一切經音義 12.109

12.109

瞬息（式閏反韻英云動目也經文作瞬俗字也說文正作瞚開闔音合目數搖也從目寅聲也案瞬目一斂目也息者一息氣也言極迅促也呂氏春秋曰萬世猶如一瞬目也）。

An instant (瞬息: [first character pronounced] shì-rùn fan [shùn]. The Yunying says: "To move the eyes." In the text of the sūtra it is written as 瞬, which is a popular variant. The orthodox form in the Shuowen is written 瞚: "To open and shut (pronounced hé) the eyes in rapid flutters." It takes mù [eye] as radical and yín as phonetic. Note that shùnmù is a single blink of the eyes; an xī is a single breath. It refers to what is extremely brief and hurried. The Lüshi chunqiu states: "Ten thousand generations are like a single blink of the eyes").