This is sometimes expressed as the
"three times and timeless time."
Not being a student of Dzogchen I can only
take a stab at what this doctrine is saying. The Dzogchen texts I
have read hint that time is empty of self-nature, as are all
phenomena, and manifests according to causes and conditions. In the
absolute reality (dharmakaya)
time disappears, as do all other distinctions.
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche is a
prominent teacher in another Tibetan school, Kagyu.
He said, "Until concepts are exhausted, there is time and you make
preparations; however, you should not grasp onto time as truly
existent, and you should know that within the essential nature of
mahamudra, time does not exist:" Mahamudra, or "great symbol,"
refers to the central teaching and practices of
Kagyu.
Dogen's Being and
Time
Zen master Dogen
composed a fascicle of
Shobogenzo
called "Uji,"
which usually is translated as "Being Time" or "The Time-Being."
This is a difficult text, but the central teaching in it is that
being itself is time.
"Time is not separate from you, and as you are
present, time does not go away. As time is not marked by coming and
going, the moment you climbed the mountains is the time-being right
now. If time keeps coming and going, you are the time-being right
now."
You are time, the tiger is time, bamboo is
time, Dogen wrote. "If time is annihilated, mountains and oceans
are annihilated. As time is not annihilated, mountains and oceans
are not annihilated."
