Time and Mind: Non-concomitance

What kind of dharmas is time? Is it a substantially existent dharma analogous to matter? Time is not matter (rūpa-dharma), not a substantially existent dharma, nor is it a mental dharma (citta-dharma). It is neither matter nor mind; it is a formation (saṃskāra) not associated with mind. Why is time not associated with mind? Because dharmas manifested by mind are necessarily associated with mind; dharmas produced through the combination and transformation of the three transforming consciousnesses are associated with those three transforming consciousnesses—they arise, cease, change, increase, and decrease, transforming according to the mind. However, this nominal dharma of time is not produced by the three transforming consciousnesses; it is a nominal dharma manifested through the combination of mental dharmas, material dharmas, and mental factors (caittas). Therefore, it cannot transform according to the mind; it cannot arise nor cease, cannot be lengthened nor shortened, cannot be gained nor lost. Time is not a substantially existent dharma like matter. Material dharmas are formed by the seeds of the four great elements and are substantial dharmas, whereas time is not formed by any seeds; it is manifested through the relative changes of matter. Thus, it is a nominal dharma, a non-substantially existent dharma, like tortoise hair and rabbit horns—invisible, intangible, ungraspable.

What is the function of time? Time has no substantial function; a nominal dharma cannot be utilized. Because time is a nominal dharma with no utility, it also cannot be given or taken away. Someone might say: "You occupied my time; you wasted my time." In reality, there is no such thing; no one can occupy or waste time. For example, suppose I should be eating now, but you come over, and I have to talk with you and resolve your matter, so I end up not eating. Is time involved in this? Whether eating, talking, or resolving matters, there is no dharma called "time" involved. From beginning to end, it is the operation of people, events, and things—the combined functioning of these three. The length of this process manifests time, making one feel that so much time was spent resolving these matters.

That which can manifest the length of the process of mental dharmas and material dharmas operating is called time; the length of the process of material changes is called time. For example, an infant one month after birth is said to be "full moon"; one month is time, but it is actually one process of the infant's growth and development—there is no such thing as "time." An infant growing for one year, ten years, one hundred years, one second, one minute, one hour, one day—all refer to the infant's growth process; there is no dharma called "time." Time is passively manifested. Some say that time now seems to have stopped, not moving; in reality, it is the mind that has stopped, that has ceased discriminating—there is no such thing as "time." Speaking of time moving or not moving is all speculative talk, just like discussing how tortoise hair or rabbit horns are—it is all speculative.

We observe time by looking at clocks. The combination of the second hand, minute hand, and hour hand on a clock manifests time; without these hands, there is no time, yet with these hands, there is still no time. Fundamentally, time is manifested based on the position of the sun in the sky; without the sun, there is no time, yet with the sun, there is still no time. When the sun rises above the horizon, humans define this state as the morning of a day; simultaneously, as the temperature is relatively low, they define the state of the rising sun as morning. When the sun ascends directly overhead, humans define it as noon time of a day. When the sun descends below the horizon, humans define this state as the evening of a day. Thus, the sun completing one cycle is defined by humans as one day. Then, by counting the number of solar cycles, they define ten days, half a month, months from one to twelve, one year, two years, and so on. All lengths of time are manifested only based on material dharmas; there is no real dharma called "time."

If someone asks me to do something, I might say I have no time. In reality, no one possesses time; it is merely that each person has their own matters to attend to and cannot do other things, conventionally termed "having no time." Doing any matter is related to mental dharmas and material dharmas. Mental dharmas are dharmas formed by the seeds of consciousness, arising, ceasing, and changing—they are also non-substantially existent, though more real than time. Material dharmas are all dharmas formed by the seeds of the four great elements; they are likewise non-substantially existent, merely somewhat more real than time. Mental dharmas and material dharmas are both illusory dharmas; the time manifested by the combination of the two is even more an illusory dharma.

If someone wishes to live longer, it is not that time is lengthened; rather, it is the operational process of their material body (the five aggregates) that is lengthened. Some live shorter lives, not because time is shortened, but because the operational process of the five-aggregate body is short. There is no such characteristic or dharma as "time." Some like to make timetables, but these are not timetables, not arrangements of time; they are flowcharts for handling people, events, and things—arranged processes for people, events, and things. If in life one no longer has the characteristic of time, how many bonds would the mind be liberated from? Previously, because of the concept of time, how many constraints did one impose upon oneself? How much more clinging was added?

For example, having a dream—a great dream, a long dream. In the dream, one lives a lifetime, lives for several kalpas of time, experiencing joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, hardships and displacements. Upon awakening, one discovers it was merely a dream; nothing happened, no one appeared, nothing was gained or lost, and oneself is safe and sound. In the dream, there were no people, events, things, nor time; all was illusory. Upon awakening, one is liberated from the dream. Similarly, all sentient beings are displaced and suffering in the great dream of birth and death. This great dream of birth and death is the same as the dream at night—there are no real people, events, or things; no time or space; nothing at all—illusory. Upon awakening, one discovers oneself to be without gain or loss, without attachment or obstruction, perfectly at ease with nothing happening. At that moment, there is great liberation, ultimate Buddhahood. Upon awakening from the great dream of birth and death, one realizes that sentient beings attain Buddhahood in an instant—there is no time span of three asamkhyeya kalpas. All our efforts are for the sake of awakening from the dream. Therefore, do not dream anymore.