華嚴經明法品內立三寶章 2.25

2.25

First, the establishment: For example, among dharmas in the past period, the time before they have ceased is called the past-present; looking further back into the past, that past is called the past-past; looking toward the present now, this has not yet occurred, and therefore the now is called the past-future. This set of three periods is entirely within the past. Again, after those have ceased and the present dharmas arise, the time before they have ceased is called the present-present; looking toward that past, because it has already ceased and is non-existent, that is called the present-past; looking toward the future, because it has not yet occurred, it is called the present-future. This set of three is entirely within the present. Again, after those dharmas have ceased and the future dharmas arise, the time before they have ceased is called the future-present; looking toward that present, because it has already ceased and is non-existent, it is called the future-past; looking further toward the future, because it has also not yet occurred, it is called the future-future. This set of three is entirely within the future. Among these nine, the three presents are each existent, while the six pasts and futures are all non-existent. Question: If three periods are established in each of the past and future, and since the past and future are each boundless, these three periods would also be boundless—why speak of only nine in three tiers? Answer: Even if one wished to establish further [periods] in the past and future, they would not differ from the previous gateway, and so there are only nine. Moreover, these nine periods are completely subsumed in a single thought-moment, yet the nine periods remain distinctly arrayed. Thus, discussing the general and the distinct together constitutes the ten periods.