華嚴經旨歸 1.83

1.83

Ninth, this single flower petal horizontally pervades the ten directions and vertically extends through the nine periods of time—namely, the past of the past, the present of the past, and the future of the past. Just as the past has these three periods, the present and future should be known to be likewise. Combining these nine periods, they are subsumed into a single thought-moment; when the collective and particular are taken together, they are called the ten periods of time, fully expounded as in the "Chapter on Leaving the World." Furthermore, because time has no separate essence but is established in reliance on the flower, since the flower is unobstructed, time is also like this. Therefore the sūtra says: "All past kalpas / Are placed in the future and present; / All future kalpas / Are turned and placed into the past." It also says: "Immeasurable and countless kalpas / Can be made into the span of a single thought-moment," and so forth. This is called the ninth gate of the ten periods.