Time and Mind: Non-concomitance

What kind of dharma is time? Is it a substantially existent dharma similar to matter? Time is not a material rūpa dharma, nor is it a substantially existent dharma, nor is it a mental dharma. It is neither rūpa nor mind; it is a mental concomitant formation dharma not concomitant with the mind. Why is time not concomitant with the mind? Because dharmas manifested by the mind must be concomitant with the mind. Dharmas produced through the combined transformation of the three transformative consciousnesses are concomitant with those three transformative consciousnesses—they arise, cease, change, increase, and decrease according to the mind's transformations. However, this provisional dharma of time is not produced by the three transformative consciousnesses; it is a provisional dharma manifested through the combination of mental dharmas, material dharmas, and mental factors. Therefore, it cannot change according to the mind; it cannot be born nor cease, cannot be lengthened nor shortened, cannot be gained nor lost. Time is not a substantially existent dharma like matter. Material rūpa dharmas are formed from the seeds of the four great elements and are real dharmas, whereas time is not formed from any seeds; it is manifested by the relative changes of matter. Thus, it is a provisional dharma, a non-substantially existent dharma, like a turtle's fur or a rabbit's horns—invisible, intangible, ungraspable.

What is the function of time? Time has no substantial function; a provisional dharma cannot be utilized. Because time is a provisional dharma and useless, it also cannot be given to others or taken away. Someone might say: "You took up my time," or "You wasted my time." In reality, there is no such thing; no one can actually take up or waste time. For example, suppose I should be eating right now, but you come over, and I have to talk with you and resolve your matter, so I end up not eating. Does this involve time? Whether eating, talking, or resolving matters, there is no dharma called time involved from beginning to end. It is entirely the operation of people, affairs, and objects—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.

The ability to 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, after a baby is born for one month, it is called a full month. One month is time, but it is actually one process of the baby's growth and development; there is no such thing as time. The baby growing for one year, ten years, one hundred years, one second, one minute, one hour, one day—all refer to the baby's growth process. There is no dharma called time; time is passively manifested. Some say that time seems to have stopped or is not moving; in reality, it is the mind that has stopped, stopped discriminating. There is no such thing as time. Speaking of time moving or not moving is all mere speculation, like discussing how turtle's fur or rabbit's horns are—all just speculative talk.

We look at 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; with these hands, there is still no time. Time fundamentally relies on the position of the sun in the sky to be manifested. Without the sun, there is no time; 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, since the temperature is relatively low, they define the state of the sun rising as morning. When the sun rises directly overhead, humans define it as noon time. When the sun sets below the horizon, humans define it as evening. 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, one month to twelve months, one year, two years, etc. All lengths of time are manifested only based on material rūpa 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's just that each person has their own matters to attend to and cannot do other things, provisionally termed "having no time." Doing anything is related to mental dharmas and material dharmas. Mental dharmas are formed from the seeds of consciousness, dharmas of arising, ceasing, and changing—also non-substantially existent, though more real than time. Material rūpa dharmas are all dharmas formed from the seeds of the four great elements, equally non-substantially existent, only slightly more real than time. Mental dharmas and material dharmas are both illusory dharmas; the time manifested by their combination is even more illusory.

If someone wishes to live longer, it is not that time is lengthened, but rather the operational process of their rūpa body (the five aggregates) 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 appearance or dharma as time. Some like to make timetables, but these are not timetables or arrangements of time; they are flowcharts for handling people, affairs, and objects—arrangements of the flow of people, affairs, and objects. If the appearance of time vanishes from one's life, how many bonds would the mind be liberated from? Previously, because of the concept of time, how many constraints did one impose on oneself? How many more attachments did one add?

For example, having a dream—a big dream, a long dream—living a whole lifetime in the dream, living for several kalpas, experiencing sweetness, sourness, bitterness, spiciness, joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, hardships and displacements. Upon waking, one discovers it was merely a dream; nothing happened, no one appeared, nothing was gained or lost, and one is safe and sound. In the dream, there were no people, affairs, objects, nor time; everything was illusory. Waking up, 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 dreams at night—no real people, affairs, or objects, no time or space, nothing at all, all illusory. Upon waking, one discovers oneself free from gain or loss, free from attachment and obstruction, perfectly clear and without affairs. At this moment, there is great liberation, and one ultimately attains Buddhahood. Waking from the great dream of birth and death, one realizes that sentient beings attain Buddhahood in an instant, without the span of three asamkhyeya kalpas. All our efforts are for the sake of awakening from the dream, so let us dream no more.