The Central Conception of Buddhism and the Meaning of the Word "Dharma" c19.s1.26

c19.s1.26

*Vaibhāṣika.*—I call present a cause which exhibits at the present moment a double function—that of giving an immediate result and that of determining the character of its remote future. A past cause, although it may produce a result at the present moment, does not, at present, determine its general character (which has been previously determined). Therefore the past is not the same as the present.