俱舍論疏 12.8

12.8

論「對法諸師至一剎那量」，述有部計也。《毘婆沙》中更有多喻況，恐煩不述。雖與經部有少不同，然亦未能述剎那量。有一師云：實剎那量，世尊不說。《正理論》云「剎那難知，假喻以顯，然未盡理。」雖有此釋，與日剎那數亦非合，亦不能顯剎那極少無前後分。如一彈指頃六十五剎那，其頃非唯度六十五極微也。若度多極微，即非無前後。若一極微名一剎那，即非唯六十五也。今略為二釋：一、日夜剎那與此剎那不同。日夜剎那唯是算數之法，如此秤、尺等量極少之名，無佛法時此數常定。此生滅剎那，即是諸法生滅之量。經部云是諸法得自體頃，有部即是取果之頃也。二、釋時之極少名一剎那，是數量時之名，即是極少名一剎那，極多名劫等。剎那非不更有細分，劫非更無有多時。應更思之。

On the Śāstra's words, "The Abhidharma masters [...] the quantity of a single kṣaṇa": This states the Vaibhāṣika position. In the Vibhāṣā there are many more metaphors and comparisons; fearing prolixity, they are not recounted. Although it differs slightly from the Sautrāntika, it also fails to fully explain the quantity of a kṣaṇa. One master says: The real quantity of a kṣaṇa was not spoken by the World-Honoured One. The Nyāyānusāra says, "A kṣaṇa is difficult to know; it is manifested through provisional metaphors, but they do not exhaust the principle." Although there is this explanation, it still does not tally with the number of kṣaṇas in a day, nor can it demonstrate that the absolute minimum of a kṣaṇa has no parts of before and after. For instance, in the time of a finger snap there are sixty-five kṣaṇas; in that span of time it does not merely traverse sixty-five atoms. If it traverses many atoms, then it is not without before and after. If traversing a single atom is called a single kṣaṇa, then it would not be merely sixty-five. Now two brief explanations are given: First, the kṣaṇas of a day and night differ from these kṣaṇas. The kṣaṇas of a day and night are purely a method of calculation, like the name for the smallest measure of balances, measuring rules, and so on; when there is no Buddhadharma, this number is always fixed. This kṣaṇa of arising and ceasing, however, is the measure of the arising and ceasing of dharmas. The Sautrāntika say it is the moment dharmas obtain their intrinsic nature, while the Vaibhāṣika say it is the moment of seizing an effect. Second, explaining that the absolute minimum of time is called a single kṣaṇa: it is a term for the counting of time, meaning that the absolute minimum is called a single kṣaṇa, and the absolute maximum is called an eon (kalpa), and so forth. It is not that a kṣaṇa lacks even subtler divisions, nor that an eon lacks further times. One should deliberate further on this.