大般若波羅蜜多經般若理趣分述讚 1.15

1.15

述曰：第二、明說教時分，即化辰也。法王啟化之日，大眾嘉會之時，此就剎那相續無斷、說聽究竟，隨其分位總名一時。不爾字等，說聽時異，云何名一？此中不定約剎那，亦不定約相續，亦不定約四時八時及十二時并成道竟，若干時節名為一時。但是說聽二徒共相會遇，說聽究竟，總名一時。由能說者得陀羅尼，說一字時於餘一切悉已演說；或能聽者得淨耳根，解一字時於餘一切悉能解了。或能說者經多剎那或復多劫，其能聽者亦或乃至多劫聽聞。故不可定一念多劫之時節也。由於一會聽者之機有利有鈍，如來神力延短念為長劫、促長劫為短劫，時分別故論有二解：一者、此時有為法上分位假立謂道理時。說聽之人五蘊諸行剎那生滅無定時體，有酬前引後現在假法，即說所酬所引之法，假名過去及現在世。聽說二徒五蘊假法事緒究竟假說為時，故總名一時。如算師等以一算子，經歷諸位名為一十百千萬等，其實一物橫竪不同得名有異。此說聽者現五蘊法，曾有名過去、當有名未來、現有名現在，即名為時，說為三世。今此三世事緒究竟總名一時。二者、此時說聽二徒識心之上變作行相，三時體起，即是世識，謂是一念或復多劫，事緒究竟假名一時。如人夢中夢見多生生死謂三世遷流，覺竟但有一虛妄心，知無三世。今以理說，時體亦爾，但有妄心變似三世，事緒究竟總名一時。由義說故，唯意所緣行蘊，法處法界所攝。何不別說十二時等？如淨穢處、晝夜時分，諸方不定。處則方定，故於時中但總言一。

The commentary states: Second, explaining the time period of teaching the doctrine, which is the occasion of conversion. It is the day when the Dharma King initiated conversion, the time of the great assembly's splendid gathering; in terms of the moment-to-moment continuity without interruption, when the speaking and listening reached completion, according to that status it is collectively called 'at one time'. Otherwise, since words and so on differ in the time of speaking and listening, how could it be called 'one'?
Here, it is not definitively fixed according to a single moment (kṣaṇa), nor definitively fixed according to continuity, nor definitively fixed according to the four seasons, eight periods, or twelve periods, nor according to the completion of the attainment of the Way, as to what specific amount of time is called 'at one time'. Rather, it is simply when the two groups of speaker and hearer meet together and speaking and listening are completed; this is collectively called 'at one time'. Because the speaker has attained dhāraṇī, when speaking one syllable he has completely expounded all the rest; or because the listener has attained the purified ear faculty, when understanding one syllable he is able to comprehend all the rest. Or the speaker may spend many moments or even many kalpas, while the listener may also listen for up to many kalpas. Therefore, the time duration cannot be fixed as a single thought-moment or many kalpas.
Because in a single assembly the faculties of the hearers include the sharp and the dull, by the Tathāgata's supernormal power he prolongs a short moment into a long kalpa and compresses a long kalpa into a short moment. Because of the differentiation of time, the treatises offer two explanations:
First, this time is a designation provisionally established upon the status of conditioned phenomena, called logical time. The five aggregates and conditioned formations of the persons speaking and listening arise and cease moment to moment without any fixed temporal substance. There are provisional present phenomena that requite the past and lead to the future; that is, the phenomena that are requited and led are provisionally designated as the past and present periods. When the course of affairs of the provisional phenomena of the five aggregates of both listener and speaker reaches completion, it is provisionally described as time; hence it is collectively called 'at one time'. It is like a reckoner who, using a single counting rod, passes through various positions to name it one, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, and so forth; in reality it is a single object, but through different horizontal and vertical positions it receives different names. The present five-aggregate phenomena of this speaker and listener, having previously existed, are called the past; being destined to exist, are called the future; and currently existing, are called the present—this is precisely called time, spoken of as the three times. Now, when the affairs of these three times reach completion, it is collectively called 'at one time'.
Second, upon the conscious minds of the two groups of speaker and listener, time manifests as cognitive aspects, and the substance of the three times arises, which is worldly consciousness, whether it be a single thought-moment or many kalpas; when the affairs reach completion, it is provisionally designated as 'at one time'. It is like a person in a dream who dreams of many births and deaths, taking it to be the flow of the three times, but upon awakening there is only a single deluded mind, and one knows there are no three times. Now, speaking in terms of principle, the substance of time is also like this: there is only a deluded mind manifesting the semblance of the three times; when the affairs reach completion, it is collectively called 'at one time'. Because it is spoken of in terms of meaning, it is the compositional aggregate taken as an objective referent solely by the mental faculty, subsumed under the dharma locus and dharma realm.
Why does it not specify the twelve periods and the like? Just as pure and impure places, or day and night periods, are indeterminate in different regions. Places are geographically fixed, so with regard to time it simply speaks collectively of 'one'.