Time doesn't exist

An Eternal Now SG

Basically, time does not exist.

Past is merely present memories, and future is a reconstruction of thoughts from the memory.

Attachments to past, present, future, are all illusions.

To truly live in the present without illusions is to get rid of all the attachments.

A Japanese warrior was captured by his enemies and thrown into prison. That night he was unable to sleep because he feared that the next day he would be interrogated, tortured, and executed. Then the words of his Zen master came to him, "Tomorrow is not real. It is an illusion. The only reality is now." Heeding these words, the warrior became peaceful and fell asleep.

An Eternal Now SG

Everything we call "the past" is, literally, nothing but present memories. Likewise, everything we call "the future" is nothing but present memories inverted, or rearranged, to form a prediction or expectation. The appearance of "time" is little more than a trick of memory, as the Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Ornament Scripture) says. You can easily discern this for yourself: simply figure out what it is you consider "the past" and "the future." You will discover that it is nothing but thoughts--nothing but memories, nothing but expectations, nothing but mental commentary. It's "all in your head," so to speak. There's really no such thing as time. There is really only Now--an eternally present Present with no beginning and no ending. Everything is completely new, distinct, and original every instant, with no real "change" or "motion" at all. The mystic-philosopher Heraclitus, explaining this point, said, "A man cannot step in the same river twice."

http://www.buddhistinformation.com/buddhism_and_the_illusion_of_time.htm

This is a very good website on time.

longchen SG

Thanks for this thread.

It is very insightful.

Patrik SG

Wow...
Shocked Shocked Shocked

An Eternal Now SG

Nirvana is a Timeless dimension.

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/qanda02.htm

What or where is Nirvana?

It is a dimension transcending time and space and thus is difficult to talk about or even to think about. Words and thoughts being only suited to describe the time-space dimension. But because Nirvana is beyond time, there is no movement and so no aging or dying. Thus Nirvana is eternal. Because it is beyond space, there is no causation, no boundary, no concept of self and not-self and thus Nirvana is infinite. The Buddha also assures us that Nirvana is an experience of profound happiness. He says:

Nirvana is the highest happiness.
Dp 204

longchen SG

From my understanding thus far, all past lives are actually happening in the ETERNAL NOW. This interpretation was taken from a brief moment, which felt as if I was physically, and consciously aligned with Eternal Now/No Time. I was very much awake when the amazing phenomenon occurred. I could only catch a glimpse of it.
Anyway, heres what I think I perceived

TIME existed only as a perception for physical consciousness in this realm. Without consciousness, TIME does not exist. Events are all happening in the NOW moment. However, not all consciousnesses are in the present time. Past events/memories are also happening in the NOW. Future appears to be some kind of potential.

_______________________________

Thusness SG

This topic is so much to my liking that I have to say something.
"Time" does it exist first of all? Science has viewed time as a dimension that can be manipulated if "we are able to travel faster than the speed of light." According to Einstein, a photon travelling at the speed of light does not experience time, coz time halt at the speed of light!
So where is "Time" according to Science? It is another "space" far from
"here" and can be reached if we are able to travel faster than light.

Thusness SG

The moment ceases as it arises, what the mind grasped is but an image
of the ever changing Present. It catches the "Form", the "Enity", the "I"
which is illusionary and misses the Essence. In reality there is no changing "thing", there is merely change.

Right at this moment is the display of the three Dharma Seals: impermanence, non-self, and nirvana, the emptiness nature all existence.
This is the basis that every authentic teaching of buddhism must bear.

It is here that even the greatest mystic must take bow to Buddha. Such penetrating insight amid all kinds of lightning-fast changes to differentiate "I AM" from "Thusness".

The ever Presence of all cannot be something secondhand, it cannot
be the object of observation. It remains original, new, clear and ungraspable.
To enter into the profoundest source of our true nature, -to "know" Now.....Got to work NOW... Smile

An Eternal Now SG

Just had a thought.

We do not have any time to waste. There is simply no time!

Time becomes our greatest enemy once we divide them into Past, Present, Future. Time is thus, always against us. (wasn't it mentioned somewhere in the Matrix movie? Very Happy )

"Man lives by time. Inventing the future has been his favourite game of escape."

"We think that changes in ourselves can come about in time, that order in ourselves can be built up little by little, added to day by day. But time doesn't bring order or peace, so we must stop thinking in terms of gradualness. This means that there is no tomorrow for us to be peaceful in. We have to be orderly on the instant."

"When there is real danger time disappears, doesn't it? There is immediate action. But we do not see the danger of many of our problems and therefore we invent time as a means of overcoming them. Time is a deceiver as it doesn't do a thing to help us bring about a change in ourselves. Time is a movement which man has divided into past, present and future, and as long as he divides it he will always be in conflict."

J.Krishnamurti

When "time" disappears, we awaken to reality. Hopefully we do not need to awaken to reality only when danger comes to us.

the.raven SG

stephen hawking says you are teh stoopayd.

An Eternal Now SG

Question

What?

the.raven SG

lol nt

An Eternal Now SG

What has stephen hawking got to do with me or anyone in this forum? Confused

An Eternal Now SG

Anyway I will not go off-topic. Nvm.

An Eternal Now SG

Time is merely a measurement of change according to the Buddha.

You have to define yourself. Is time counted by days? hours? minutes? seconds? etc...

the.raven SG

stephen hawking is famous for writing the book "a brief history of time" if you dont know already.

An Eternal Now SG

Time is a useful way to measure. We are highly dependant on our watch, our clocks, in order to follow our schedule.

But time never goes beyond a form of measurement, to someone time started then they are borned, or some of them may think time started when the universe was borned. Then what happens before the Universe? What was it? Smile To take Time as an absolute truth is being deluded by their own thoughts.

Reminds me of a Zen Koan... "What's your face before you were borned?"

Some may answer, it's a feutus, some people think its spirit/soul, but actually it's just emptiness.

An Eternal Now SG

Thusness made an interesting note about Albert Einstein's light-speed's "time". Smile

An Eternal Now SG

AWAKENING TO THE TRUE WORLD: http://sped2work.tripod.com/resolve4.html

A url given to my IRC channel by Thusness.

An Eternal Now SG

"People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." - A.Einstein

(I know I used lots of Albert Einstein's quotes but I can't help it... his words are good Smile )