The Illusory and Unreal Nature of Time

Time is a conditioned phenomenon not associated with the mind, an illusory and non-existent phenomenon. Why is time not a real phenomenon but an illusory one? How is the time of half a lifetime or a full lifetime in this existence calculated?

The operation of the five aggregates over a year is called one year of age. A year consists of three hundred and sixty-five days. The length of a day is determined by the movement of the sun, or rather, by the Earth's revolution around the sun. The hours within a day are determined by the angle at which sunlight strikes the ground, or by the length of shadows cast by objects under sunlight. Yet the Earth is an illusory phenomenon, the sun and its light are illusory phenomena, objects on the ground are illusory phenomena, and shadows are illusory phenomena. Can combining these illusory phenomena yield the true phenomenon of time? Clearly, it cannot.

The time thus manifested is even more illusory than those material forms and does not correspond to one's mind. Regardless of the state of mind, these illusory phenomena operate with regularity, and each day must pass. The accumulation of days forms a year, and the accumulation of years forms a decade. Further accumulation results in half a lifetime passing, and continued accumulation sees an entire lifetime pass, ending life. Therefore, time is also called "light and shadow" or "time and light"—false appearances primarily manifested by the sun and objects, yet in truth having no appearance at all, no appearance whatsoever. Each person still counts on their fingers, but no matter how they count, the phenomenon of time does not exist; it is all delusion, miscalculation, false discrimination, and idle discourse.

Time also represents the process of change and operation of consciousness. One mental thought after another, one action after another, continues onward, and this sequential continuity manifests time. Mental thoughts are unreal, actions are unreal, the continuity is illusory, and thus time is also unreal. By emptying time, emptying space, and emptying material forms, our minds become much lighter, free from oppression, free from tension, tranquil and at ease. Then, by emptying the body and mind, the self is liberated.