西方合論 4.15

4.15

二、三世一時義者，眾生情見，執有時分，過現未來等事；約實相中，即無時體可得。何以故？若計晦明是時者，晦明則是葉相，如病眼見青，非定相故；若計老少是時者，老少則是幻質，如敝網裹風，非定質故，云何是中而有實義？今約延促相入二義，以明時體：一、促中有延；二、延中有促。一、促中有延者，如人假寐，夢經種種城邑聚落及見故人，悲笑分明，經歷時月；醒而問人：「孰睡幾時？」侍者答言：「數千錢時。」其人自思假寐無幾，云何經歷如許變態？了了記憶，非病非醉，展轉追惟是義，終不可得。二、延中有促者，如人二十忽得顛病，吞刀捉火，或為人言未來事，或對妻子嬉笑如常，及生男女，或忽能文，著種種書，經三十年。遇一異人，呪水與飲，其人如睡忽覺，即以二十為昨日事；家人屈指，為計歲月，出示子女，及種種書。其人自思：「本無歲月，焉有是事？」亦不復記病與不病。以是二喻，進退互觀，畢竟無有三世可得。是故經云：「觀彼久遠，猶若今日，經須臾間，歷事諸佛遍十方界。」是謂三世無間。三世無間者，時體不可得故。

Second, the meaning of the three periods of time being simultaneous: The emotional views of sentient beings cling to the existence of time divisions, past, present, and future events, and so forth; speaking from the standpoint of the true mark, no substance of time can be apprehended. Why is this? If one imagines that darkness and light constitute time, darkness and light are merely accidental characteristics, like a diseased eye seeing green, which are not fixed characteristics. If one imagines that youth and old age constitute time, youth and old age are merely illusory bodies, like a tattered net wrapping the wind, which are not fixed substances. How could there be any real meaning in this? Now, drawing on the two meanings of mutual entry between expansion and contraction, we elucidate the substance of time: first, there is expansion within contraction; second, there is contraction within expansion. First, regarding expansion within contraction: it is like a person taking a nap, dreaming of passing through various cities and villages, seeing old friends, weeping and laughing vividly, and passing through months and seasons. Waking up, he asks someone, 'How long did I sleep?' The attendant replies, 'The time it takes to count a few thousand coins.' That person reflects that his nap was brief, so how could he have experienced so many changes? Remembering it clearly, being neither sick nor drunk, he turns it over and searches for this meaning, yet ultimately it cannot be apprehended. Second, regarding contraction within expansion: it is like a person who at twenty suddenly contracts madness, swallowing knives and seizing fire, sometimes telling people about future events, sometimes laughing and playing with his wife and children as usual, fathering sons and daughters, and sometimes suddenly being able to write literature and compose various books, spanning thirty years. He encounters a miraculous person who recites a mantra over water and gives it to him to drink. The person suddenly awakens as if from sleep, and regards being twenty as yesterday's event. His family bend their fingers to calculate the months and years, showing him his sons and daughters and his various books. The person reflects, 'Originally there were no months and years, so how could this have happened?' Nor does he recall whether he was sick or not. Examining these two metaphors forward and backward, ultimately the three periods of time cannot be apprehended. Therefore the sūtra says: 'Contemplating that distant past is like today; in the space of an instant, one visits and attends upon the buddhas throughout the realms of the ten directions.' This is called the uninterruptedness of the three periods of time. That the three periods of time are uninterrupted is because the substance of time cannot be apprehended.