法苑珠林 4.59

4.59

智度論云。如阿鞞跋致品中所說。日月歲節者。日名從旦至旦。初分中分後分。夜亦有三分。一日一夜有三十時。春秋分時十五時屬晝。十五時屬夜。餘時增減。若五月至晝十八時。夜十二時。十一月至夜十八時。晝十二時。一月或三十日半。或三十日。或二十九日半。或二十七日半。有四種月。一者日月。二者世間月。三者月月。四者星宿月。日月者三十日半。世間月者三十日。月月者二十九日。加六十二分之三十。星宿月者。二十七日加六十分之二十一。閏月者從日月世間月二事中出。是名十三月。或十三月名一歲。是歲三百六十六日。周而復始。菩薩知日中分時。前分已過。後分未生。中分無住處。無相可取日分。空空無所有。到三十日。時二十九日減。云何和合成日月。無故云何和合而為歲。以是故。佛言。世間法如幻如夢。但是誑心法。菩薩能知世間日月歲和合。能知破散無所有。是名巧分別（依經人多薄福日月災變。或有赤日赤月。種種徵惡。具如經說）。

The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra states: As explained in the Chapter on Avaivartika: Concerning days, months, years, and seasons—a day is reckoned from dawn to dawn, with an initial period, a middle period, and a final period; the night likewise has three periods. One day and one night have thirty muhūrtas. At the spring and autumn equinoxes, fifteen muhūrtas belong to the day and fifteen muhūrtas belong to the night; at other times they increase or decrease. In the fifth month, the day reaches eighteen muhūrtas and the night twelve muhūrtas; in the eleventh month, the night reaches eighteen muhūrtas and the day twelve muhūrtas. A month is either thirty and a half days, thirty days, twenty-nine and a half days, or twenty-seven and a half days. There are four kinds of months: first, the solar month; second, the civil month; third, the lunar month; and fourth, the sidereal month. The solar month is thirty and a half days; the civil month is thirty days; the lunar month is twenty-nine days plus thirty sixty-seconds [of a day]; the sidereal month is twenty-seven days plus twenty-one sixtieths [of a day]. The intercalary month arises from the two matters of the solar month and the civil month; this is called the thirteenth month. Sometimes thirteen months are called one year; such a year has three hundred and sixty-six days, cycling through and beginning again. When a bodhisattva knows the middle period of a day, the preceding period has already passed, the subsequent period has not yet arisen, and the middle period has no dwelling place; there is no characteristic to be grasped of a period of the day, being empty and devoid of anything. Coming to thirty days, twenty-nine days have decreased; how can they combine to form a month? Since there are none, how can they combine to form a year? For this reason, the Buddha said that worldly phenomena are like an illusion and like a dream, merely phenomena that deceive the mind. Bodhisattvas are able to know the worldly combinations of days, months, and years, and are able to know their dissolution into nothingness; this is called skillful discernment. (According to the sūtras, when people have little merit, solar and lunar anomalies occur: there may be a red sun or a red moon and various evil omens, as fully explained in the sūtras.)